January 22, 2004
A New World, Life, Flight, and Hope
The designs for the new downtown transit hub were unveiled and New York swoons for designer Santiago Calatrava. Ethereal and gorgeous, this design must, in our opinion, go beyond the Port Authority's wildest desires to make the new transit hub like Grand Central, it seems to welcome as well as inspire with the 150 foot canopied wings that rise up "like a bird's wings." What helps is that the interior spaces are filled with light, even going down to the train platforms. Calatrava said the building's themes are "a new world, life, flight and hope," and he's certainly given New York that with this design.
Mayor Bloomberg said about the design, "'Wow' is the first word that's just got to come to your mind. That's what New York's future really is, not just coming back, but coming back even better." Governor Pataki weighed in, "It is spectacular, something that will not only be a practical transit hub ... but it will be a tribute to those we lost."
More photographs of what the new transit hub will look like.
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I've waited a long time for this, the eye-popping future downtown Daisy Mae's! Mmm...
Sérieusement: this is putting the meaning back into "World Trade Center". Inspiring, fitting, and proper.
It is beautiful, but isn't there something very "GATTICA" about it? I guess we're really living in the future now.
It is beautiful, but isn't there something very "GATTaCA" about it? I guess we're really living in the future now.
It is beautiful, but isn't there something very "GATTACA" about it? I guess we're really living in the future now.
Oops - sorry.
its a bit too reminiscent of the milwaukee art museum for my tastes, but nice nonetheless. ill like it more if he tosses in a bridge somewhere...
I like it. Very forward looking without being tacky. The rest of the WTC design should follow Calatrava's lead.
Sorry, but the emperor has no clothes. Unfortunately we're all in the thrall of these bigshot designers so we can't see that:
1) its not a train station at all. think of train stations you frequent or love. they are full of things to do--stores, kiosks, signs. you need these things in the station. I'm not sure what you would do in this place besides maybe slip and break your leg on all the ICE.
2) its not connected to anything around it at all. look for example at the street adjacent. there are six lanes of fast moving traffic and no crosswalks. in new york city. there appear to be lots of people wandering out of the station with nowhere to go. they are completely stranded in some random grassy patch along a highway.
granted its just an early rendering...im sure the ICE wouldve thawed by the time construction begins. anyway, it reminds me of the main hall of grand central, or the tokyo forum...and those worked fine. it could similarly have kiosks in the open space.
as for the second point...il have to agree with that. tho it might just work on the level of peis louvre pyramid, whereby most of the activity and circulation paths are situated underground anyway.
unfortunately in new york, we've become averse to anything different. It seems ironic that NYC is the most un-adventurous city when it comes to architecture. The fact that this stands by itself and is not "connected" to anything should be celebrated. It's form is in contrast to the straight vertical lines of everything around it, including the mind-numbing design of the new WTC. Time and time again, NYC misses its opportunity to become a leader in urban architecture. The most celebrated design we've had recently is Koolhaas' Prada store (which is awful). We should look to cities like Cincinnati, with Hadid's new museum as just one example of innovation.
This is the first design I've seen for anything having to do with downtown New York that hasn't made me cringe. When the "Freedom Tower" is done, this will stand head and shoulders above it. And it's a train station.
I'm astonished that nobody seems to have scratched their heads at the idea of gleaming white *everything*. New Yorkers can't even keep their white cashmere coats free from dark sludgy slush. That's a couple meters of white fabric; this is a gabillion square feet of white floors and walls.
I'm sorry. It's plain ugly. Looks like the remains of a dead beached whale.
I like this design, and I think it's silly to assume that the station and its surroundings will have no signs, kiosks, or crosswalks just because the concept drawings show it that way. That's like assuming a building will be blue just because the blueprint is blue.
People will have nowhere to go? I wonder what the use patterns of the PATH station are; I'm betting that many people coming into the city connect to NY Transit, instead of heading up above ground.
We should look to cities like Cincinnati, with Hadid's new museum as just one example of innovation.
i never thought i'd hear anyone say anything like this, since cincinnati is not exactly on the cutting edge with most things. but yeah, the new contemporary arts center is a beautiful sight.
we don't really have good mass transit here. the bus terminal here (which is outside and downtown) hasn't been upgraded since, um, sometime in the 70s. it's kind of an eyesore. it would be great if we had a hub like the one proposed - the design is beautiful. but, um, we'll never have light rail or a subway here and therefore we don't need a hub.
i'm moving to a real city tomorrow.
yeah, I'd like to see how long those train platforms stay white, too. I've been to Calatrava's concrete train stations, and even when they're not that white, they're cool.
The Tokyo Forum, though, is the most beautiful-but-utterly-useless space I've ever seen. Empty, passages to and from nowhere.
Long, open vistas are a pain in the ass when you've got a wheelie bag in the rain. Calatrava's place better be connected up right.
Veritech Pilot: I agree that it's a bit too much like Milwaukee's Quadracci Pavilion. What are we getting? Leftovers? Oy! Still, it's nice to get such a piece of work. Beautiful!
I concede that the wings are reminiscent of Quadracci, but why is that instantly a bad thing? It is something closer to a signature element, but one that is expressed in different ways in each rendering. Thoughtless repetition could turn an architect into an Ikea nightmare, but I don't think we have that here.
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At least it will give us something to look at when we are looking away from the memorial.
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