Calatrava WTC Transit Hub [Archive]

JMGarcia

August 22nd, 2003, 09:10 PM

Risky Business
Will Santiago Calatrava's high-design style work at Ground Zero?
By Christopher Hawthorne - Slate
Posted Thursday, August 21, 2003, at 10:31 AM PT

http://slate.msn.com/id/2087178/

Santiago Calatrava, the 52-year-old Spaniard picked earlier this month to design a big new train and subway station at the World Trade Center site, is a singular figure in the design world: a remarkably inventive architect who's also a civil engineer and a sculptor. But is he a good fit for Ground Zero?

I'm not sure there's an easy answer to that question. Over the last three years, I've gone to see a handful of Calatrava's buildings and other projects, including his extension to the Milwaukee Art Museum, which opened two years ago on the edge of Lake Michigan; his huge and still unfinished City of Arts and Sciences complex in his hometown of Valencia, which includes a planetarium, an IMAX theater, a science museum, and an opera house; and his canted pedestrian bridge across the Nervion River in Bilbao.

Considering that Calatrava has more than 50 bridges and public buildings to his credit—a huge number for an architect his age—the ones I've seen make up just a sliver of his total output. But they do span the range of his commissions, from infrastructure to high culture. And having walked through (or over) them, it seems to me that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, in selecting Calatrava, has made a choice that is both obvious and more than a little risky.

Why obvious? Because no architect in the world can match Calatrava's talent for investing complex transportation projects, which are often pretty bland architecturally, with the kind of eye-catching, high-design appeal the public is expecting at Ground Zero. Part of this has simply to do with experience: He got his first train station commission, from the city of Zurich, when he was just 32, and has gone on to design stations for Lisbon, Lyon, and the Belgian city of Liège. But more than any other designer of his generation, Calatrava has consistently made infrastructure beautiful. His buildings are rigorously conceived and meticulously executed but also playful, airy, and imaginative—a perfect combination of right and left brain.

Why risky? Because Calatrava's work has a personality—a pristine, sometimes aloof perfectionism—that seems an odd fit for the constricted and politically charged Ground Zero site, where compromise and rolling with the punches are among the chief job requirements. While the list of artists who have influenced Calatrava's work is a long one—it includes everyone from architects Eero Saarinen and Antonio Gaudi to filmmaker Luis Buñuel—his projects are consistently disdainful, in true modernist style, of architectural context. In other words, they borrow from a whole range of creative work but not from the buildings around them.

Indeed, you could even say that Calatrava's skeletal designs, which are often pure white and involve gigantic moving parts, manufacture their own context. Most pictures of his finished work—even the museum extension in Milwaukee, which attaches not only to a 1957 design by Saarinen, but also to a 1975 addition by Wisconsin firm Kahler Slater—push surrounding buildings to the extreme edge of the frame (if the buildings can be seen at all). Renderings of another U.S. project, a cathedral in Oakland that now seems sadly to be on hold, show the same desire for solitude and room to stretch and breathe.

Though Calatrava earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979, he carries himself like an artist or an urbane professor of architectural history. He speaks seven languages and has been awarded a dozen honorary doctorates. He produces his fluid, elegant designs by hand and still works out of his Zurich villa, in what Rowan Moore, writing in Metropolis, called, "an atmosphere of deep serenity." Another critic calls him "monkish." All in all, he's hardly the kind of architect who seems well-suited for the horse-trading and bare-knuckle power plays that have so far been a central part of the downtown rebuilding process.

But nobody ever said that bringing unusually talented architects into the WTC mix was going to be simple. It's certainly true that the huge job—the budget for the station has been pegged at $2 billion, and some are already calling it a Grand Central for Ground Zero—will be a tough test for Calatrava, who will join forces with two large engineering firms to complete it. He'll have to adjust his work to a tight, contested urban context and practice a kind of deference that he's not used to—deference to Daniel Libeskind and other architects, to politicians, to a complex site plan, to the families of the 9/11 victims.

But the reverse may also be true: Calatrava's participation could very well provide a useful measure of architectural integrity downtown. In the last couple of weeks, we've heard a lot of suspiciously optimistic reports from the New York Times and elsewhere that a new cooperative spirit has emerged among Libeskind, Larry Silverstein (the WTC leaseholder), the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, and the Port Authority. According to these stories—the New York Times put its version on Page One with the headline, "Trade Center Arguments Fade, And a Single Vision Is Emerging"—Libeskind's master plan remains basically uncorrupted.

That news seems to be built more of spin than substance. But maybe the arrival of Calatrava will provide a fresh method of keeping the various players honest. His architecture seems likely to show the effects of misguided tampering a lot more clearly than that of Libeskind or Skidmore Owings & Merrill's David Childs, the master designer of sleek corporate towers who has also joined the WTC rebuilding team.

By this I don't mean that Calatrava's work is fragile. I mean that it's almost always stripped down to its basics, with its precise structural and architectural logic on full display. In other words, if Calatrava's first New York building is compromised by some inane political deal cooked up in Silverstein's office, or George Pataki's, it'll be the architecture itself that lets us know.

New Jack City

January 2nd, 2004, 07:36 PM

NY POST

PATH PLAN MAY DIM LIBESKIND'S TRIBUTE

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

January 2, 2004 -- The design for a new permanent PATH station at Ground Zero makes significant changes to Daniel Libeskind's World Trade Center master plan by moving the terminal building northward to overlap with the "Wedge of Light," sources told The Post.

Libeskind was shown Santiago Calatrava's PATH design earlier this month, in the midst of his highly public battle with architect David Childs over the Freedom Tower.

Port Authority officials feared Libeskind would reject the design, and told him it would be a blunder to start another fight, this time with Calatrava, a highly regarded architect, the sources said.

A source briefed on the encounter at Calatrava's Manhattan studio said the warning didn't stop Libeskind's wife and business partner, Nina, from initially objecting to Calatrava's changes - particularly his alterations to the Wedge of Light.

The Wedge, a key component of the master plan, is an open plaza centered on Fulton Street, which is designed so that shafts of sunlight will hit the adjoining office towers at key moments each Sept. 11.

But Libeskind disagreed with his wife, the source said, telling Calatrava he approved of the design.

"He loves it," said Libeskind's lawyer, Ed Hayes. "He thinks it fits perfectly into the master plan and has great vision."

Libeskind's original plan for the station showed it attached to the north side of a new Ground Zero office tower that would face Church Street, between Dey and Cortland streets.

Calatrava's proposal detaches the station building from the tower, allowing Dey Street to run between them as a pedestrian promenade, according to sources familiar with the design.

This pushes the station building north so that it partly overlaps with the Wedge of Light.

The move makes the office tower more attractive to developers, since it gives it a northern face on Dey Street for high-rent retail space.

The changes don't alter the basic principle of the Wedge.

Calatrava, who lives in Spain, is known for his aerodynamic glass and steel structures that seem to evoke motion with flowing, winged shapes.

The sources said his PATH design works along the same lines.

PA officials have embraced Calatrava, considered one of the world's foremost architects of transportation facilities, and they are enthusiastic about his design.

New Jack City

January 5th, 2004, 12:30 AM

http://www.pbase.com/image/24731440/original.jpg

FerrariEnzo

January 5th, 2004, 01:27 AM

I hope Calatrava does this well. He has two extremes. Simply stunning work that recieves international praise and eyesores. I hope he does something hes never done. Just break the box so it doesnt look liek anything else hes ever done. If he does that, he cant go wrong.

alv01

January 5th, 2004, 03:12 AM

Some pics of Calatrava's work in Valencia by Mr Wolf and others; this complex is still under construction:

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/cacnight8.jpg

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/cacnight2.jpg

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/cacnight18.jpg

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/cacnight10.jpg

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/pannoche2.jpg

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/cacnight7.jpg

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/pancac.jpg

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/refl2.jpg

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/refl1.jpg

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/refl3.jpg

http://www.gratisweb.com/kothalin//b.JPG

http://www.gratisweb.com/kothalin//f.JPG

http://usuarios.lycos.es/simongallup/Ocean8.jpg

http://usuarios.lycos.es/simongallup/Parotet2.JPG

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/parot3.jpg

http://usuarios.lycos.es/tecnex/hpbimg/-PontMirador-.jpg

http://leo.worldonline.es/rvalient/alameda1.jpg

http://leo.worldonline.es/rvalient/alameda3.jpg

New Jack City

January 22nd, 2004, 03:12 AM

NEWSDAY...

Open-air Design For WTC Transit Hub

By The Associated Press
January 21, 2004

The design for a transit hub that would link ferries, commuter trains and 14 subway lines to the World Trade Center site will shine natural light 60 feet underground, move people on mechanical walkways and make some connection to the 2001 terrorist attacks, officials familiar with the design said.

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava was to present final drawings Thursday for the $2 billion transit station that New York and New Jersey officials say will be comparable to city landmarks like Grand Central Terminal.

Calatrava, who has designed buildings around the world including the stadium for the Athens Olympics this summer, is adding his design to several visions introduced in recent weeks for the 16-acre site.

Architects David Childs and Daniel Libeskind last month presented models of the Freedom Tower that would replace the trade center, and designers Michael Arad and Peter Walker last week offered drawings of a ground zero memorial.

Calatrava has had to receive Libeskind's approval for a design that would mesh with the architect's master plan for the site, and is working with New York's STV Group and DMJM & Harris to design a new station to replace the one destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001.

According to preliminary documents filed with the Federal Transit Administration, the station would still be called the World Trade Center Transportation hub.

A temporary terminal opened in November, and is now taking more than 24,000 daily riders between New Jersey and downtown and midtown Manhattan, said Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Greg Trevor.

The station had served 67,000 daily passengers before the attacks; the agency said the permanent hub should begin operating in 2006 and could handle more than 80,000 passengers by 2020.

Calatrava's design will feature a huge, glass-and-steel entrance and will let daylight shine down 60 feet below ground to its four train platforms, according to the Port Authority, which is in charge of the rebuilding.

It will have a huge open plaza, several shops and restaurants and mechanical walkways that connect passengers to ferry service at the World Financial Center and other walkways that link the terminal to 14 downtown subway lines.

The design will also restore a mass transit network in lower Manhattan "in a manner that recognizes the horror and heroism of Sept. 11, 2001," said Trevor. He did not elaborate, but said besides improving downtown mass transit, "the World Trade Center transportation hub must be an architectural icon that will inspire generations to come."

Construction could begin on the new hub by the end of the year, and it should be finished in 2009, the same year the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower is scheduled for completion.

FerrariEnzo

January 22nd, 2004, 03:54 AM

Geeze, the more I see his stuff the more I liek it. His stuff is so clean and symetrical and......... I hope its a big structure that stands out. The WTC needs it.

JMGarcia

January 22nd, 2004, 06:50 PM

Here are the initial renderings... :D

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11099602.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11099715.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11099960.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11099940.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11099938.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11099937.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11099857.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11099850.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11099843.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11099847.jpg

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11099800.jpg

FerrariEnzo

January 22nd, 2004, 07:49 PM

I was lookign for a lareger complex and something not so damn symetcal. I have to say Im not wholey satisfied.

Héroe

January 22nd, 2004, 08:31 PM

This is a pride for Spaniards :)

New Jack City

January 22nd, 2004, 09:19 PM

Two bigger renderings from the NY Times...

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/01/22/nyregion/22cnd-path.650.jpg
A design for the interior of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/01/22/nyregion/22cnd-path.1.450.jpg
The design for the World Trade Center Transportation Hub of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was released today by the Downtown Design Partnership, in association with architect Santiago Calatrava.

Style™

January 22nd, 2004, 09:30 PM

Those renderings are amazing! That looks great! :cool:

bagel

January 22nd, 2004, 09:54 PM

Originally posted by FerrariEnzo

I was lookign for a lareger complex and something not so damn symetcal. I have to say Im not wholey satisfied.

