No doubt Calatrava has created a glorious moment. When one looks through the skylight and absorbs the grandeur of the space, one may experience the same feel as standing in the main concourse of the Grand Central Station.
That being said, i would love to see how long will the white marble actually stays white. I am a commuter who works in NYC and passes through Port Authority, it amazes me how much wear and tear the terminal goes through and the upkeep required to keep the place standing. The color palette incorporated would be fitting for a museum, but pristine white for a transit terminal? A disconnect between an architect's world and reality on the ground.
What Calatrava has created is more of a piece of art than architecture. Because architecture takes into account economic, cultural, social implications of a project which seamlessly blend with pragmatic design while Calatrava's hub is far from such a clever integration.
That being said, i would love to see how long will the white marble actually stays white. I am a commuter who works in NYC and passes through Port Authority, it amazes me how much wear and tear the terminal goes through and the upkeep required to keep the place standing. The color palette incorporated would be fitting for a museum, but pristine white for a transit terminal? A disconnect between an architect's world and reality on the ground.
What Calatrava has created is more of a piece of art than architecture. Because architecture takes into account economic, cultural, social implications of a project which seamlessly blend with pragmatic design while Calatrava's hub is far from such a clever integration.
6
A number of citizens agree with me. How public architecture is used in this way is really shameful. Time to put a stop to this wasteful practice. However these job-hungry architects are just part of the problem. JGAIA
4
So, Mr. Kimmelman ... I take it that you REALLY don't like it. Right? ...
1
How I hate to see my beloved lifelong profession be used as a way to do these totally wrong things. JGAIA
4
Yes and No . . . NYC sorely needs inspiring public spaces and, once more, cost does not in fact equate to value.
1
Every piece of Kimmelman's description makes sense to me: boondoogle, egotistical, jaw-dropping, "a pretend Palace of the People" and on and on.
Why? Because rebuilding on the site of such immense, overwhelming, depraved, hated-of-the-West murder should not be easy, or brilliant, or "right." We are all still struggling with the obscenity of 9/11, and this mixture of a yearning for a soaring spirit combined with the reality of Port Authority bureaucracy and natural corruption in government-funded anything will bring us something as real and flawed as the Oculus. Thank God.
Why? Because rebuilding on the site of such immense, overwhelming, depraved, hated-of-the-West murder should not be easy, or brilliant, or "right." We are all still struggling with the obscenity of 9/11, and this mixture of a yearning for a soaring spirit combined with the reality of Port Authority bureaucracy and natural corruption in government-funded anything will bring us something as real and flawed as the Oculus. Thank God.
3
Form is supposed to follow function.
Does it?
Does it?
1
Great Art comes with a price tag. Nobody is screaming for all the big money the owner of the Twin Towers got ( a greedy one ). Horrendous and vicious things were said about Mr. Pei's renovation of the Louvre. Yet, it became a magnificent piece of art integrating many architectural styles over the centuries with a very modern twist looking forward towards the future and a really spectacular spiral staircase to arrive in style to the Louvre ( unlike the Metro one ). Every time I visit Paris, I enjoy the Louvre even more. Mr. Calatrava had to wrestle with a lot regulations, political constraints, vested interests, many parties to please, heightened security requirements in addition to physical restrictions of the site itself which is surrounded by many tall structures. Mr. Calatrava's work is best realized in unconstrained open spaces where its lyrical voice can be fully appreciated. Yet, with this project, he managed to produce a very spectacular piece of art ( sculptural ) and architecture that uplifts and soothes the spirit in these times of extreme turmoil and anxiety. I'm sure, the Grand Central builders did not have to deal with a fraction of the issues Mr. Calatrava faced. Many architectural projects in NYC are plain, bland, ugly or just formulaic in particular billionaire's dwellings with their phallic self-glorification that clouds the skyline and cast shadows for everybody else who cannot longer see the sun or their former views. Let's enjoy The Phoenix!!! :)
4
Boondoggle.
It's a perfect illustration of the top two levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: From bottom to top - food, safety/shelter, love and a sense of belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.
