last week, plans were unveiled for the development of new york’s penn station, with construction set to get underway. the new moynihan train hall will contain both amtrak and long island railroad (LIRR) ticketing and waiting areas, plus 112,000 square feet of retail and security measures. in response, architect vishaan chakrabarti has shared his vision for the public transportation hub, viewing it as the ‘logical next step’.
the proposal explained in detail
video courtesy of PAU
vishaan chakrabarti is the founder of practice for architecture and urbanism (PAU), and a professor at columbia university. chakrabarti’s proposal recycles the superstructure and foundations of madison square garden to create a new ‘commuter pavilion’, and a new neighborhood surrounding it. the scheme reveals the site’s history, from the original balustrades, to the reuse of the original station’s mezzanine levels. reclad in a double-skin glass wall, the station is passively heated and cooled.
for more information watch the video above, and read about the proposal in the architect’s own words below.
aerial view of the proposed scheme
all images © PAU
new york’s pennsylvania station is much more than a transit hub. it is the busiest transportation facility in the western hemisphere, it is at the heart of our city and region, and it is the lynchpin to reimagining its neglected surroundings. but beyond these significant concerns, penn station is also a symbol, from the extraordinary engineering feat it and its trans-hudson tunnels represented in 1910, to the demolition of mckim, mead & white’s beaux arts spectacle in the 1960s, to its future disposition in the coming years. penn station symbolizes, for good or bad, who we are as a society. its future asks whether we still believe in the idea of the public, whether we believe in a shared civil society, whether we can still come together to imagine a future as collective as it is bright.
view from 8th avenue — existing/proposed condition
our proposal imagines the station as a new public commons, a civic space both sober and soaring, an idea born out of architectural restraint during a time that asks us to do more with less. by proposing to recycle the superstructure and foundations of madison square garden once the garden has a beautiful new home 800′ away in the west end of the farley building, our proposed station creates a grand commuter pavilion at minimal public cost and disruption. this new commuter pavilion reinforces other proposals for the area, including an amtrak station in the east end of the farley building, improved entrances and concourses to the north and west, and most importantly, the tracks and platforms proposed to be built to the south as part of the gateway tunnel project. the definition of success is new capacity, a new station, and a new neighborhood.
east access — existing/proposed condition
architecturally the proposal builds upon the palimpsest that is penn, with layers of history revealed from mckim’s original balustrades, to the reuse of the original station’s mezzanine levels, to the reimagining of the garden’s roof as a hovering mural of new york. building upon the circular precedents of philip johnson’s new york state world’s fair pavilion and pan am’s ‘worldport’ building at JFK, the structure of the garden is reclad in a double-skin glass wall that transmits light but not heat. a sawtooth pattern in the glass picks up changes in light through the day, acting as a sundial for travelers as they ascend from the platforms.
platform view — existing/proposed condition
the station is passively heated and cooled, allowing for a 25′ high open entry threshold around the entire perimeter of the cylinder, which will enable far better emergency egress. blast proof glass will protect the new station, and smoke can be purged quickly through the oculus in the ceiling in the event of a fire.
southwest access — existing/proposed condition
beyond the specifics of the building however, this proposal provides the opportunity to reimagine the entire neighborhood as a destination rather than a repellent, with a new madison square garden, new office, housing and hotels, new eateries, a small public park, all at the heart of our city. at the center of the new district will be a grand public space without a grand public price tag, a chance to reaffirm our belief in civic infrastructure and our shared public realm.
column removal study — existing/proposed
street level plan — surrounding improvements
great hall comparison
energy use — summer/winter
project credits:
structural, protective design & sustainability engineers: thornton tomasetti — thomas z. scarangello, raymond daddazio, robert otani, robert smilowitz, gunnar hubbard
sustainability: level agency for infrastructure — byron stigge, jorge juan cornet
cost estimators: dharam consulting — andrew smith, toby lawes
architect: PAU — vishaan chakrabarti, ruchika modi, christopher james botham, diego soto madriñan, antariksh tandon, skylar bisom-rapp, bryan dorsey
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As one of the core team members of the original effort to develop out of this mess, relocate MSG and reimagine the currently decomposing regional transit hub and incorporate ARC and 7th line extension, I think Vishaan’s proposal while pragmatic and genuine, is too Spartan for the next couple of centuries of N.Y.C., and lacks the answer to the trillion dollar question which is the air rights over the Penn station itself! It will be just a matter of time, before another Developer/ Mayor/ Governor venture comes up with a superstructure over the Sombrero.
2 Penn Plaza’s got to go. Nothing monumental about that. Load transfer underneath that over Million Volt Room needs to be reworked, retail concourses and Gibson and Morgan tunnels (Time Sq/ West Side Connection folks) and the Yards and Dyer Ave viaduct and 32nd St Service building and SW control facility and LIRR, NJT and Amtrak’s vital facilities and infrastructure is in dire need of renovation and consolidation (Imagine the spectacular indoor pool facility if the 100 yrs old flood gates fail when the next Sandy hits, as one example!), this is the opportunity of the millennia folks, needs a massive effort if we want to avoid repeating the same shameful outcome of the past exercises and decisions made on a whim… Cheers. Glad to see the issue revisited. But please…
Combining this project with Perkins/Eastman design for the PABT would be tremendous. Eventually the replacement for MSG could go where the bus station is now in such a scenario.
Small correction, but we are New Yorkers: Grand Central TERMINAL; never Grand Central STATION; Grand Central Station is a subway stop, a post office annex and the name of a radio program in the 1930s-40s. And the date is 1913, not 1903.
The plan you have created is is amazing and wonderful; I hope the citizens New York can make it happen. And the present and past station is Pennsylvania Station. William Penn had nothing to do with either.
BRAVO!!!! Have it built already.