If you look at the size of the little people in the rendering and their relation to the station, it appears to be a pretty large complex (and the underground portions, since they will be connecting various transit lines on different platforms is going to be extremely extensive). That there is a Large with a capital L complex.

The NYTimes article says it's the size of a city block, which is a substantial piece of real estate. It's airy and spacious. I think it's going to be those grand spaces that will make you think "whoah....." I mean that interiorl rendering looks entirely awe inspiring and GRAND.

I love it!

I'm just kind of sad that it's sandwhiched between skyscrapers because this thing wants space.

bagel

January 22nd, 2004, 10:06 PM

Press release from the Port Authority of NY and NJ.

A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE IN LOWER MANHATTAN: RENOWNED ARCHITECT SANTIAGO CALATRAVA UNVEILS DESIGN CONCEPTS FOR PORT AUTHORITY’S WORLD TRADE CENTER TRANSPORTATION HUB

Date: January 22, 2004
Press Release Number: 7-2004

Freestanding Glass-and-Steel Mass-Transit Hub Will Connect
PATH to Ferries and Subway Service across Lower Manhattan

The world caught its first glimpse today of the Port Authority’s enduring monument to the heroism of September 11, 2001, when world-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava unveiled soaring, spectacular design concepts for the bistate agency’s World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which will significantly improve mass-transit connections across Lower Manhattan.

The glass roof above the hub’s freestanding grand pavilion, featuring ribbed arches that evoke a cathedral, will open each year on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Glass-and-steel wings will rise up to 150 feet. Natural light will reach rail platforms 60 feet below street level.

“This is the Port Authority’s gift to New York City,” Mr. Calatrava said. “It will be a lamp of hope in the middle of Lower Manhattan, creating an unbroken line of natural light from the platforms to the sky.”

Flanked by New York Governor George E. Pataki and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Mr. Calatrava also said the $2 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub will include:

* A permanent Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) terminal that eventually will serve more than 80,000 daily PATH riders, including tens of thousands of commuters and millions of annual visitors to the World Trade Center Memorial.

* Pedestrian connections that will significantly improve access to PATH, ferries and subway lines across Lower Manhattan. By 2020, these connections are expected to accommodate 250,000 daily commuters and visitors.

* Greater open space in the Wedge of Light Plaza and additional access from Church Street to the Memorial District.

* State-of-the-art safety, security and environmental enhancements.

Mr. Calatrava said the Transportation Hub will serve as a source of inspiration for the heroes, survivors and families of September 11, as well as those who live in, work in and visit Lower Manhattan.

Last summer, the Port Authority selected the Downtown Design Partnership, in association with Mr. Calatrava, to design the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. The partnership is led by the joint venture of DMJM + Harris and STV Group, Inc. – two of the world’s most successful and respected architectural/engineering firms.

Governor Pataki said, “The soaring design for the World Trade Center Transportation Hub completes the promise of Daniel Libeskind’s master plan for the site, skillfully complementing the designs for the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower and the Memorial. Santiago Calatrava’s masterpiece will one day take its rightful place among New York City’s most inspiring architectural icons. Millions of commuters and visitors will pass through this spectacular new transit hub when they come to Lower Manhattan.”

New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey said, “The World Trade Center Transportation Hub will make a statement to the world: The people of this region are undaunted in the face of the forces of evil. The design for this spectacular structure clearly shows that we are fully committed to rebuilding our infrastructure and restoring normalcy to our lives.”

Mayor Bloomberg said, “Today we unveil the design of downtown’s new PATH station and we imagine that future generations will look at this building as a true record of our lives today as we rebuild our city. What will they see in Santiago Calatrava’s thrilling work? They’ll see creativity in design, and strength in construction. They’ll see confidence in our investment in a stunning gateway to what will always be the ‘Financial Capital of the World.’ They’ll see a seamless connection to the PATH train, city subways, and ultimately, to our regional airports. And they’ll see optimism – a building appearing to take flight – just like the neighborhood it serves.”

Port Authority Chairman Anthony R. Coscia said, “Our most important priority at the World Trade Center site is the creation of a Memorial that will pay tribute to the heroes of September 11, including the 84 members of the Port Authority family who sacrificed their lives on that terrible day. Our next priority is to create a 21st century mass-transit network that will serve commuters and visitors to Lower Manhattan. Santiago Calatrava’s Transportation Hub – a work of unsurpassed beauty – will meet the region’s needs while inspiring the world for generations to come.”

Port Authority Vice Chairman Charles A. Gargano said, “The World Trade Center Transportation Hub will enable a quarter-million daily travelers to reach their destinations across Lower Manhattan faster and more conveniently. Much as the rehabilitation of Grand Central Terminal has sparked the revitalization of midtown, the restoration and enhancement of Lower Manhattan’s transportation system will accelerate the economic recovery of the nation’s third-largest business district.”

Port Authority Executive Director Joseph J. Seymour said, “The significance of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub is nothing short of historic. We will finally untangle Lower Manhattan’s knotted network of confusing mass-transit connections, which have hindered this part of the city for a century.”

The permanent World Trade Center Transportation Hub will feature seamless pedestrian connections to the World Financial Center and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed Fulton Street Transit Center. Lower Manhattan residents, commuters and visitors will enjoy far faster access to ferry service along the Hudson River, and to 14 Lower Manhattan subway lines – the 1/9, 2/3, 4/5, N/R, A/C/E and J/M/Z. The World Trade Center Transportation Hub also is being designed to accommodate potential rail service to John F. Kennedy International Airport or other destinations.

The Permanent PATH Terminal is expected to begin serving passengers by the end of 2006. All elements of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub are scheduled for completion by 2009.

The Port Authority is in the middle of the environmental review process for the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which is being developed in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration.

A temporary PATH station opened at the World Trade Center site on November 23, 2003. The temporary station – the final piece of the Port Authority’s $566 million program to restore PATH service as quickly as possible between New Jersey and Lower Manhattan – was the first public space to open within the World Trade Center site since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Ridership at the temporary World Trade Center PATH station already is exceeding initial projections.

The temporary station is an open-air facility that provides a basic level of passenger service. It does not include many of the customer amenities that existed in the World Trade Center PATH station prior to September 11, 2001, such as heating, air conditioning and rest rooms. Those customer amenities will be restored in the permanent World Trade Center Transportation Hub.

The Port Authority began service in 1962 on the Port Authority Trans-Hudson system, more commonly known as PATH, after taking over the system from the bankrupt Hudson and Manhattan Railroad. The system was originally built in 1908, and the tunnels linking New York and New Jersey were the first passenger rail connections between the two states.

Before September 11, 2001, the PATH rapid-transit rail system of 13 stations carried approximately 260,000 daily passengers between New York and New Jersey. Today, PATH carries approximately 180,000 daily passengers. Prior to September 11, 2001, approximately 67,000 daily passengers boarded PATH at the World Trade Center.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey operates many of the busiest and most important transportation links in the region. They include John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia and Teterboro airports; AirTrain JFK and AirTrain Newark; the George Washington Bridge; the Lincoln and Holland tunnels; the three bridges between Staten Island and New Jersey; the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) rapid-transit rail system; the Downtown Manhattan Heliport; Port Newark; the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal; the Howland Hook Marine Terminal on Staten Island; the Brooklyn Piers/Red Hook Container Terminal; and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan. The agency also owns the 16-acre World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. The Port Authority is financially self-supporting and receives no tax revenue from either state.

-----

An even larger rendering:
http://www.panynj.gov/images_2004/hub_rendering.jpg

And the maestro:
http://www.panynj.gov/images_2004/hub_Calatrava.jpg

And a Powerpoint Presentation on the Transit Hub:
Click here! (http://www.panynj.gov/images_2004/wtc_hub_present.ppt)

edit: Does anybody know what building slide 6 in the powerpoint presentation is? I'm racking my mind but I can't figure it out. It's not Grand Central and it's not the current Penn Station. So where is it? Is it even in NYC?

FerrariEnzo

January 22nd, 2004, 11:21 PM

boybaha: The NYTimes article says it's the size of a city block, which is a substantial piece of real estate. It's airy and spacious. I think it's going to be those grand spaces that will make you think "whoah....." I mean that interiorl rendering looks entirely awe inspiring and GRAND.

I see your point but the fact is the LOT is a city block large not the structure. It abrely fills 1/3 of the space. I did however look at the people like you said and it seems larger.

JMGarcia

January 22nd, 2004, 11:54 PM

Most of it is underground. In this shot ground level is where the glass starts above the second balcony. It'll be quite something looking down into it IMO. :)

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/01/22/nyregion/22cnd-path.650.jpg

GreatSky

January 23rd, 2004, 12:08 AM

Calatrava is definitely one of my favorite architects. His work is astounding!

Ekues

January 23rd, 2004, 03:21 PM

I think that the desing is not very especial in the work of Calatrava. Its not origianl.

This is th metro statio of Alameda in Valencia (spain)
http://www.calatrava.com/slides/alameda_station_01.jpg
http://www.calatrava.com/slides/alameda_station_03.jpg
http://www.calatrava.com/slides/alameda_station_04.jpg
http://www.calatrava.com/slides/alameda_station_07.jpg http://www.calatrava.com/slides/alameda_station_06.jpg

Or the airport of Bilbao:

http://www.calatrava.com/slides/sondica_airport_07.jpg
http://www.calatrava.com/slides/sondica_airport_02.jpg
http://www.calatrava.com/slides/sondica_airport_04.jpg

control+c contro+v :D

sorry for my english

New Jack City

January 23rd, 2004, 10:44 PM

I think Ekeus makes a good point in saying that this transit hub by Calatrava isn't really original, but then again to me, most of Calatrava's overall concepts in his work are all similar when it comes down to it.

I don't love or hate and am neutral when it comes to Calatrava's style and work, so I pretty much don't have an opinion on the transit hub.

Anyway, here's more...

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-01/11101157.jpg

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/images/news/73t_gt_calatrava_close_lg.jpg

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/images/news/73t_gt_calatrava_insite_sm.jpg

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/images/news/73t_gt_calatrava_model_clos.jpg

New Jack City

January 23rd, 2004, 11:55 PM

NY1

Mixed Reviews From The Public Follow Unveiling Of New Transit Hub Design

The design for the World Trade Center transit hub is unveiled, and wins mixed reviews from the public. NY1's Amanda Farinacci has the story.

It’s not supposed to be an eagle, but it is the soaring future of transportation in Lower Manhattan. We asked some commuters what they thought about plans for the new transit hub:

“I think it looks kind of like a skeleton,” said one woman. “Actually, now that I'm looking at it, like maybe dinosaur bones?”

“It's like from the World Trade Center,” offered one man. “Falling building, you see?”

“I like the idea like he's going to have light coming down,” said another man. “It's kind of like giving hope, in retrospect to what happened, like shining light.”

While the design includes glass, steel, concrete, light and green spaces, some commuters still say they'd like to see something more familiar.

“It doesn't look like the way it was,” said one man. “I'd like to see some of that come back.

“They should do it just the way it was before, and not try to do something different,” said a woman.

While commuters we spoke with had mixed reviews about the permanent PATH station, civic leaders were quick to point out that Santiago Calatrava's design seems to fit in well with the overall master plan.

“It marks the wedge of light in a way that's not just a sheer wall,” said Ric Bell of the American Institute of Architects. “It talks to how that moment in time is memorialized by light and not just concrete stone. The Freedom Tower with Tower One, One Fulton Street – whatever it winds up being called – it marks the path of movement.”

“It transforms that space into something that's not only the 21st century but has the history of the site, all the memory that we could possibly encompass in this one particular site,” said Madelyn Wils of Community Board 1.