We've provided esteem for the city and self-actualization for the architect without taking care of the basic needs for food, shelter and a sense of caring for the thousands who are dancing on the edge of survival.
A Flint, MI, poster said all they are asking for in the lead-poisoning crisis in her city is $55 million. A $4 billion monument is a shameful display of indulgence when we are killing our children for want of clean water.
It's a perfect illustration of the top two levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: From bottom to top - food, safety/shelter, love and a sense of belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.
We've provided esteem for the city and self-actualization for the architect without taking care of the basic needs for food, shelter and a sense of caring for the thousands who are dancing on the edge of survival.
A Flint, MI, poster said all they are asking for in the lead-poisoning crisis in her city is $55 million. A $4 billion monument is a shameful display of indulgence when we are killing our children for want of clean water.
9
The architecture already looks dated.
2
The sides look like wings on fire, and the center resembles the body of a plane hurtling toward earth. Is that the symbol we want at the World Trade Center?
4
Only a city with stature and money like New York can build a public space so beautiful and breathtaking. Only a city like New York can not appreciate it.
Really, an otherworldly beautiful space. Built for the public. Unappreciated by the public.
Really, an otherworldly beautiful space. Built for the public. Unappreciated by the public.
3
Whereas it has taken over a decade to build Calatrava's "transportation hub," the Chinese built the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line in three years (work started in 2008 and it opened to the public in 2011). It's about 819 miles in length, or just under the distance between NYC and Chicago.
A global perspective can be quite useful at times.
A global perspective can be quite useful at times.
5
Don't forget the port authority has been prioritizing its New Jersey related facilities for decades, Newark airport, the commercial harbor, and now this. How many top execs of the PA live in Jersey?
It's easy to bash a public work. Yes it cost money and took time.
In the long arc people will accept and even admire it as part of NYC - even if it becomes soot covered and falls short of various Idealistic Dreams. I'm glad it's done.
In the long arc people will accept and even admire it as part of NYC - even if it becomes soot covered and falls short of various Idealistic Dreams. I'm glad it's done.
3
I guess that's what was said about Grand Central Terminal, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, Chrysler Building and yes WTC itself. Architecture has long been politicized here in NYC, lots of people at 'the table' get rich off of these projects, but luckily, this building will add to the rare 'grands projets' of New York City. This is why people live here, this is why people come from all over the world to see this place.
2
How will this station look when soot and grime settle on it? What will the annual cleaning bill be to keep it all pristine white?
3
With your attitude, we wouldn't have great buildings (from St Patricks to Grand Central) because they get dirty and need to be cleaned. Your questions are rhetorical: how will it look when dirty? Like any other building, I'm guessing not to good, so best to maintain it. What's the annual bill to keep it clean? Who cares. It's part of operational costs. Sure it don't come free, but all train stations have a maintenance budget. What's your point?
3
I love that NYC has such a breathtaking public space. Hurrah for the rebirth of our great city after such a tragic and painful period. We will never replace our fellow New Yorkers who tragically lost their lives on 9/11, but life, hope and beauty has persevered. This station is a beautiful tribute to their lives.
6
Looking from the South-East, the complex of the phallic symbol that is the World Trade tower with the Transit Hub glass slit laying next to it becomes a symbol of the hedonism in our time. Calatrava is a very "sensual" designer.
4
phoenix out of the ashes- it's a memorial, a luxury shopping mall, a train station, a piece of art. it works on so many levels, from many perspectives- brilliant architecture
4
the original is the twa station at jfk, this man stole Saarinen's ideas like that. and he got away with it.
1
Good artists copy; great artists steal.
It's irresponsible art for a number of other social reasons.
It's irresponsible art for a number of other social reasons.
How much will it cost in the future to retrofit this monstrosity to really serve as a commuting center?
3
A gorgeous $4 Billion piece of art, with almost no function.
4
I would have enjoyed one of those fancy NYTimes digital infographics showing where the costs came from, since this whole review is based on linking the architect to the $4 Billion cost.
