SkyscraperCity Forum banner

NEW YORK | World Trade Center Transportation Hub | 46m | 150ft | Com

4M views 8K replies 651 participants last post by  Nexis 
#1 ·
I think a lot of people (especially me :D) are interested in this building and I couldn't find a thread about it. To avoid Off-Topic in the several WTC-Tower threads I decided to create this one.
So this is only about the Santiago Calatrava Transportation Hub and nothing else.
Here we go..


extract from lowermanhattan.info:

The image of a bird in flight is not one normally associated with an underground transportation center, but architect Santiago Calatrava has perfectly managed to marry the two. As designed, the World Trade Center (WTC) transportation hub -- built with two 150-feet-tall canopies extending from a glass- and steel-ribbed “body” -- sits at street level like a bird poised for flight, delivering natural light to the PATH train platform 60 feet below ground.

The $3.2 billion hub will sit at the northeast corner of the WTC site at Church and Vesey Streets and is expected to form an underground connection between the World Financial Center and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Fulton Street Transit Center. Through it, pedestrians will have access to Hudson River ferry terminals, PATH trains, 13 subway lines, and possibly a direct rail link to JFK International Airport.

Calatrava’s design features steel “ribs” with glass panels between them to maximize natural light inside the station. The underground concourse, mezzanine, and platform levels will be largely free of vertical columns for a greater sense of openness and movement. The hub will also be a central pedestrian thoroughfare for the half-million-square-foot retail program planned for the WTC’s lower levels.

“The building is built with steel, glass, and light. They will all be equal building materials,” Calatrava said. “The light will arrive at the platform, and visitors will feel like they are arriving in a great place, a welcoming place.”
Calatrava said that Daniel Libeskind’s original master plan both guided his design and served as inspiration, stating that the transportation hub “articulates with Libeskind’s beautiful plan. The station fits like a centerpiece in the middle of the plaza.”

The hub in its entirety, which is being funded in part by the Federal Transit Administration, should open by mid-2014 and is expected to eventually serve more than a quarter-million travelers daily.






video of the exterior view:
http://www.lowermanhattan.info/tool...title=Exterior View&desc=1 minutes 24 seconds

video of the interior view:
http://www.lowermanhattan.info/tool...title=Interior View&desc=1 minutes 48 seconds
 
See less See more
4
#6,747 ·
Hello,I am an architecture student.I have a project and i have to write about the world trade center transportation hub construction and especially about the structure.Could someone give me some informations?Thank you
Just read the thread and you have more information than you could possibly use!
 
  • Like
Reactions: dfiler
#6,749 ·
An amazing sculpture of a building!

A city comprised of all sculpture buildings wouldn't be good. But as a cap for an underground transit station this is an incredible work of art and addition to the city. And that's coming from someone who is critical of the imperfect rib spacing and other aspects of the WTC complex.

I can't wait for the entire complex to be finished. The money involved, time schedule or design can be debated. But when finished the end result will be spectacular. Criticism aside, I will genuinely enjoy the human accomplishment that is evident in the new WTC.
 
#6,750 ·
An amazing sculpture of a building!

A city comprised of all sculpture buildings wouldn't be good. But as a cap for an underground transit station this is an incredible work of art and addition to the city. And that's coming from someone who is critical of the imperfect rib spacing and other aspects of the WTC complex.

I can't wait for the entire complex to be finished. The money involved, time schedule or design can be debated. But when finished the end result will be spectacular. Criticism aside, I will genuinely enjoy the human accomplishment that is evident in the new WTC.
The sad thing is that its really a shopping mall, with a train station off to one side.
 
#6,753 ·
The sad thing is that its really a shopping mall, with a train station off to one side.
The same thing could be said about every airport.

And why is it "sad" to have retail in a transit station? It is an appropriate mix and a good way to structure a city. It is the equivalent of street level shops in office and residential towers. Shops belong along public pedestrian space. That's been the norm for thousands of years.
 
#6,754 ·
The same thing could be said about every airport.

And why is it "sad" to have retail in a transit station? It is an appropriate mix and a good way to structure a city. It is the equivalent of street level shops in office and residential towers. Shops belong along public pedestrian space. That's been the norm for thousands of years.
Having retail itself is not sad, but it appears to be the focus of the way the hub is organized, dedicating the area under the oculus to shopping. In Grand Central, the main hall is the hub of people moving to and from the trains, and the retail is adjacent. Here it appears retail is front and center and the trains are adjacent. That being said, I've not been in the station recently, so maybe my perceptions from what I've read are not what the final product will be like.
 
#6,757 ·
Having retail itself is not sad, but it appears to be the focus of the way the hub is organized, dedicating the area under the oculus to shopping. In Grand Central, the main hall is the hub of people moving to and from the trains, and the retail is adjacent. Here it appears retail is front and center and the trains are adjacent. That being said, I've not been in the station recently, so maybe my perceptions from what I've read are not what the final product will be like.
The retail is in the main hall...What is currently opened, now, are some of the councourse areas.

They built the station around where the tracks and platforms had been, not the other way around. If they put the headhouse directly over the tracks, it would be sitting in the middle of the memorial.
 
Top