“It improves the concept that was in the master plan, and that's just the way it should be,” said Bob Yaro of Regional Plan Association.

With all the major pieces of the World Trade Center site – the master plan, the memorial, and the transportation hub – unveiled. We now have a very real sense of what our future will look like.

New Jack City

January 24th, 2004, 05:21 PM

Poll on NY1 about transit hub:

http://www.ny1.com/ny/Polls/index.html?topicintid=15&subtopicintid=141&pollactivequestionintid=1263

The numbers on the poll are simply amazing. I've never seen such a majority dominate one side of a poll like this in any poll in the rebuilding process.

The poll asks:

Do you like the design of the new WTC transit hub?

Right now the results are:

Yes: 93% (2118 votes)
No: 6% (137 votes)

JMGarcia

January 24th, 2004, 05:45 PM

Here's a link to a good animation of it.

http://real.ny1.com:8080/ramgen/real3/RM00090F81_040122_155056hi.rm

jada

January 28th, 2004, 10:36 PM

I love it I love it! I would travel to NYC just for the opportunity to see some of Calatrava's architecture. This is the same reason that I would visit Valencia or Milwaukee. I am a big fan, and any of Calatrava's ideas should be highly encoraged!

crunch

January 29th, 2004, 02:05 AM

I really don't like it. I would go as far as to say that it makes me uneasy. It looks like a piece of an airplane. Not only does contain amazing similarities to a certain other project (http://www.mam.org), but with the way it looks, thinking back to a lot of the pictures that came out in the days after 9|11, it's making me ill.

New Jack City

February 1st, 2004, 03:49 AM

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/02/01/arts/KIMM.450.jpg

Philip Cronin

February 7th, 2004, 06:18 AM

I think it looks splendid: so much better than Norman Foster's wretched extension to St Pancras for the Eurostar trains that it being built in London.

It is much better for an architect to play variations on a distinctive style than to make random gestures in the vain pursuit of originality in every building. Even those Spanish metro stations shown as poor examples of his work look good to me: so much better than the overrated brutalist new stations on our Jubilee Line extension.

Byron

February 8th, 2004, 12:16 AM

Wow, too bad he couldnt have designed the actual buildings they would have been spectacular.

Prestonian

February 9th, 2004, 08:48 PM

Is there no end to the genius of this man. This is going to be a stunning addition to New York. The whole WTC area is going to contain some fantastic and vibrant architecture from two of the worlds greates names in Architecture IMO. I think Calatrava is my favourtie architect of the moment, his style isso elegant and beautiful, I think his work does take the breath away. It seems to have a strange sort of eery elegance about it, perhaps the organic forms?

I think some interesting 'concerns' have been made. The one about the bones I found a bit uncomfortable, and I can see what was meant. Other critiscms about th elack of life are too premature, fill the place with a few hundred/thousand people and it'll look different. A few stalls and shops and a bit of colour would make it look stunning. I think the idea with these renders is to give the impression of the light and space.

I think this will be an important building for NYC, a true architectural landmark and catalyst for re-newal. I hope it boosts public transport too. I'd like, when visiting New York for the first time (hopefully in a few years), to arrive in that station, what better way :) (other than the ferry perhaps ;) ).

FerrariEnzo

February 9th, 2004, 10:55 PM

Anyone know the time-table for this project??

freson

February 11th, 2004, 06:18 PM

:puke:
More about the same. Calatrava is the king of Copy&Paste

New Jack City

February 12th, 2004, 09:13 PM

It does look similar to Calatrava's other work, but all of Calatrava's designs all have a basic concept, it's constantly seen in his work.

That said, Calatrava's concepts are definetely unique and new to NYC which is why I think it'll work.

crunch

February 13th, 2004, 11:35 AM

Originally posted by freson

:puke:
More about the same. Calatrava is the king of Copy&Paste

So is Ghery.

New Jack City

April 17th, 2004, 06:05 PM

NY1

Architect Says Money May Be An Issue In Building PATH Station At WTC Site

http://www.ny1.com/Content/images/live/61/120176.jpg

APRIL 16TH, 2004

The architect of the proposed permanent PATH station at the World Trade Center says money could be the project's biggest obstacle.

Santiago Calatrava talked about his design for the station at a New York Building Congress forum Friday. The architect says the project's $2 billion budget may not be enough to maintain his design.

“It is a question of making a balance between the expression of the building and the quality we want to deliver, and also the real reality of the scheme in which we are involved, and also of capturing the right scale to deliver the very best for the money we have at this point,” said Calatrava.

The Port Authority, which runs the PATH train, expects the final design to be completed next spring. It will be built in two or possibly three stages, with the new station opening in 2006.

The temporary station opened last November. It is the busiest station in the PATH system, averaging more than 30,000 riders a day.

Agglomeration

April 18th, 2004, 01:39 AM

If Silverstein were to lose his insurance case (and seriously I hope he does lose) he'd have only about $3.5 billion to rebuild with. If the PA officials had any sense they would pressure him to focus on building the $2B terminal first instead of the way-too-short Freedumb Tower. After all, the Port Authority is a transit agency first and foremost.

New Jack City

August 27th, 2004, 10:18 PM

NY Times

Ground Zero Items Added to Plans for Transit Hub

By DAVID W. DUNLAP

Published: August 27, 2004

A 66-foot-long, travertine-paved remnant of the original World Trade Center concourse - still used every day by hundreds of commuters walking between the Eighth Avenue subway platforms and the PATH station - will be permanently preserved as part of the new trade center transportation hub, the Port Authority said yesterday.

The authority also said it would salvage a fluorescent orange memorial marking from the stairwell of the underground garage, uncover the remaining steel stubs of the twin towers' perimeter columns and mark the edge of the north tower outline on a PATH platform that will one day cover one corner of the tower's footprint.

In announcing these and other preservation measures, the Port Authority hoped to defuse the almost simultaneous announcement by the Coalition of 9/11 Families that it was suing the authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation in federal court to stop construction at ground zero until the agencies "adhere to their legally binding commitments to satisfy historic preservation requirements."

Although ground zero appears at first glance to have been swept clean of trade center remnants, there are, in fact, many architectural features and structural outcroppings - some small and quite subtle - that speak to the site's history.

Saving these remnants will add to the cost and complexity of an already challenging reconstruction project, so there has long been tension between redevelopment officials and preservationists over how much to keep or salvage. They have also battled over the extent to which state agencies are adhering to requirements of federal preservation law.

"We have to be constantly, diligently, aggressively on their case about all the historic preservation issues," said Anthony Gardner of the Coalition of 9/11 Families. "Otherwise, the historic integrity of the World Trade Center would be destroyed."

The authority and the corporation said in a statement that they had "worked closely with the coalition and other stakeholders" to preserve the historical significance and dignity of the site and were "deeply disappointed" that the coalition filed suit.

Originally, the Port Authority planned to demolish the remaining segment of the trade center concourse to accommodate the permanent terminal, in part because there will be a 14-foot difference in floor levels. But Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the authority, said yesterday that as a result of suggestions during a federally required historical review, the entire segment would be preserved and joined to the new building by stairs or escalators. It will still serve as a conduit between the PATH station and the subway.

A new PATH platform in the permanent hub will cover about 1,600 square feet of the north tower footprint. The tower outline will be indicated on the platform, perhaps with colored tiles, Mr. Coleman said.

In the garage, which is being demolished to make way for the Freedom Tower, the authority had earlier committed to saving two smoke- and heat-damaged columns and a section of wall labeled "Yellow Parking B2." It has now expanded the salvage list to include a staircase handrail and a fluorescent orange heart and cross, evidently an impromptu memorial to electrical workers who died in the attack. It may also save a ceiling beam stenciled "Ponya," for the Port of New York Authority, as the agency was called when the trade center was under construction.

Mr. Coleman said the authority would dig as many tower column stubs as possible out from under layers of dirt and gravel, probably in October. This will permit relatives of the attack victims to visit the site and trace much more exactly where the towers stood. The column remnants will also be documented.

Mr. Gardner was unappeased. "In terms of documentation of the remains of the footprints," he said yesterday, "this should have been done months ago and could have been done months ago."

TICONLA1

September 13th, 2004, 08:36 AM

I sure hope that the plans for the other towers in this project do not detract from this magnificent design, Bravo ..... a true work of large scale art in it's highest form, the best part of the world trade center plans i've seen so far, truely a landmark for New York City . Sunlight to the bottom tracks .....................awesome!!!!!

roadtomadrid

October 22nd, 2004, 10:45 PM

the new creation of mr. calatrava, now in Madrid, in Castilla Place, near Kio Towers
http://estaticos.elmundo.es/elmundo/imagenes/2004/10/21/1098360330_0.jpg
is a cilindric tube with movement of 120 m.
http://www.telefonica.net/web2/psycotrop2/ObeliscoPlazaCastilla.jpg
the new symbol the city of MADRID :eek2:

New Jack City

April 24th, 2005, 05:09 PM

This image was posted before, but I don't think in this size and quality:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/04/22/arts/23calatrava.large3.jpg
The transportation hub for the World Trade Center site.

Ellatur

April 25th, 2005, 03:35 AM

ooh nice. but that rendering makes the building look lower than i thought it would be

Jonathan_Hakala

July 12th, 2005, 06:50 PM

Yet another great World Trade Center scoop yesterday (July 11, 2005) from our friends at http://www.curbed.com :
-----
"Our friends at The Gutter, Curbed's architectural backwater, hear things. Sad things. Unfortunate things. Tragic things:
We can now confirm our worst fears and fondest hopes: the campaign to build Santiago Calatrava's flapping PATH station is every bit as [expletive deleted] up as those to erect the Freedom Center, Freedom Tower, or the 9/11 Memorial itself. Our sauced source sang so sweet: the soaring glass-and-steel wings have been trimmed to mere stumps (think deli awning), and, worse, the entire project is now on hold pending the accrual of funds and the cessation of the architect's hissy fit."

Copyright © 2005 Curbed
-----

Architorture

July 12th, 2005, 11:40 PM

oh well, i was never too big on it anyway...it'll just add to the architect cluster fuck that is already going on at street level

7 World Trade

July 13th, 2005, 04:26 AM

sounds like calatrava's about to get the "libeskind treatment" at ground zero. i can just see him getting into a fit against the rebuilding bosses before being silenced into submission like what happened to libeskind.

looks like pataki's determination to make architectural mediocrity and banality dominate the future world trade center is extending to the transit station too.

TalB

July 14th, 2005, 01:01 AM

It didn't look that realistic anyway, so I am glad that it's gone.

7 World Trade

July 14th, 2005, 05:39 AM

i don't miss it that much either. the only reason i liked it is because it was the only thing on ground zero that didn't get touched by the hands of pataki. honestly, i don't think the design belongs well at the wtc site.

but at least it looks much better than that townhouses-in-the-sky building calatrava's gonna build. i absolutely despise that building for its negative effect on the historic south street seaport and the lower manhattan skyline as a whole. i still can't believe they're gonna build that piece of junk. if im ever mayor of nyc, i'd do anything to tear it down.

STR

July 18th, 2005, 01:38 AM

This article is based on pure rumor. No credability whatsover. Even is the transit does get changed, I bet it would be just a coincedence.

New Jack City

July 18th, 2005, 05:38 AM

Rumor or not, I really hope it doesn't happen. Seriously, out of everything thrown for the site, Calatrava's transit hub is the only thing I like, it's excellent, don't even touch it. It'll be a modern marvel.