1
Where was the NY Times commentary during the design and proposal stage. A decade nd $$$$$$$$$$$$$ late!
5
And they want the Port Authority to handle the new river crossings? SMH
2
And how long will it take to turn black after they stop cleaning it? We have such a good record on taking care of our infrastructure.
6
The museum in Milwaukee is quite nice -- soaring, open, airy -- while, from the outside, the Lyon station looks like a potato bug and the WTC Transit Center looks like a flayed trilobite. Good piece of criticism here. What in the world is all this ostentatious filagree supposed to accomplish. Inside ... well, you've seen George Lucas's first feature about a futuristic dystopia, "THX 1138"? And let's get Christina and Joan Crawford back to start scrubbing all that white marble and tile work with their toothbrushes. Better start now.
2
Beautiful buildings cost money but they become part of the artistic heritage of a nation for future generations of people who will travel to admire them. Beautiful architecture as almost always been paid for by taxpayers, but aren't we lucky to have Versailles, the pyramids Florence, etc. ?
5
A classic example of an "edifice complex."
A much more modest station would have freed up significant funds for badly needed subway modernization, security, and maintenance projects.
Any remaining $$$ could have been applied towards the desperately needed Second Avenue line.
A much more modest station would have freed up significant funds for badly needed subway modernization, security, and maintenance projects.
Any remaining $$$ could have been applied towards the desperately needed Second Avenue line.
5
Couldn't have said this better. 100% correct.
When art is lost to politics and bureaucracy is sad to me. Both the Transit center and the World Trade Tower seem to be faint memories of of their original design concepts. Extraordinary innovative, functional and artistic architecture is going up all over the world. What could have been. I do give thanks to all the men and women who worked hard, and with pride to build a train station and office building from the ashes.
HIDEOUS WASTE OF PUBLIC MONEYS!
Best line of article:
"Any really big or unusual object or immense hole in the ground triggers awe."
Best line of article:
"Any really big or unusual object or immense hole in the ground triggers awe."
3
What would it cost to move it up to the Museum of Natural History as a transit hub and dinosaur exhibition space?
1
Maybe the message is that hopping the PATH to New Jersey is like going into the belly of the beast.
5
Imagine the difficulty they will have clearing dirt and dust from all those
louvers! Totally wrong for New York. It will be a filthy mess before you know it!
louvers! Totally wrong for New York. It will be a filthy mess before you know it!
6
A previous over-budget boondoggle was Jan Utzen's Sydney Opera House. Yet no one remembers that 45 years on and it appears on most postcards that are sent from Sydndey. Priceless.
1
It was funded by profits from a lottery, making the debate in cost quite different.
3
From now on, all passengers are required to chew white bubblegum.
15
I've never been a fan of Calatrava. His process seems to add new problems to the project so that his design can solve them.
However, despite that, this review creates a totally naive and false impression of the architect's relationship with the ultimate cost of construction.
A public procurement process depends on bids. A bid would have been negotiated even before construction began. If the bids were double the expected budget, the City could either accept this, or work with the architect to reduce costs in advance of breaking ground. Similarly, does the $4 billion include engineering work beyond the signature architect's scope - like relocating miles of rail?
To blame the architect is ridiculous and misleading. If you want to know what happened to the money, please - follow the money. There should be bids and change orders and contracts for material and labor.
However, despite that, this review creates a totally naive and false impression of the architect's relationship with the ultimate cost of construction.
A public procurement process depends on bids. A bid would have been negotiated even before construction began. If the bids were double the expected budget, the City could either accept this, or work with the architect to reduce costs in advance of breaking ground. Similarly, does the $4 billion include engineering work beyond the signature architect's scope - like relocating miles of rail?
To blame the architect is ridiculous and misleading. If you want to know what happened to the money, please - follow the money. There should be bids and change orders and contracts for material and labor.
13
In elegant design, form is subservient to function. This design is a total failure from that standpoint. A waste of millions that could do more to ease the lives of commuters.
