vishaan chakrabarti proposes to overhaul NY's penn station

last week, plans were unveiled for the development of new york’s penn station, with construction set to get underway. the new moynihan train hall will contain both amtrak and long island railroad (LIRR) ticketing and waiting areas, plus 112,000 square feet of retail and security measures. in response, architect vishaan chakrabarti has shared his vision for the public transportation hub, viewing it as the ‘logical next step’.

the proposal explained in detail
video courtesy of PAU

vishaan chakrabarti is the founder of practice for architecture and urbanism (PAU), and a professor at columbia university. chakrabarti’s proposal recycles the superstructure and foundations of madison square garden to create a new ‘commuter pavilion’, and a new neighborhood surrounding it. the scheme reveals the site’s history, from the original balustrades, to the reuse of the original station’s mezzanine levels. reclad in a double-skin glass wall, the station is passively heated and cooled.

for more information watch the video above, and read about the proposal in the architect’s own words below.

aerial view of the proposed scheme
all images © PAU

new york’s pennsylvania station is much more than a transit hub. it is the busiest transportation facility in the western hemisphere, it is at the heart of our city and region, and it is the lynchpin to reimagining its neglected surroundings. but beyond these significant concerns, penn station is also a symbol, from the extraordinary engineering feat it and its trans-hudson tunnels represented in 1910, to the demolition of mckim, mead & white’s beaux arts spectacle in the 1960s, to its future disposition in the coming years. penn station symbolizes, for good or bad, who we are as a society. its future asks whether we still believe in the idea of the public, whether we believe in a shared civil society, whether we can still come together to imagine a future as collective as it is bright.

view from 8th avenue — existing/proposed condition

our proposal imagines the station as a new public commons, a civic space both sober and soaring, an idea born out of architectural restraint during a time that asks us to do more with less. by proposing to recycle the superstructure and foundations of madison square garden once the garden has a beautiful new home 800′ away in the west end of the farley building, our proposed station creates a grand commuter pavilion at minimal public cost and disruption. this new commuter pavilion reinforces other proposals for the area, including an amtrak station in the east end of the farley building, improved entrances and concourses to the north and west, and most importantly, the tracks and platforms proposed to be built to the south as part of the gateway tunnel project. the definition of success is new capacity, a new station, and a new neighborhood.

east access — existing/proposed condition

architecturally the proposal builds upon the palimpsest that is penn, with layers of history revealed from mckim’s original balustrades, to the reuse of the original station’s mezzanine levels, to the reimagining of the garden’s roof as a hovering mural of new york. building upon the circular precedents of philip johnson’s new york state world’s fair pavilion and pan am’s ‘worldport’ building at JFK, the structure of the garden is reclad in a double-skin glass wall that transmits light but not heat. a sawtooth pattern in the glass picks up changes in light through the day, acting as a sundial for travelers as they ascend from the platforms.

platform view — existing/proposed condition

the station is passively heated and cooled, allowing for a 25′ high open entry threshold around the entire perimeter of the cylinder, which will enable far better emergency egress. blast proof glass will protect the new station, and smoke can be purged quickly through the oculus in the ceiling in the event of a fire.

southwest access — existing/proposed condition

beyond the specifics of the building however, this proposal provides the opportunity to reimagine the entire neighborhood as a destination rather than a repellent, with a new madison square garden, new office, housing and hotels, new eateries, a small public park, all at the heart of our city. at the center of the new district will be a grand public space without a grand public price tag, a chance to reaffirm our belief in civic infrastructure and our shared public realm.

column removal study — existing/proposed

street level plan — surrounding improvements

great hall comparison

energy use — summer/winter

project credits:

structural, protective design & sustainability engineers: thornton tomasetti — thomas z. scarangello, raymond daddazio, robert otani, robert smilowitz, gunnar hubbard
sustainability: level agency for infrastructure — byron stigge, jorge juan cornet
cost estimators: dharam consulting — andrew smith, toby lawes
architect: PAU — vishaan chakrabarti, ruchika modi, christopher james botham, diego soto madriñan, antariksh tandon, skylar bisom-rapp, bryan dorsey

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