7 World Trade

July 19th, 2005, 12:36 AM

it may be a rumor, but i wouldn't be surprised if pataki decides to tweak with the design and make it worse. he's already done that to every other things that have been proposed to be built at the wtc site.

on the other hand, this structure seems to be the only non-revised aspect of the new wtc that's actually practical. i mean, just look at the other structures proposed for the site: the uneconomical and structurally unsound garden of the world, the wedge of light that won't work as expected, the below grade memorial that the retaining wall won't be able to support, the cable-supported lattice that has never been tested out before in earlier buildings, the noisy and bird-killing windmills, the unstable off-centered spire, u name it. all these designs are impractical, and calatrava's design for the path station at least can work (even though that townhouses in the sky will become the city's biggest eyesore ever).

TICONLA1

July 21st, 2005, 10:36 PM

Well i sure hope it stays as it is, or at least in the plan. I thought it brought a great contrast to the site, (I believe the design of the office towers should be of a, right angle, banal, plain, nature.) I also liked the idea of sunlight reaching the lowest level's of the terminal, boarding the lowest track's in direct sunlight, and the slow, gentle curves of the "canopy" structure over 100' above, it brings "lightness" to the overall plan. I hope it gets built, unaltered. The "wing's" are what change this structure to a sculpture, or signature for the new WTC.

New Jack City

July 28th, 2005, 06:05 PM

The design is somewhat altered...

Approval Expected Today for Trade Center Rail Hub

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: July 28, 2005

In the name of security, Santiago Calatrava's bird has grown a beak. Its ribs have doubled in number and its wings have lost their interstices of glass.

The revised design of Mr. Calatrava's birdlike World Trade Center transportation hub and PATH terminal, which is expected to be approved today by the Port Authority board, appears at first to be nearly identical to the concept unveiled in 2004. But subtle changes have occurred to buttress the building against bombings and to control costs.

"We looked at various security enhancements around the base and how to fortify it," said Anthony R. Coscia, chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. "Those things were all done in a way that stayed faithful to the original vision."

Mr. Coscia said that the revised design had been reviewed by the New York Police Department and by James K. Kallstrom, who is overseeing security at the site for New York State, and that "everybody is comfortable" with the new plans.

The board is to vote today on the overall project and on the authority's $300 million contribution to the $2.2 billion budget. (The $1.9 billion balance comes from the Federal Transit Administration.)

Groundbreaking is scheduled in September, and the terminal is to open in 2009. Mr. Calatrava is also designing what would be the nation's tallest building, in Chicago. He is working on the trade center project with STV and DMJM Harris.

Their revisions are nowhere close to the alterations made recently to the proposed Freedom Tower at the trade center site, which was fundamentally redesigned after objections raised by the police. But the main transit hall, between Church and Greenwich Streets, will almost certainly lose some of its delicate quality, while gaining structural expressiveness. It may now evoke a slender stegosaurus more than it does a bird.

There are still 150-foot-high wings on either side of the hall's tapering arc, but there will not be glass or any other material between the ribs. The wings will still open on nice spring and summer days, and ceremonially every Sept. 11, exposing the concourse below to the open sky. But the width of the maximum opening has shrunk to about 30 feet from 45 feet.

Twice as many steel ribs will enclose the transit hall in the revised design. By reducing the space between the ribs to 5½ feet from 11, the designers have cut down on the amount of glass that would be exposed to a blast. The ribs themselves would create a protective shadow, depending on the angle of the explosion.

New beaklike prows - it is difficult to avoid zoomorphism when describing Mr. Calatrava's architecture - will extend from the Church Street end of the main transit hall. This hardened prow, about 25 feet long, will protect a critical structural juncture.

A solid wall more than three feet high will ring the base of the transit hall, where the glass bays once almost reached the pavement, and the hall itself will shrink in length to less than 330 feet from 360 feet. This will increase the distance between the hall and surrounding streets, a key means of limiting destruction from vehicle-borne bombs.

Inside, a cluster of escalators and elevators has been shifted from the west end of the concourse, opening views from the transit hall into the mezzanine beyond. Because the concourse is only 12 feet higher than the mezzanine, the designers can eliminate "PATH Hill," an imposing bank of escalators common to the original PATH station of 1971 and the temporary station of 2003.

But they are preserving the remnants of the travertine-paved vestibule that once led from the trade center shopping concourse to the E train terminus at Chambers Street.

Gov. George E. Pataki said in a statement: "Santiago Calatrava's inspiring initial design concept has endured despite security concerns, master plan revisions and cost issues. This is a testament to the brilliance of the design."

Speaking for New Jersey residents who make up the great majority of PATH riders, Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey focused on more practical features "that will make commuting more convenient and more pleasant, like retail space for errands on the way home and easier links to the ferries and subways."

Ellatur

July 28th, 2005, 07:40 PM

at least its not scrapped totally :) but it sucks to hear the transparency and some of the elegance is gonna be gone

BigMac

July 29th, 2005, 05:11 PM

New York Times
July 29, 2005

Architect Finds Spot for Flag Found in Ruins of 9/11 Site

By DAVID W. DUNLAP

On his way to present a revised design of the World Trade Center PATH terminal and transportation hub to the Port Authority board yesterday, the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava made an unexpected discovery that may add an important memorial symbol to the future train station at ground zero.

Outside the boardroom, he spied an 8-by-12-foot American flag in a frame that almost fills an entire wall. The flag had flown over the main plaza of the trade center on Sept. 11, 2001, and survived in tatters. Mr. Calatrava was inspired.

A short while later, narrating a slide presentation to the board, he came to an image of a blank wall at the west end of the terminal mezzanine. "We would like to suspend a very symbolic object," he said. "It could be the flag who is hanging here in this house."

After Mr. Calatrava described the modifications made in the terminal design to increase security, the board approved the $2.221 billion project. Asked about displaying the trade center flag in the mezzanine, Kenneth J. Ringler Jr., the executive director of the authority, said, "I think it's a great idea."

"It would demonstrate the resiliency of Americans to the thousands and thousands of people who would be going through that transportation center every day," he said.

Mr. Calatrava said he had been thinking of placing a painting of the flag by Jasper Johns in the mezzanine until he spotted the trade center flag.

The flag was buried under rubble for three days after the Sept. 11 attack and torn in several places. It was surrendered by its rescuers to a National Guard colonel for ceremonial destruction, according to the authority. Instead, the colonel returned the flag to the Port Authority.

It flew over Yankee Stadium during the 2001 World Series and was displayed at the 2002 Super Bowl in New Orleans and at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. It was also used at memorial services. Today, still dirtied, the rips still visible but stitched closed, the flag hangs at the authority's headquarters on Park Avenue South.

The flag would not be the only memorial element in the terminal. The two wings that form the top of the main transit hall at Church and Fulton Streets are intended to open to the sky on the anniversary of the attack. The long axis of the hall follows the Wedge of Light embodied in Daniel Libeskind's master plan, describing the sun's angle at 10:28 a.m. on 9/11, when the south tower collapsed.

"The building itself embodies the idea of the 11th of September," Mr. Calatrava said.

In the modified design by Mr. Calatrava and the firms STV and DMJM Harris, the amount of glass over the transit hall has been reduced while supporting structural elements have been increased or made more blast-resistant.

Groundbreaking is scheduled Sept. 6. The terminal is to open in 2009. Anthony G. Cracchiolo, the director of priority capital programs at the authority, told the board members, "We are now ready to build."

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

BigMac

July 29th, 2005, 05:16 PM

Newsday
July 29, 2005

WTC transit hub design steeled, yet still light

BY PRADNYA JOSHI
STAFF WRITER

World-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava unveiled a modified design hardened for security reasons of the planned World Trade Center transit hub for downtown Manhattan to the Port Authority board Thursday.

The $2.22-billion hub will keep its iconic birdlike "wings" but twice as many steel beams at the base have been added since Calatrava first unveiled his concept a year and a half ago. In addition, some of the glass that adorned the wings of the structure has been removed but glass remains on the "ribs" to allow light to come through.

The station's shape has been compared to an armadillo, a fish skeleton, a winged dinosaur and many other creatures with its comblike needles jutting out into the sky. But critically, the design has won much praise in helping to restore lower Manhattan's center of transportation and commerce.

Calatrava himself said he was inspired by the crown of the Statue of Liberty in designing the shape of the building. The revised terminal is just a little narrower at the base (now 330 feet instead of 360 feet) and is as high as 150 feet from the sidewalk. Calatrava stressed that his vision for the site has not changed, but that he has just made some modifications to address engineering, security and feasibility issues.

The design is meant to express how Sept. 11 "changed the life of the city, the lives of many people, the life of the nation," Calatrava told the Port Authority board. He also hoped to hang the American flag recovered from the ashes of Ground Zero in the center of the concourse.

Slated to open in December 2009, the hub will have up to 200,000 square feet of retail space and will serve as a gateway for several subway lines as well as the PATH trains and will eventually connect to the planned $6-billion JFK rail link via the Long Island Rail Road.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey also approved spending $221 million for the center, clearing the way for a post-Labor Day groundbreaking on Sept. 6. The rest of the $1.9 billion for the estimated cost will come from the Federal Transit Authority.

The hub's ceiling has been designed to open to the sky using hydraulic motors on Sept. 11 and on other days the Port Authority designates. That feature is similar to Calatrava's design for the Milwaukee Art Museum, which "flaps" its wings every day at noon.

"He is an architect and engineer but he is truly an artist," said Port Authority president Ken Ringler.

Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.

From the Port Authority website:

http://www.panynj.gov/AboutthePortAuthority/PressCenter/PressReleases/PressRelease/images/WTC_hub1d.jpg

http://www.panynj.gov/AboutthePortAuthority/PressCenter/PressReleases/PressRelease/images/WTC_Hub_Nightd.jpg

http://www.panynj.gov/AboutthePortAuthority/PressCenter/PressReleases/PressRelease/images/WTC_Hub_InteriorOpend.jpg

http://www.panynj.gov/AboutthePortAuthority/PressCenter/PressReleases/PressRelease/images/WTC_Hub_interiord.jpg

bagel

July 29th, 2005, 10:22 PM

Those interior shots actually remind me of the ground level lobbies of the twin towers with all the light going through the ribbing. I wonder if this was an intentional homage?

Washingtonian

July 30th, 2005, 02:29 AM

I think it still looks fantastic.

cincobarrio

July 30th, 2005, 06:05 AM

I actually like the new design better because the wings of the hub look a little more streamlined than the older design - does anyone agree?

New Jack City

August 2nd, 2005, 02:45 AM

I like the new design better too, it looks much smoother and organized.

Comparisons of old and new...

Old:

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2005-07/18699496.jpg

New:

http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2005-07/18698071.jpg

Old:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/04/22/arts/23calatrava.large3.jpg

New:

http://www.panynj.gov/AboutthePortAuthority/PressCenter/PressReleases/PressRelease/images/WTC_Hub_InteriorOpend.jpg

BigMac

August 5th, 2005, 03:25 PM

Good news: BPC from Wired NY reports that Calatrava told Charlie Rose that construction on the terminal will begin September 7.

Dale

August 5th, 2005, 05:07 PM

^ Wow ! Something getting done at Ground Zero ! Will wonders never cease ?

BigMac

August 11th, 2005, 07:19 PM

Slide Show (http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/album.asp?album_id=35&position=1)

http://www.lowermanhattan.info/construction/gallery/photos/wtc_th_0805_opener.jpg

7 World Trade

August 12th, 2005, 12:56 AM

the new revision IS better! it has a look that suggests of a graceful fountain, and looks more solid than the previous design.

for the second time, a redesign of a new wtc complex component actually looks better than its predecessor. finally, a structure to look forward to! (the new FT's still unacceptable to me until they give that base some real windows instead of just tiny slits)

construction's starting 9/7? man, it'd better not just be another groundbreaking-then-leaving-it-as-is-for-months kind of thing.