5
Let us be truthful, the entire area is really a colossal joke. A monument to a failed foreign policy, an inadequate intelligence network, and the arrogance of the leaders our country had at the time, still do, just a different party. This has become a twenty first century gothic tale making heroes out regular people, and "honoring" them in reflecting pools. Unfortunately, memorials are becoming big business in America!
7
Sadly ground zero has turned into a tourist trap. Tour buses clogging the narrow streets and hawkers selling booklets with horrific pictures of the 9/11 devastation. Maybe this souring white space will add some peacefulness to the surroundings!?!
2
Sadly, ground zero has become a tourist trap. Tour buses clogging the narrow streets and hawkers selling booklets of horrendous pictures of the 9/11 devastation!
Keep in mind that there were those such as myself who were against what was planned from the beginning. I just felt that the right way to remember those that were lost was to have back what was taken from us that day, which was rebuilding the Twin Towers with a decent memorial. For me, anything else would feel as if we are building a statue to Osama bin Laden to almost thank him for making everything so possible in which he will have the last laugh despite already being dead. You can thank the LMDC for making the real decisions in a backroom while using the public hearings they hosted mostly for show especially when the majority of the crowded hated their ideas and also wanted the Twin Towers rebuilt, and I am stating this as actually being a witness for being there. If this was the ESB or Statue of Liberty, would anyone even think twice of building something completely different or even just leaving them as memorial should they ever be attacked. Fortunately, there will always be those such as myself to state what really went on. Some can read books such as, Sixteen Acres and the Outrageous Struggle for Ground Zero, by Philip Nobel for a quick summery of what really went on or even, Debacle: Failing to Rebuild the Twin Towers, by Joe Wright for a collection of essays from those such as myself and many other pro-Towers advocates from first hand experience with such an issue.
Another starchitect feeding at the public trough. You'd think they'd have learned their lesson with Liebeskind.
We should follow the example of the ancients who entombed architects in their own creations.
We should follow the example of the ancients who entombed architects in their own creations.
5
This looks so very much like Calatrava's addition to our Milwaukee Art Museum. I wish I had a way of posting a photo of it here. If you are interested, go to http://mam.org/pdfs/selfTours/Building.pdf or google the museum. (Don't confuse it with the new addition of 2015.)
It may be soaring but it really should not be called a transportation hub. Nearly every subway line is located a block east in a different new building and the PATH station is several hundred yards west of it. The reality is that it is a retail center--so why didn't Westfield pay for it?
4
Well, yes and no . . . NYC sorely needs inspiring 21st century public spaces and cost indeed is not the same as value . . . enough said.
2
Another building project by the Port Authority over budget. Appears the Port Authority cannot build anything without going over budget
From the street, it looks like the tail section at an airline crash scene, not good.
4
It's the most monstrous piece of architecture in NYC since the original World Trade Twin Towers were built. It reminds one immediately of hideous and threatening snarling jaws, or at best, of a Venus fly trap....
8
Calatrava pulled out of the Denver International Airport hotel project after Denver said that they couldn't accommodate his ever-increasing budget. Calatrava couldn't fully "express his vision" for "only" $500 million.
That said, this looks fairly derivative of Eero Saarinen. Look at the Saarinen-designed Ingalls Rink at Yale. This appears to have been "inspired" by that. If it were a piece of music, some jury somewhere would have already said that Calatrava owes royalties for borrowing the "inspiration."
That said, this looks fairly derivative of Eero Saarinen. Look at the Saarinen-designed Ingalls Rink at Yale. This appears to have been "inspired" by that. If it were a piece of music, some jury somewhere would have already said that Calatrava owes royalties for borrowing the "inspiration."
For many Cubicle dwellers, public works like these are definitely uplifting.
I write this sitting in a beige colored 6x6 Cubicle ! I plan to see the Oculus and perhaps photograph it in as many ways as I can - it helps that I work close to the hub!
I write this sitting in a beige colored 6x6 Cubicle ! I plan to see the Oculus and perhaps photograph it in as many ways as I can - it helps that I work close to the hub!