BigMac

September 6th, 2005, 04:35 PM

NY1
September 6, 2005

Officials Set To Break Ground On World Trade Transport Hub

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/images/live/86/171504.jpg

With the fourth anniversary of the September 11th attacks just days away, the rebuilding process in Lower Manhattan is set to take another step forward Tuesday with a ground-breaking ceremony for the new World Trade Center transportation hub.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor George Pataki, Senator Hillary Clinton and other city, state, and federal officials are expected to attend.

When complete, the hub will connect PATH trains, all downtown subways and ferries. The project will also reportedly include the protection of remaining columns of the Twin Towers.

Spanish designer Santiago Calatrava designed the building in the shape of a bird in flight.

Because of security concerns, the original design was changed to include less glass and to set it further back from the street.

The hub should be complete by 2009 at a cost of more than $2 billion.

Copyright © 2005 NY1 News

BigMac

September 7th, 2005, 04:15 PM

New York Times
September 7, 2005

Looking Back to Move Forward With the First New Building at the Trade Center Site

By DAVID W. DUNLAP

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/09/07/nyregion/07blocks_lg.jpg
At ground zero Tuesday, from left: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; Mayor Bloomberg; Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta; Governor Pataki; Santiago Calatrava, the terminal's designer; his daughter Sofia; and Gov. Richard J. Codey and Senator Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey.

On a cloudlessly blue Tuesday morning in September, the rhetorical foundations were laid for the first permanent public building at the World Trade Center site: a $2.21 billion PATH terminal and transportation hub with birdlike wings above ground and a spider's web of passageways below that will help link the riverfront to the financial district.

Actual construction on the terminal, designed by Santiago Calatrava, is to begin on Monday, after the fourth anniversary of the terror attack is observed. Yesterday's ceremony - set among the trade center's rugged foundation walls - drew the mayor, two governors, three executives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and four United States senators. It opened an annual season of official commemoration and mourning - one that occurs this year under the shadow of far more widespread devastation 1,100 miles away.

Trying to link these events, the speakers expressed hope that the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan in the face of what seemed like insurmountable odds might offer solace to the people of the Gulf Coast.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York described conversations with evacuees in Houston on Monday. "I was able to say to those devastated, sad and angry people: 'We will be with you. New York and America will stand with you.' And I knew I would be here this morning, so my words were not just hollow words of reassurance but based on the reality of what we are doing today."

What they were doing was not a groundbreaking, said Norman Y. Mineta, the secretary of transportation.

"The truth is, this hallowed ground has already been broken, viciously and cruelly," he said. "And so today, instead of a groundbreaking, we begin the process of filling the gaping wound left by the horrific terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001."

Mr. Calatrava introduced his design in 2004 by sketching a child releasing a bird into the air, then superimposing the bird on the terminal hall. But the transportation hub is much more than that. It will create a network of underground connections to other buildings on the trade center site, to nearby subway stations and, under West Street-Route 9A, to the World Financial Center.

"We see us as not making icons but being of help to others," Mr. Calatrava said. He is working on the trade center project with the firms STV and DMJM Harris.

The first step will be to protect the sheared-off column remnants from the twin towers with a pool-type liner and 12 inches of fill. Then a retaining wall will be built along the route of a temporary track leading to the station. Excavation will begin for the fourth PATH train platform. A trade center truck ramp that made use of an old tunnel built by the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, predecessor to PATH, will be demolished.

The new terminal and transportation hub is expected to open in 2009.

Bringing the circle to a close yesterday, Mr. Calatrava and his 10-year-old daughter, Sofia (excused from part of her first day of school at the Lycée Français of New York), released two birds into the air.

Officially described as doves, they were in fact white homing pigeons based in Nassau County, furnished by an employee of Falcon Environmental Services, which runs a program for the Port Authority that uses hawks and falcons to keep the runways at Kennedy Airport clear of other birds.

Asked about the pigeons' prospects after release, Stuart Rossell, who manages the program, said: "It should be excellent. They've always gone home before."

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/09/06/nyregion/20050907_PATHS_GRAPHICS.gif

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

New Jack City

September 7th, 2005, 11:24 PM

Great news, can't wait to see this one go up. I really haven't seen negative opinions on the transit hub, there seems to be a general overall acceptance and probably has been the least controversial part of building on the site. Should be a must see when completed.

Ellatur

September 7th, 2005, 11:30 PM

yea i never had any bad thoughts about it myself. i really hope this goes well with the plans UNALTERED

crazyevildude

September 18th, 2005, 11:38 PM

I love the design, it's probably my favourite part of the WTC rebuild. It's very modern and I think that shows a forward thinking attitude from NY. The combination of design like this with memorials and open space allow the city to honour and remember the tragedy but to show that it is not going to be held back and perminatly damaged by it. With this they seem to have got the balance between these two things just right :).

Any pictures of activity at the site?

Ellatur

September 19th, 2005, 04:32 AM

^ it is my favorite part of the WTC rebuilding also. the others just deteriated into something altogether crappy (imHo :) )

New Jack City

October 14th, 2005, 08:42 PM

Here we go again...

1010 Wins

9/11 Families Sue Over PATH Project

Oct 14, 2005 1:53 pm US/Eastern

(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK) Families of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks want to block construction of a station for commuter trains between New Jersey and Manhattan, saying it would intrude on the footprints of the fallen World Trade Center towers, a coalition member said Friday.

A lawsuit seeking to stop the construction of the permanent station for the Port Authority Trans-Hudson service commonly known as PATH trains was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Thursday.

The Coalition of 9/11 Families Inc. brought the action against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the 16-acre site where the trade center stood, and federal transit agencies that are funding the building of the PATH station.

Construction on the transportation hub, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, began on Sept. 12. Part of the five-level station, which would connect several downtown subway lines with the PATH trains to New Jersey at the trade center site, would build over part of the footprint to the south tower, the lawsuit said.

While the families always knew that about half of the south tower would be covered by the PATH development, the latest plans propose extra train tracks that were never there before Sept. 11 and extra platform, said Anthony Gardner, a member of the coalition who filed suit. The changes would cover a greater part of the south tower and encroach upon the north tower footprint, he said.

``They've never justified the need for this extra platform,'' Gardner said Friday. ``The priority is the commercial and then the history is secondary.''

The lawsuit said the proposed PATH terminal should be rejected because there are feasible alternatives that would not intrude on a historic site.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Steve Coleman said Friday the agency hadn't been served with the lawsuit and doesn't typically comment on lawsuits against it.

cincobarrio

October 15th, 2005, 09:51 PM

Construction on the transportation hub, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, began on Sept. 12. Part of the five-level station, which would connect several downtown subway lines with the PATH trains to New Jersey at the trade center site, would build over part of the footprint to the south tower, the lawsuit said.
-eek- i wasn't aware of that.

alexx02

October 15th, 2005, 10:42 PM

paul.skyscrapercity

October 16th, 2005, 04:49 PM

I wish the 9/11 family members went against the construction of the freedom tower, and the other towers

crazyevildude

October 24th, 2005, 01:37 AM

The familes of those who died on 9/11 have no right to impede on the construction of the WTC as they have. There should be a director, pushing through a firm vision, not this mish mash of bullshit sentimentality that we have presently. Keep it simple, and bold. Not private rooms for the familes, and all else we are hearing. It's become ridiculous. I understand, and feel for the families, however, this project is in gridlock. Enough is enough.

I agree, enough is enough. I understand that the famillies are still devastated but this is just going to far. And to be honest, to be sueing them it sounds like they are just trying to line their pockets some more. **sigh** NY apprently isn't capable of rising up and being its former self, even 4+ years on.

BigMac

January 26th, 2006, 03:32 PM

NY Newsday
January 26, 2006

Swedish company wins contract to build WTC transportation hub

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) A Swedish construction company said Thursday it had secured a $358 million contract to build the transportation hub at the World Trade Center site.

The contract, one of the largest ever for Skanska AB in the United States, was awarded by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the company said.

The announcement comes on the heels of a $133 million contract Skanska was awarded in July 2005 to take part in construction at the Fulton Street Transit Center, which will link 11 subway lines to commuter trains and ferries near the World Trade Center site.

Construction of the hub, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, is expected to be in operation by 2009, the company said.

Copyright Newsday Inc.

TalB

February 2nd, 2006, 09:39 PM

Some recent shots of the tranist hub from the PA's site

http://www.panynj.gov/drp/images/gallery/wtcth/2006/01/RetainingWall_01.jpg
http://www.panynj.gov/drp/images/gallery/wtcth/2006/01/RetainingWall_08.jpg

LeCom

February 3rd, 2006, 04:41 AM

Ain't that the first concrete structure that actually became the first thing on the site to go up as a permanent renovation?

TalB

February 4th, 2006, 05:53 AM

Team Wins $1.1-Billion Award To Rebuild WTC Transit Hub

Engineering News-Record
February 6, 2006

By Debra K. Rubin, with Aileen Cho

http://enr.construction.com/images2/2006/02/060206-15.jpg
Permanent transit hub will replace temporary station at Ground Zero. (Photo by Michael Goodman for ENR)

Observers in New York City criticize the slow pace of many Ground Zero reconstruction projects, noting the new transportation hub as the exception. But it still took extra months of negotiating to finally reach agreement on that job’s $1.1-billion construction contract, awarded Jan. 26.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has awarded the unusual construction management-general contractor contract to Phoenix Constructors, a joint venture of Fluor Corp. Alisa Viejo, Calif. and Slattery Skanska Inc., Whitestone, N.Y., with Granite Construction Northeast Inc., and Bovis Lend Lease, New York City, as minority partners. The team bested the project’s only other competitor, BTKT, a joint venture led by Bechtel Group Inc., San Francisco, with Kiewit Corp., Omaha, and Turner Construction and Tully Construction, both New York City-based. Says one participant: “Both teams were very good. The client had two good choices.”

Under the winning team’s arrangement, Fluor and Skanska each will hold a 32.5% share of the contract; Granite’s share is 20% and Bovis 15%, officials say. Fluor Senior Vice President Robert Prieto will be principal-in-charge of the team, with Gary Winsper, a Skanska executive that ran the Air Train transit link project at Kennedy Airport for the Port Authority, will be project manager.

Project officials say the job’s unique financing and the unusual contract arrangement for the owner delayed the construction award, which had been expected since September. The CM/GC is a first for the agency, with the infusion of federal money an added factor. “It was complicated,” says a Port Authority official. The Federal Transit Administration is set to cover all but about $300 million of the transit hub’s $2.2-billion cost, says one official. The project’s guaranteed maximum price now is being negotiated. Phoenix says it will self-perform some construction work, but will use subcontractor for most of it.

The construction team will build the signature design of architect Santiago Calatrava in conjunction with engineers DMJM + Harris and STV Group Inc. The station will serve the Trans-Hudson subway between Manhattan and New Jersey and also New York City subway lines via underground passages linking to the Fulton Street Transit Center. The contract, to begin later this year and finish in 2009, also includes construction management of an underpinning project that will consist of installing minipiles and structural steel framing within and around the subway box in order to create a support structure.

© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

brianlee

November 8th, 2006, 02:40 PM

U guys just like complaining about faults in the design and that the design is not good in certain ways...but have you ever sat back and admired the station?? Well, it might resemble other station designed by Calatrava, but have you ever wondered that this station will be the greatest, grandest and most honourable station ever to be built and that it will truly symbolise the spirit of Americans and their fight-to-the-end attitude??

Don't you know that millions of people around the world will visit New York just to see this wonderful icon? Do you want them to have an impression that of a beautiful masterpiece or a contreversial icon that even the Americans themselves don't adore?? Where is your spirit??

Instead of quarrelling over the no-nos of this station, can't you guys ever appreciate that this station is going to symbolise Freedom? Why can't you ever be proud of something that is going to symbolise you and instead of debating over it, show and tell the world that Americans are not to be messed with and that you guys won't give up so easily just after a terrible loss??