2
Have read more than a few, 'cool, I will have to check it out when / if I'm in NY ...' comments.
Which begs the question: have those same people spent a moment of time at the Memorial, or inside the Museum? If not, you're missing the point of the area ... which is pretty much what NYC always wanted, so I guess, "Mission Accomplished."
As a family member, I am deeply concerned that what is most important about the site, and what should remain the focus -- that is, the murder of nearly 3,000 people on a Tues. morning in the heart of Manhattan's business district -- is being lost, forgotten and just plain overlooked not even 15 years later, and this is more a pedestrian plaza and a way to get to somewhere else, rather than the place of reflection, mourning and burial ground it will forever truly be.
(Every time you cross that plaza, and don't bother to look at any names -- just remember, you are walking ON people. ATOP them. Because [and don't kid yourself], they got paved over, very quickly, all in the name of 'Recovery.'
Which begs the question: have those same people spent a moment of time at the Memorial, or inside the Museum? If not, you're missing the point of the area ... which is pretty much what NYC always wanted, so I guess, "Mission Accomplished."
As a family member, I am deeply concerned that what is most important about the site, and what should remain the focus -- that is, the murder of nearly 3,000 people on a Tues. morning in the heart of Manhattan's business district -- is being lost, forgotten and just plain overlooked not even 15 years later, and this is more a pedestrian plaza and a way to get to somewhere else, rather than the place of reflection, mourning and burial ground it will forever truly be.
(Every time you cross that plaza, and don't bother to look at any names -- just remember, you are walking ON people. ATOP them. Because [and don't kid yourself], they got paved over, very quickly, all in the name of 'Recovery.'
1
What an ugly building! I was attending some meetings at offices near this boondoggle, and I couldn't make out what that building was meant to represent. It may have some aesthetic beauty in the eyes of artists, but not for the average citizen. Why couldn't NYC have commissioned a less ornate, more functional building and ploughed the remainder of the money into solving one of the many problems that bedevil it (homelessness, increased crime, affordable housing, aging train infrastructure, etc.)? Why are cities obsessed with creating "beautiful" buildings at the taxpayer's expense?
4
And it seems to be 100% white. Exactly how is New York going to keep that clean??
4
Wow. Looks like some gargantuan arthropod summoned from the Burgess Shale in an architectural fever dream: weirdly cool appearance. Too bad about the cost overruns, siting and interior utility issues.
1
Boondoggle is right--all that money for a PATH station? Plus which it resembles a chicken carcass, except that it's us the taxpayers who are in the soup.
7
I would rather have my $15 Port Authority toll paying for a new rail tunnel.
6
At least it isn't boxy and boring...
3
Transformer, not Pokemon.
$4 Billion? Really? Wow! New York must be the land of unlimited money. No wonder my taxes are so high.
On another note, this is such a waste of tax payers money. Whomever authorized this boondoggle is the new definition of clueless.,
On another note, this is such a waste of tax payers money. Whomever authorized this boondoggle is the new definition of clueless.,
4
I think it's he only building in the area with beauty and presence - a midst a sea of blandness.
2
4 Billion for a Path Station? The money would have been better spent on new tunnels to New Jersey, or a new Penn Station. It looks good but will age as well as a 1960's HoJo's A-Frame.
7
From the exterior view shown in this article, the structure appears less reminsicent of Pokemon than a recollection, echo or reverberation of (or even riff on) ridley scott's alien. Austere and uninviting .... was no one overseeing this but the whim and whimsy of the architect?
1
Isn’t New York supposed to be that magical place where if we’re going to spend $4 billion dollars on a train station, we’re going to get something unique, something extraordinary out of it that you couldn’t find anywhere else on the planet? Isn’t that at least part of what attracts so many to New York either to live, to visit, or to keep dreaming about until the moment is seized? Rather, it seems that we’ve funded some celebrity architect’s efforts at furthering his “signature” of spiny structures already well represented around the world, including in Milwaukee, of all places. So was it really for the city of New York or for building his "brand”? I’m no expert in architecture, but as in other arts/crafts I suspect that range matters at the top. Don’t the truly talented ones design fascinating, yet diverse, structures by dreaming big on every project and resisting the convenience of cloning their previous efforts?
1
A perfect example of why voters are looking at people like Trump and Sanders. Why must every people project turn into a massive cost overrun nightmare? Trump once made a name for himself finishing the Wollman rink in six months when the government planned for it to take years. It is just a microcosm of our government which only works for connected builders, connected trade unions, etc.
7
Please don't call Trump an arbiter of taste. Calatrava's Station is going to be a timeless wonder enjoyed by a whole new generation. It's not about the money!
2
Steve, respectfully it is always about the money. Nothing exists in a vacuum. Your timeless wonder is someone else's boondoggle. That money could have gone to low-income housing, universal preschools. And even if you agree it is amazing it doesn't make you a Philistine to question the price. Also I read my initial comment again, where did I speak to Trump's tastes? He did cut through red tape and build a iceskating ring in record time while making NYC's byzantine public building processes look worse than usually.
1
Speaking of Trump, I don't know why he didn't try to step in and have the Twin Towers rebuilt. He did a while back that although he didn't plan to rent space in them or buy out Larry Silverstein on the lease, he would provide the funding for such. However, he kept pretty quiet not long after being vilified for this, which made me believe that he was all bark and no bite. More importantly, I actually believed him them. He really could have made a difference by stopping the official plan to have the Twin Towers rebuilt.
1
Word to the wise. The time to criticize the problem has long since passed.
3
We're a wealthy and generous nation.
This is built to outlast all of us.
What's a few billion here and there ?
Next project: go to Mars.
This is built to outlast all of us.
What's a few billion here and there ?
Next project: go to Mars.
3
Lol, built to outlast us all? We're not talking the pyramids but modern, shoddy construction.
1
Not only the most expensive to construct, this complex structure will absorb huge sums just to maintain over the life of the building. How is it that the quality of the transportation suffers while the MTA Board builds temples to transit?
10
I suspect that the $80 million figure doesn't include the cost of "the two-and-a-half-mile tunnel beneath the glitter and swank of Park Avenue"?
GCT was merely the most visible aspect of an engineering project that bisected, then unified, Midtown and Upper Manhattan. The Times put the cost of the entire project - cut-and-cover, electrification, the whole shootin' match - at $2 billion in today's dollars.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/nyregion/the-birth-of-grand-central-te...
Without the cut-and-cover there would be no . . . Grand Central Station!
GCT was merely the most visible aspect of an engineering project that bisected, then unified, Midtown and Upper Manhattan. The Times put the cost of the entire project - cut-and-cover, electrification, the whole shootin' match - at $2 billion in today's dollars.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/nyregion/the-birth-of-grand-central-te...
Without the cut-and-cover there would be no . . . Grand Central Station!
And that $2B is half the cost of the Calatrava Boondoggle, which is far less sweeping and large-scale than Grand Central Terminal.
2
Ugh, if I had read all the way down the article I just linked, I would have seen that $80 million DID cover the entire project. The station building accounted for just over half.
Sorry, folks. My bad.
Sorry, folks. My bad.
1
If architecture’s role is to serve as a reflection of contemporary society and culture, an embodiment of the times, then this building and its urban surroundings are, ironically, perhaps a strangely appropriate symbol of all that is wrong and one can only hope it will serve [in time] as a testament of the decadence, misplaced social/urban values and narcissism that are reflected in its creation...
2
Billions spent on this structure, and on the Presidential campaigns. And yet we claim not to have the money to ensure healthcare for all nor to rebuild our aging subways, trains and roads. What a falsehood, what a moral failure of this country.
11
I'm confident that the Sopranos will spend the $4b wisely.
7
The New York Times seems to have an official coordinated vendetta toward Calatrava and the Port Authority. This is a pitiful example of the kind of ideological, mindless rhetoric that is much lamented when it originates elsewhere.