I mean I'm only 14 years old and I'm from the tiny Island of Singapore which some of you wouldn't even know but I can definitely assure you that our Singaporean Spirit is much much better and greater, especially after a crisis...yours being the 911 attacks and ours being the 1997 economic crisis and the 2003 SARS Virus outbreaks...

You guys should be proud that your city is going to be remembered thanks to the wonderful transit hub and that you all give each other a pat on the back in the form of encouragement and a sense of achievement!!!

Daquan13

November 9th, 2006, 03:57 PM

New Jack City

November 19th, 2006, 02:52 AM

^That article was posted last month of last year.

Daquan13

November 19th, 2006, 05:17 AM

Sorry about that, but I think it's all the same to me.

Because this year has also seen extreme hatred and bitterness from some of the 09-11 relatives!!

1. Earlier this year, some of them wanted the memorial's construction stopped when THEY were the main ones who chose the design. Something about the underground portion that they didn't like.

2. Some of them wanted the PATH Station's construction stopped because they said it had infringed on one of the Twin Towers' footprint's.

3. Then some of them wanted the dismantling of the DBB stopped when it was learned that some of their loved ones' remains were found in the building.

4. The lastest fiasco came as recently as last month when some of them again wanted the construction progress to rebuild Ground Zero stopped because some of their loved ones' remains were found in a manhole.

I strongly realise and symphathise with them that they want some closure, but trying to have the rebuild stopped just isn't the answer.

TalB

November 21st, 2006, 11:30 PM

U guys just like complaining about faults in the design and that the design is not good in certain ways...but have you ever sat back and admired the station?? Well, it might resemble other station designed by Calatrava, but have you ever wondered that this station will be the greatest, grandest and most honourable station ever to be built and that it will truly symbolise the spirit of Americans and their fight-to-the-end attitude??
This is just your opinion, and that can change depending on who is looking at it.

Don't you know that millions of people around the world will visit New York just to see this wonderful icon? Do you want them to have an impression that of a beautiful masterpiece or a contreversial icon that even the Americans themselves don't adore?? Where is your spirit??
NYC is home to many places, and I doubt that everyone will come around the world just see this new station.

Instead of quarrelling over the no-nos of this station, can't you guys ever appreciate that this station is going to symbolise Freedom? Why can't you ever be proud of something that is going to symbolise you and instead of debating over it, show and tell the world that Americans are not to be messed with and that you guys won't give up so easily just after a terrible loss??
Just b/c I don't like the design does not mean that I am against freedom.

I mean I'm only 14 years old and I'm from the tiny Island of Singapore which some of you wouldn't even know but I can definitely assure you that our Singaporean Spirit is much much better and greater, especially after a crisis...yours being the 911 attacks and ours being the 1997 economic crisis and the 2003 SARS Virus outbreaks...

You guys should be proud that your city is going to be remembered thanks to the wonderful transit hub and that you all give each other a pat on the back in the form of encouragement and a sense of achievement!!!
People will forget about these events through time.

Daquan13

November 22nd, 2006, 03:05 PM

TalB, what DO you like about the things planned for Ground Zero, anything at all?

TalB

February 10th, 2007, 03:00 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/09/nyregion/09transit.html
Rising Costs Prompt Changes in Transit Hub at Ground Zero

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: February 9, 2007

Faced with construction cost estimates up to $1.2 billion over budget, the Port Authority said yesterday that it would re-engineer, but not fundamentally alter, the birdlike World Trade Center transportation hub designed by Santiago Calatrava.

The budget was set four years ago at $2.2 billion. The contractor for the project, Phoenix Constructors, now estimates that it will cost from $2.7 billion to $3.4 billion to build the hub, a greatly enlarged version of the current PATH terminal.

“We have notified Phoenix that costs so substantially above the original budget for the hub are simply unacceptable,” Anthony E. Shorris, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said in a memorandum to the chairman, Anthony R. Coscia.

Mr. Shorris went on to say that the goal would be to manage the project costs “while preserving the overall integrity of the design, including retaining the signature ‘wing’ component at street level.”

The authority blamed sharply rising costs of construction materials and labor for the increase. Others are feeling this pinch, too. The trade center memorial was redesigned last year to contain costs.

But questions have also been raised as to whether Mr. Calatrava’s design itself may be too extravagant for what is, basically, a commuter rail station. (Though the building is also meant to contribute to the memorial environment in which it is set.)

The hub is also exceptionally complicated. There is the winged, arched roof; the oval-shaped main transit hall; an enormous subterranean mezzanine; passenger platforms; and walkways and mechanical shafts spreading like tentacles. It is to open in phases, beginning in 2009.

In a statement issued by his office, Mr. Calatrava said he was committed to maintaining the design while managing costs. “I am confident that we can do both,” the statement said.

Mr. Shorris said in an interview, “If he can work with us — and I take him at his word — I think there are opportunities to deal with some of this without sacrificing the most striking elements of the complex.”

Asked about the retractable roof, Mr. Shorris said, “The first priority is to go after things that are not visible.” That could mean using elements of the existing terminal or reducing the size of some areas.

Mr. Shorris reported to Mr. Coscia that the Freedom Tower, the memorial and the new foundations on the east side of the trade center site “remain essentially on budget and on schedule.” He also said that the Phoenix estimates relied on outdated design drawings.

Phoenix Constructors is a joint venture of Fluor Enterprises, Slattery Skanska, Bovis Lend Lease and Granite Construction Northeast. A telephone call yesterday to a spokesman for Phoenix was not returned.

Daquan13

February 10th, 2007, 02:16 PM

They bought it, they OWN it.

I really don't want to hear their crap about they have to make some cuts because of rising construction costs.

They knew about this right from the start, so they bought the farm, now they have to feed the pigs!!!

WTC

February 15th, 2007, 02:56 AM

ok daquan this is why some people like the freedom and some dont. its because you live in boston place that has modern buildings and you like those plans but people who live in new york like the fancy old look not something with odd angles and they know when you look at new york you will see the rest of new york and then freedom tower which looks like somthing to go into hong kong. hopefully i didn't provke a fight.

Daquan13

February 15th, 2007, 09:42 AM

Doesn't matter, because NYC is a place where tall office towers make a pretty
profound statement.

So the Freedom Tower is going to be one of those buildings that will truly stand out in the crowd, and their looking to make the tower a symbolic icon towering above Lower Manhattan.

TalB

February 16th, 2007, 03:58 AM

Honestly, I think that the temporary entrance is enough for the PATH entrance and it doesn't need a lavishing stationhouse.

Daquan13

February 17th, 2007, 06:14 PM

The one that's there now, is only a bare-bones structure.

Something that was put up to necessitate reopening the PATH Station so that commuters can start using it again.

TalB

February 19th, 2007, 03:28 AM

We don't need to have something that already exists in Europe, and I am also against the new staionhouse for the new Fulton St Transit Ctr nearby as well.

TalB

May 18th, 2007, 03:53 AM

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_209/lookoutbelow.html

Train station

The temporary PATH commuter station will remain open at the W.T.C. while contractors continue to build the $2 billion commuter-subway station designed by the “poet of train stations,” Santiago Calatrava. Keeping it open during construction will require two more temporary entrances before the station opens at the end of 2009.

Next month, the Port’s contractors will demolish the station’s overhang awning entrance and recycle the valuable materials, which will help defray the project’s costs. The new entrance will move about 50 feet to the south and will stay there until December when the third temporary entrance will be built on Vesey St., on a site that is slated to get an arts center.

Is the June move the big thing Plate’s focused on now?

“There are a gazillion ‘big things,’” he said. “That’s the technical name.”

With reporting by Skye H. McFarlane

TalB

July 14th, 2007, 02:40 AM

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_218/cortlandstraphangers.html
Volume 20 Issue 9 | July 13 - 19, 2007

Cortlandt straphangers will wait another few years for reopening

The Cortlandt St. N/R station will be closed indefinitely, a representative from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority told Community Board 1 Monday night.

Besides the Cortlandt St. setback, the news Monday was mostly positive regarding progress on the M.T.A.’s Fulton Transit Hub, scheduled to open in mid-2009. New station entrances are opening, the project’s final contract has gone out to bid and the M.T.A. has pledged to exceed certain environmental requirements in its next phase of work.

The opening of the revamped Cortlandt St. N/R station was postponed six months last fall, but now, M.T.A. representative Uday Durg said, it will remain closed for the foreseeable future. The M.T.A.’s work on the station has been complete for months, but the station entrance sits within the Port Authority’s staging area for World Trade Center construction. The M.T.A. and the Port had been working to find a solution, but those efforts have not been successful. Therefore the station will stay closed until the Port is done using the site — 2009 at the earliest, according to Port representative Quentin Brathwaite.

The news at other stations is cheerier. On June 30, a new entrance to the northbound 4/5 platform opened at Maiden Ln. and Broadway. A new southbound entrance is scheduled to open across Broadway by the second week in August. Also by mid-August, four buildings along Broadway should be fully deconstructed.

A Request For Proposals has gone out for the M.T.A.’s last, and largest, contract. The final contract will include the new Fulton Transit Hub building, with an open atrium and retail corridor, as well as the completion of new ramps and underground passageways to connect 12 different subway lines in the area. The exception is the so-called E connector, which will link the Fulton hub to the W.T.C. transit hub. That passageway will now be designed and constructed by the Port Authority.

As a part of the final M.T.A. contract, the agency is requiring that all heavy trucks on the project use both ultra low sulfur diesel and exhaust filters — measures that should reduce the amount of toxic fumes in the neighborhood. That news delighted environmental advocate Catherine McVay Hughes, who chairs C.B. 1’s W.T.C. committee. Hughes has long pushed for cleaner fuel and truck filters. Although a new state law requires many public projects to use the low sulfur diesel, it does not require every truck to have an exhaust filter until 2010.

After some wheedling by Hughes, the Port representatives at the meeting agreed to at least talk to the M.T.A. about their new “above and beyond” environmental standards and to consider using those standards for future Port contracts.

— Skye H. McFarlane

New Jack City

August 11th, 2007, 07:28 AM

NY Sun

Calatrava Cost Overruns Evade Cutters

By ELIOT BROWN
Special to the Sun
August 10, 2007

http://www.nysun.com/pics/60297_main_large.jpg
A sketch of the planned PATH station at the World Trade Center site designed by architect Santiago Calatrava. The Port Authority faces up to $300 million in overruns for the project.

After months of design and engineering alterations aimed at cutting costs, the Port Authority has been unable to fully rein in expenses at the Santiago Calatrava-designed PATH Station planned for the former World Trade Center site. Despite several structural and design changes, the agency will be left with up to $300 million in overruns, according to people familiar with the plans.

Earlier this year, the Port Authority received estimates that showed the transportation hub could cost $1 billion more than the $2.2 billion that was budgeted.

The agency, controlled by commissioners appointed by the governors of New York and New Jersey, is now finalizing a plan for the station, which is expected to serve 80,000 PATH riders a day.

The new PATH station, a soaring, skeletal structure punctuated by white spires that is meant to represent a bird in flight, is one of the last major unresolved projects at ground zero. Construction of the Freedom Tower is under way, and the Port Authority has said early site preparation for the three other office towers at the site is on schedule. While the World Trade Center Memorial was forced to trim costs significantly last year, reducing its budget to about $500 million after estimates showed the price tag could hit $1 billion, the memorial is now moving forward and has nearly reached its private fund-raising goal of $350 million. Given the changes worked out in recent months, the amount of the overruns will be less than $300 million, according to one Port Authority official. A spokesman for the agency, Steven Coleman, said the designs of the PATH Station have not yet been finalized.

"This is still a work in progress and there's been no final decisions made," Mr. Coleman said.

In proposing any changes, particularly alterations that would affect the design of the station, the Port Authority is said to have met resistance from Mr. Calatrava, a world-renowned Spanish architect whose works were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art between 2005 and 2006.

Most notably, Mr. Calatrava has successfully fought to preserve a function for the station's roof, which would open and allow light to stream inside the concourse below, people with knowledge of the discussions said. Given the expense and relatively limited use of the function, the ability of the roof to open was seen as an early target for potential cost savings.

The changes to the project would be both seen and unseen, sources said, as the Port Authority altered aspects of the structure's engineering, but also pursued more noticeable changes to retail area and pedestrian access.

Despite the substantial cuts to the project cost, the overruns would leave the Port Authority paying far more than it anticipated for the project: to date it has only committed $300 million. The other $1.9 billion in the budget comes from the Federal Transit Administration, which is viewed as an unlikely source for any additional funding. A city official said the Bloomberg administration has no plans to fund the transit hub.

The high cost estimates for the station, first reported in February, were not all that surprising given the complex nature of building in the World Trade Center bathtub, the president of the Building Trades Employers' Association, Louis Coletti, said.

"It's a complicated site," Mr. Coletti said. "You might have to spend more money to shore up the slurry wall than was originally anticipated. There's always Â-- in jobs Â-- unforeseen costs."

The PATH trains now serve out of a temporary station, built in 2003. The first entrance for the temporary station was razed earlier this year, and its adjacent substitute, located by the northeast corner of ground zero, will soon be replaced by a third temporary entrance on the north end of the site.

TalB

September 8th, 2007, 10:37 PM

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09062007/news/regionalnews/costly_wtc_station_will_still_.htm
COSTLY WTC STATION WILL STILL WING IT

By TOM TOPOUSIS

September 6, 2007 -- Engineers trying to cut costs at the World Trade Center transit hub won't clip the wings of its spectacular roof, the Port Authority said yesterday.

The terminal designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava will have a roof in the shape of a pair of wings that can open and close to admit light into the main floor.

Originally projected at $2.2 billion, PA officials said earlier this year that costs for the transit hub had risen between $500 million and $1 billion over the first estimate, leading to an overhaul of the plans.

PA Executive Director Anthony Shorris said yesterday that engineers were weeks away from a final redesign, but most changes will be in subterranean structures and not the terminal or roof.

"Our goal is to bring it as close to the $2.2 billion figure that we can," Shorris said.

The federal government is picking up $1.9 billion of the terminal's costs, with the remainder to be paid by the PA.

The transit hub will serve PATH trains and include underground corridors connecting to subway lines and the WTC towers.

New Jack City

September 9th, 2007, 02:55 AM

The federal government is picking up $1.9 billion of the terminal's costs, with the remainder to be paid by the PA.

The PA needs to stop being cheap and pay up the dough for this masterpiece. They're not even paying the majority of it and are trying to cut costs and compromise the design, which is a damn shame.

Renton12

September 9th, 2007, 02:31 PM

Your not kidding about being cheap. They could build the original WTC complex but not foot the bill for this beautiful new transit station, which most of it will be govt. funded.

Daquan13

September 15th, 2007, 04:42 PM

Yeah, they're paying untold billions to help rebuild Ground Zero, so there's no need for them to start crying poor mouth now!

They should have known and expected for construction cost to rise, so they need to just let the elegant station be built and get it done with! It's a done deal.

Any backing out on their part constitutes a breach of the contract.

xlchris

September 24th, 2007, 07:41 PM

Stays a very nice building/hub! Great for NYC!

jmancuso

September 27th, 2007, 07:36 AM

The PA needs to stop being cheap and pay up the dough for this masterpiece. They're not even paying the majority of it and are trying to cut costs and compromise the design, which is a damn shame.

that's 'value engineering' for you; design something and then start removing certain things to save $$$ as well as cut a few corners.

TalB

September 28th, 2007, 09:22 PM

The transit hub was selected as the winner of the ugliest buildings at WNYC (http://www.flickr.com/photos/13926066@N06/1414287857/).

charmedone

September 29th, 2007, 03:25 AM

The transit hub was selected as the winner of the ugliest buildings at WNYC (http://www.flickr.com/photos/13926066@N06/1414287857/).

thats pobrley because alot of Santiago Calatrava buildings are pretty out there and kinda ugly like the chicago spire and 80 south street but i do like this transit hub its not some large building i say he works better with smaller buildings and such

TalB

October 19th, 2007, 09:00 PM

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10162007/business/path_station_delay_could_last_.htm
PATH STATION DELAY COULD LAST UNTIL 2012

October 16, 2007 -- THE Port Authority's new, $2.2 billion-plus PATH terminal at Ground Zero won't be finished until 2012 at the earliest - at least a year later than the PA claims, and at least three years behind the project's projected partial opening - predicts Lower Manhattan Development Corp. Chairman Avi Schick.

"I don't think anybody expects it to be done before 2012," Schick told us yesterday. "That's not a delay, it's just reality."

At a Crain's Business breakfast last week, Schick said a planned cultural building at Ground Zero couldn't be started until the new, Santiago Calatrava-designed PATH station was finished - which he said wouldn't be "until 2012 or 2013."

The bombshell somehow went overlooked by groggy early-morning guests.

Prior to this year, downtown rebuilding officials had said the dramatic new station - which is officially called the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and features bird-like "wings" that can open and close - would be finished in 2009.

More recently, the PA has said the terminal would "open in phases" starting in 2009.

The LMDC's Web site also says that it will "open" that year and be completed in 2011.

When asked to clarify the timetable, PA spokesman Mark Lavorgna said yesterday that 2009 "is the operational, opening date," with completion in 2011.

What does that mean?

"In 2009, at some point, I can walk down into the station and get on a PATH train," Lavorgna said. "But other things like the wings won't be done yet."

In other words, it might be a long time before the new station starts to resemble the images first shown to the public in 2004.

Lavorgna declined to comment on Schick's prediction the job wouldn't be finished until 2012 or 2013.

Last February, The Post's Tom Topousis reported the station's initial $2.2 billion cost - more than the budget for the 1,776-foot tall Freedom Tower - had swelled to $3.4 billion.

That prompted PA Executive Director Anthony Shorris to announce a major "value engineering effort to bring the project in close to its estimated value," while still preserving main elements of Calatrava's design.

Daquan13

October 22nd, 2007, 02:49 AM

I think Schick is right.

That's not really a delay - it's just part of the timeline, which everyone expects it to be done around that time.

About a year more in contstruction is what everyone is antisipating for each of the towers and the memorial as well.

Daquan13

October 22nd, 2007, 02:59 AM

We don't need to have something that already exists in Europe, and I am also against the new staionhouse for the new Fulton St Transit Ctr nearby as well.

Why am I not surprised? You seem to be against EVERYTHING that has to do
with the things that are planned for Ground Zero.

Now you're against the Fulton Street Transit Center as well. And please don't say that you have the right not to like the stuff. We already know that.^^

TalB

December 28th, 2007, 11:25 PM

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_242/pathhubdate.html

PATH hub date pushed back a year

The PATH transportation hub at the World Trade Center will not open until 2011, the Port Authority said last week.

In a September press briefing, Port Authority leaders said the PATH station was on schedule to open in 2009. But an end-of-year report shows that the station will not take shape until 2010 and will not be finished until 2011. The station, designed by Santiago Calatrava, will cost at least $2 billion to build.

Meanwhile, the next phase of World Trade Center work will narrow Church St., displacing pedestrians and shifting the temporary entrance to the PATH station several blocks.

Once the Port Authority turns the eastern bathtub of the World Trade Center site over to Silverstein Properties, the developer will start building the foundations of Towers 3 and 4. That construction will spill over onto the west side of Church St., the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center told the Community Board 1 Quality of Life Committee last week.

Within the next few months, the entrance to the PATH station will move from Church St. to the corner of Greenwich and Vesey Sts., said Josh Rosenbloom, director of city operations for the L.M.C.C.C. This will be the third and last temporary entrance for the station and will be in use for “several years,” Rosenbloom said, adding that the dates are not final.

“Construction of this magnitude is very complicated — things could change,” Rosenbloom said.

The Port has already started dismantling the temporary station and will begin demolishing it in earnest toward the end of the first quarter of 2008, he said.

When the PATH entrance moves, the station will no longer have an underground connection to the A, C, E or 2, 3 trains. Construction will also demolish the elevator on Church St. that currently serves both PATH trains and the subway. Port Authority will build a new elevator on Vesey St., but it will only go to the PATH station, said Steve Coleman, a Port spokesperson.

The Silverstein work will also restrict Church St. to two lanes of traffic and will move all pedestrians onto the east side of the street, from Liberty St. to Vesey St., Rosenbloom said. The restrictions will be phased in over the next six months.

Board members were concerned that the sidewalk on the east side of Church St. is already congested because of Metropolitan Transportation Authority work.

“It’s hard to walk,” board member Barry Skolnick said. “It’s going to be totally pedestrian-unfriendly.”

The M.T.A. is working at Church and Dey Sts. to build a corridor between the World Trade Center and Fulton St. transportation hubs, said spokesperson Jeremy Soffin. The work is scheduled to be complete by April.

The plan is for the Port Authority to phase in the sidewalk closure and street narrowing as M.T.A. finishes and phases out its work, Rosenbloom said.

“It’s a delicate balance,” he added. Rosenbloom would not commit to waiting for M.T.A. to finish before starting the Port Authority work.

“We’re trying to live down here,” Skolnick replied. “M.T.A. is famous for being behind schedule. I’m very concerned, and I don’t think it’s acceptable.”

— Julie Shapiro

TalB

February 2nd, 2008, 12:34 AM

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/step-by-moving-step-path-hill-takes-shape/
February 1, 2008, 11:46 am

Step by Moving Step, PATH Hill Takes Shape

By David W. Dunlap

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/31/nyregion/31PATH_01.jpg
The new "PATH Hill" escalator array at the World Trade Center site will begin serving New Jersey commuters later this year.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/31/nyregion/31PATH_02.jpg
The multilevel housing for PATH Hill as it looked in September 2007, before the escalators were installed.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/31/nyregion/31PATH_03.jpg
PATH Hill in the current temporary PATH station at the World Trade Center site.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

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The current temporary entrance to the PATH station on Church Street. This will be replaced by the new entrance, called North Access, around the corner on Vesey Street.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/31/nyregion/31PATH_05.jpg
The North Access entrance project is the aboveground structure at center and left in dark-green steel. To the right is a side view of the "Survivors' Stairway." At lower left is the concrete box through which the No. 1 subway line runs. The glass-clad tower at rear is 7 World Trade Center.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/31/nyregion/01path.03sub.jpg
The street-level entrance area of the PATH station North Access project, as it appears now.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/31/nyregion/31PATH_07.jpg
The street-level entrance area as it will appear after completion later this year. Escalators can be seen at far left.

Photo: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/31/nyregion/31PATH_08.jpg
The top of PATH Hill, showing the exposed mechanism of one of the escalators.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

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Looking through the array of escalators at the PATH Hill in the new North Access project, now under construction.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

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A tread for the new escalators in the World Trade Center PATH station entrance on Vesey Street awaits installation.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/31/nyregion/31PATH_11.jpg
Exposed escalator pulley mechanism at the base of PATH Hill at the trade center site.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/31/nyregion/31PATH_12.jpg
Two workers take the stairway at the north end of the array of escalators, which are not yet running.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/31/nyregion/31PATH_13.jpg
Through doors in the North Access construction area, you can see the mezzanine of the current temporary PATH station, which will be joined to the new entrance on Vesey Street later this year.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

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The exterior of the entrance of the North Access entrance to the PATH station, on Vesey Street, as it is expected to appear later this year.

Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

PATH Hill, that monumental array of escalators that ferries commuters to and from the commuter rail station under the World Trade Center, is one of the few functioning elements at ground zero that is still exactly where it was on Sept. 10, 2001.