Building a station on an enormous web of operating underground railways is not the same as building a station in a greenfield with no operating railways. This project was constructed in the war ruins of 9/11, not in the Mall of America.
Let's have some coverage written by a railroad engineer. Let's have some maps to show the complexity beneath the soaring simplicity of the station. Let's have a better appreciation for the complexity involved in this reconstruction. Let's have an appreciation that what we have now is vastly superior to what previously existed on this site.
Building a station on an enormous web of operating underground railways is not the same as building a station in a greenfield with no operating railways. This project was constructed in the war ruins of 9/11, not in the Mall of America.
Let's have some coverage written by a railroad engineer. Let's have some maps to show the complexity beneath the soaring simplicity of the station. Let's have a better appreciation for the complexity involved in this reconstruction. Let's have an appreciation that what we have now is vastly superior to what previously existed on this site.
8
It would be nice if large cities actually invested in making the train ride itself a better experience. Everyone keeps trying to make all the stations sexy these days, while the cars remain utilitarian and cramped (that's being kind). It's actually quite amazing that in the 21st century, we seem to think that making half the passengers stand in subway rail cars is some nobel badge of urban honor. It's just lack of vision, laziness and poor prioritization. If automated electric cars work to the level hoped, over the next twenty years these urban rail systems will be largely relegated to history anyway. Deservedly so. The tunnels may make for nice automated throughways.
8
Don't waste money on trying to satisfy those who are well-off who "WANT" "artistic" work done where it is not necessary, until the very real "NEEDS" of the less-privileged people are taken care of (and not just "creatively" with empty words, and poor quality of everything related to just the most basic human NEEDS [construction, housing, services, food, etc.] that would create massive lawsuits in well-to-do areas). This is foolishness, at best, and an on-going continuance of wasting money that is claimed to be needed to help solve REAL problems. This so-called "need" could have been solved by very, BASIC design, as opposed to very expensive and unnecessary "artistic" work, materials, etc., at dramatically less cost. When there is a QUALITY "safety net" for those people who are most-in-need (jobs, housing, etc.), THEN, spending extra money on artistic work (that ALL people would like to see) can be done. Taking care of "needs" should always take priority over "wants", and that is what REAL leaders would do. To satisfy those who don't have their basic life-needs in jeopardy, when serious "needs" exist with so many people, and their numbers are increasing, is in the sycophantic-category of profits over people. Taking care of the people, ALL people, is what REAL leaders would do. This is one of the many reasons why REAL leaders scare people, especially the people we have in leadership positions who prove on a daily basis they are NOT leaders. Elect proven, REAL, leaders.
5
If the Port Authority was a public company, management and shareholders would be a demanding an audit. Shouldn't our politicians be demanding the same and enlightening the public to how their tax dollars are being spent ???
6
Your comment is so far of course and inappropriate, that it is mind blowing.
Keep growing up in your narrow field of mind
Keep growing up in your narrow field of mind
It would be nice if large cities started actually investing in making the train ride itself a better experience. Everyone keeps trying to make all the stations sexy these days, while the cars remain utilitarian and cramped (that's being kind). It's actually quite amazing that in the 21st century, we seem to think that making half the passengers stand in subway rail cars is some nobel badge of urban honor. It's just lack of vision, laziness and poor prioritization.
3
Why are we pampering Jersey people who come and earn money and get back home without paying any NYC tax? I'm living in Queens by the ONE & ONLY 7 train line. Comparing to Path Train especially, 7 trains are way more outdated. I see a lot of comments by those Jersey people rather complaining than praising for this building. Why?? Doesn't this city deserve something that compensates one of the most recent architectural disasters called Freedom Tower? (Sorry Bloomberg fanboys/fangirls but I blame him for them). What do Queens residents have to do have something like this remarkable structure in the area? Do the former and current mayor of NYC even consider Queens is a part of the city? I don't think and it is what it is.
3
Actually, people who work in NY and live in NJ pay NY taxes in addition to NJ ones.
2
The large bank that employs me is, like so many others, moving whole departments across the river to Jersey City. PATH trains are almost as crowded going to Jersey in the morning as they are coming from Jersey. I would love to work in my home borough but that is no longer possible.