But a new PATH Hill is now taking shape underground, near Vesey Street, as part of the latest temporary entrance to the station. (At the trade center site, “temporary” means about four years.) The opening of the Vesey Street entrance later this year will allow construction to proceed on the permanent transportation hub designed by Santiago Calatrava and his associates in the Downtown Design Partnership.

North Access is the prosaic but perfectly descriptive name that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has given the 50,000-square-foot entrance structure, which will offer a weather-protected environment, with translucent clerestory windows, for about 100,000 commuters daily. The eight escalators connect street level with a mezzanine 48 feet below. During the morning rush, five of the escalators will run upward. In the evenings, five will run downward.

The boxy steel framework of the North Access is visible above ground across Vesey Street from 7 World Trade Center, just west of the “Survivors’ Stairway,” which will soon be moved to make way for the 2 World Trade Center tower.

North Access has none of the engineering poetry of Mr. Calatrava’s design, nor even any of the canopies that have covered the temporary entrance on Church Street. But there is an undeniable — and undiminished — drama to PATH Hill.

TalB

February 10th, 2008, 09:46 PM

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02102008/postopinion/letters/1b_bumbling_838598.htm
$1B BUMBLING

February 10, 2008 -- The Port Authority representative is wrong, and Steve Cuozzo is right ("The Next PA Fiasco," PostOpinion, Jan. 30).

Not only is the Calatrava sculpture pointless, but it will cost over $1 billion - more than both the memorials combined.

Functionally, the Calatrava will only serve as a roof for 200,000 square feet of commercial space. But for $1 billion, you can build an entire building.

Bernie Goetz, Manhattan

TalB

April 2nd, 2008, 01:56 AM

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/a-new-twist-at-the-path-station/
April 1, 2008, 7:12 am

A New Twist at the PATH Station

By David W. Dunlap

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The new “temporary” entrance to the PATH station at the World Trade Center, facing Vesey Street, will serve commuters until 2011. This picture was taken on Monday evening, hours before its scheduled opening. (Photos: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/31/nyregion/01dunlap.2.jpg
On the mezzanine level of the existing station, the route to the new Vesey Street escalators is already clear.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/31/nyregion/01dunlap.3.jpg
What will be lost in the transition is the viewing area on the concourse of the Church Street entrance. Commuters could glimpse through this fence at the construction activity at ground zero. It was one of the best public vantages available anywhere around the site.

The 50,000 PATH commuters heading into Lower Manhattan on Tuesday morning will find a new direction — north — to leave the World Trade Center terminal.

This is the third temporary PATH terminal entrance and exit to have been constructed since 9/11. The modest structure stands on Vesey Street, at the confluence of Greenwich Street and West Broadway, opposite the 7 World Trade Center plaza.

Like the current station and the one that was destroyed, it has an imposing bank of escalators running between the mezzanine and concourse levels. It will be in use until 2011, when the final version of the terminal, designed by Santiago Calatrava, will be completed.

The current entrance on Church Street is to stay open about two more weeks. Once it is shut down, the entire west side of Church Street, between Vesey and Liberty Streets, will be closed to pedestrians. (That means Philip Belpasso, the street flutist who ceaselessly plays “Amazing Grace” at ground zero, will have to find a new perch.)

“This will be the last ‘temporary’ entrance,” said Steven Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. “The next time we announce an entrance, it will be the permanent entrance to the Calatrava station.”

Besides the convenience of the Church Street entrance, PATH travelers will also lose one of the best public viewing spots around the trade center site: a fence running along the edge of the concourse level, offering views directly into the construction area, where people often stepped out of the commuting tide to reflect quietly.

There is really no such thing as quiet any longer on those 16 acres.

TalB

April 11th, 2008, 11:25 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/nyregion/11tent.html?ref=nyregion
A New Phase Downtown as a Big Tent Is Folded Up

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: April 11, 2008

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David W. Dunlap/The New York Times

A tent that has been over the Church Street PATH station stairs since last year is coming down.

Since June 2007, a 37-foot-high, saddle-shaped polyester-and-aluminum tent — far more graceful to behold than it sounds — has been the public face of the World Trade Center project. The tent shelters the Church Street staircase at the temporary PATH terminal. This was to close at midnight Friday to permit construction of the permanent transportation hub. The tent will not be discarded. But it will disappear.

Its replacement is already in place: a boxy structure on Vesey Street that will serve PATH until 2011. Though it is less exposed to the elements, it is also the most utilitarian of the three temporary PATH entrances that have been built at ground zero since 2003.

The $275,000 tent was intended to have an “aspiring quality,” said Bartholomew Voorsanger of Voorsanger Architects. It designed the project under contract with Phoenix Constructors, which is building the permanent hub for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. “It sent a signal to the public using PATH that there was a brighter, more exciting future coming,” Mr. Voorsanger said.

That signal came from about 2,400 miles away: the workshop of Tentnology in Surrey, British Columbia. James R. MacDonald, a partner in Voorsanger Architects, came across the company online. It calls itself a manufacturer of “portable fabric architecture,” like party, event and emergency tents; portable shelters; shade structures; and band shell and stage covers.

The project was a challenge, said Suzanne Warner, whose title at Tentnology is sales goddess. (Her husband, Gery, is the president.)

“It was like an airplane,” she said of the tent design, meaning that it had to be lightweight enough to get off the ground, yet strong enough to take forces and stresses.

Ms. Warner said she was not prepared for the bureaucratic entanglements and labor rules that she found in New York City, which added to the complications of the job. “I felt like Eva Gabor in reverse,” she recalled.

In the end, however, Ms. Warner said, “We were delighted to see it there.”

The end of the tent at the PATH terminal is not the end of the tent itself. “It will be preserved,” said Steven Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority. “We are exploring options for what we may want to do with it.”

Mr. Voorsanger seemed satisfied that it had achieved its purpose. “Everybody involved with ground zero feels the emotional need for an honorific response,” he said, “even though it’s low-budget and temporary.”

TalB

April 16th, 2008, 11:49 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/nyregion/16terminal.html?ref=nyregion
Citing Budget Concerns, Port Authority Plans for More Modest Hub at Trade Center Site

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: April 16, 2008

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Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

An artist’s rendering of the architect Santiago Calatrava’s plan for the PATH terminal. It has been slightly simplified twice, but officials said they were committed to retaining it.

Concerned that the permanent World Trade Center transportation hub cannot be built as designed within the budgeted amount, the Port Authority has begun preparing plans for a more modest alternative.

The authority’s concern, which goes back more than a year, is underscored by a risk assessment prepared for the Federal Transit Administration in January by Carter & Burgess, a transportation consultant. The assessment said that there was less than a 5 percent probability that the $2.221 billion budget would be met and that there was a 10 percent probability that the costs would exceed $2.991 billion.

“Something we knew — our estimates aren’t far from that — is that we had to continue our work of reducing, changing the way we build it, changing some elements of the scoping, so that we could bring it in within the resources that we have,” Anthony E. Shorris, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said Tuesday in an interview. The transportation hub is financed chiefly with a $1.9 billion grant from the federal agency. Mr. Shorris said the goal was to design a project that could be built for no more than $2.5 billion, counting a $280 million construction reserve as part of the total available financing.

He said that in four to six weeks, the Port Authority was likely to issue bid solicitations “to see what the market tells us about the pricing,” based on the current design by Santiago Calatrava, working with the firms STV and DMJM Harris.

“There has been some softening, or signs of softening, in the construction market,” Mr. Shorris said, “and it’s possible that it may come in within the $2.2 and $2.5 billion that’s available. On the other hand, it may not.”

Against that possibility, he said, the authority was also preparing a more modest plan that would make greater use of the existing tracks and structure of the interim PATH terminal, pare down the design of below-ground elements, increase the use of columns in wide spans and simplify some engineering. “We want to make sure we have that alternative in place that does price out at $2.5 billion, so we know that we have an option to go to,” Mr. Shorris said.

In no case, he said, would the hub lose its aboveground aesthetic signature: an elliptical, ribbed, winged structure that Mr. Calatrava has likened to a bird taking flight: a potent symbol of rebirth at the site of the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001.

“We’re committed to that as an important part of the downtown Manhattan landscape,” Mr. Shorris said.

Mr. Calatrava’s overall design has undergone at least two significant if largely invisible revisions since it was unveiled in 2004. The first, in 2005, made the aboveground structure more blast-resistant by doubling the number of ribs, reducing the amount of glass and placing a solid wall around the base of the structure.

The second round of revisions has been going on since early 2007, when the construction manager, Phoenix Constructors, estimated that it would cost $2.7 billion to $3.4 billion to build. Mr. Shorris and Steven P. Plate, the director of priority capital programs at the authority, credited Mr. Calatrava with devising dozens of innovative strategies for saving money without compromising the essential design of the hub, in a process known as “value engineering.”

Despite that, Mr. Shorris said, construction costs generally had been rising faster than methods could be found for containing costs. “Right now, we don’t think all of these changes get us all the way to where we need to go,” he said.

The assessment, which is prepared quarterly, identifies five major risks to staying within budget and five major risks to staying on schedule. In the latest “snapshot,” as Carter & Burgess calls it, they include the difficulties of building around the No. 1 subway line, which bisects the site; the way in which costs are allocated between the Port Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; and even an anticipated shortage of ironworkers.

“The truth is, once you get rid of these five risks, there will be five more,” Mr. Shorris said. “Our job as the master builder here is to bang these out one after the next. And that’s what we’re doing.”

TalB

May 9th, 2008, 02:42 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/nyregion/08terminal.html?ref=nyregion
At Rail Hub, Bird Will Still Soar, but With a Bit Less Polish

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: May 8, 2008

They have not clipped the wings of the birdlike structure that is to be the aesthetic centerpiece of the World Trade Center transportation hub and PATH terminal, but Port Authority officials now plan to shrink it as they search for ways to keep the project within a $2.5 billion budget.

They also plan to change some construction methods in a way that would, generally speaking, result in a slightly less refined structure.

More substantial revisions may be needed if no contractor can be found to build the project for $2.5 billion, said Anthony J. Sartor, a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and chairman of its trade center redevelopment subcommittee. Bids will be invited next month.

In a memorandum sent on Wednesday to Anthony R. Coscia, the authority’s chairman, Mr. Sartor pledged that the hub “will be completed and functioning in 2011.”

“Even with these potential design alterations,” Mr. Sartor said, “the hub will retain its signature ‘winged’ design, provide enhanced transportation services and substantial public space for commuters, residents and visitors alike, and serve as an essential anchor to the broader redevelopment of the World Trade Center site and Lower Manhattan.”

Rather than seeking more money — particularly since critics say that $2.5 billion is extravagant enough for what is essentially a commuter rail station — the authority has capped the budget. Therefore, as construction costs have risen, authority officials have whittled away at elements of the original design by Santiago Calatrava, one of the world’s best known architects and engineers, and the firms of STV and DMJM Harris. Mr. Sartor said the authority had been “working collaboratively” with Mr. Calatrava.

The process, called “value engineering,” is meant to find savings in building methods that neither compromise safety nor diminish aesthetics. Among other revisions already made to the project, skylights have been eliminated from the terminal’s below-ground mezzanine.

Now, the authority plans to reduce the street-level perimeter of the transit hall by 10 to 15 percent. This is the main entrance into the hub, and its canopy is a winged, elliptical, glass-and-steel structure that Mr. Calatrava has likened to a bird taking flight.

The authority also proposes to use standard concrete in the ceiling girders of the mezzanine rather than architectural concrete, which has a finish so smooth it can be mistaken for polished stone. Authority officials maintain that the public would have to look carefully to notice the difference.

In a statement released by his office on Wednesday, Mr. Calatrava noted that “an architect must always be creative and flexible,” adding, “I believe that we have made the design better in many, many ways, through this exercise.”