Nicely written article. However, I disagree in general with the criticisms aimed at Mr. Calatrava in regards to cost. For mega projects like these, the Designer / Architect does not typically control the bidding process, the contract awards, nor the project cost. If a home buyer paid a designer / architect for plans to build a home, and then went to 3 bidders for quotes, and then awarded the construction to the low bidder, and later, the home price doubled in price during construction ... would the architect be to blame, or the builder, or the owner? I wonder who may have lost or will lose their jobs at the Port Authority over this. I have never understood why almost every large tax payer funded project seems to follow a similar cost vs. estimate life cycle path. But it is a beautiful structure. We like his work. Our company recently fabricated the (3) large bright red Calatrava art pieces which were on display on the Park Avenue median earlier this year.
2
True, the architect doesn't control bidding and so on, but the complexity or simplicity of his design drives much of those costs. If an architect designs something that is very demanding from a structural engineering standpoint (with the associated costs) then that is a legitimate place to criticize them.
2
"Oculus" is an unfortunate nickname for the overhead feature of the central space, even objectionable to those with a sensitivity to language. That's a term of long standing for a rounded or circular opening, which this is not. What's more, the nearby Fulton Center transit station already has a design feature that—at least until now—has been routinely called the Oculus, with much better reason. What Calatrava's central space should be called—well, it hardly matters now, but I've been calling the whole object the Wingding.
5
Estetics aside, Santiago Calatrava’s Transit Hub Is a Soaring Symbol of investing in Infrastructure.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/a-slump-is-a-good-time-to-in...
However, not every investment pays off immediately.
In this case, only history shall tell.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/a-slump-is-a-good-time-to-in...
However, not every investment pays off immediately.
In this case, only history shall tell.
1
I liked the earlier PATH entrance -- an angled glass roof supported by cables. It was simple and elegant Modernism. By contrast, the so-called "Oculus" on the new station is perhaps the silliest thing I've even seen in New York City architecture. It has no function and looks like a giant trilobite squatting on top of the station.
The "Oculus" will also be a hazard in this climate. (Perhaps the architect did not realize we have winter storms here?) Snow and ice will accumulate on the thing's projections, leading to a dangerous situation for pedestrians below. I predict the area around it will be surrounded by police barricades every year for most of the winter.
The "Oculus" will also be a hazard in this climate. (Perhaps the architect did not realize we have winter storms here?) Snow and ice will accumulate on the thing's projections, leading to a dangerous situation for pedestrians below. I predict the area around it will be surrounded by police barricades every year for most of the winter.
9
This overpriced albatross is actually quite beautiful & awe-inspiring to look at from the outside, but there is no excuse for spending $4,000,000,000-plus on a transit hub when so many in our city are in need of housing and food and when public schools are severely overcrowded and lack even basic supplies. One might say, "But this money is the Port Authority's and would not fund those issues," but then how about the deteriorating bridges, tunnels and rails going into and out of the city, "things" that connect people to NYC much more than this transit hub ever will? The entire project is indecent, and I cannot believe the Port Authority had the audacity, and the lack of will and leadership, to move ahead with it.
Besides the expense of the upkeep of its all-white theme (who in NYC thought that was a good idea?), the marble floors will keep personal injury attorneys in business for the next 100 years. How many broken hips and fractured ankles will there be on rainy days? Ka-ching, ka-ching! Only we are all paying and will continue to pay until the end of time. While people sleep on the streets and beg for food. Typical but unconscionable.
Besides the expense of the upkeep of its all-white theme (who in NYC thought that was a good idea?), the marble floors will keep personal injury attorneys in business for the next 100 years. How many broken hips and fractured ankles will there be on rainy days? Ka-ching, ka-ching! Only we are all paying and will continue to pay until the end of time. While people sleep on the streets and beg for food. Typical but unconscionable.
9
Those who say it's the Port Authority's money need to be reminded that it's actually the taxpayer's money, just administered by the PA!
5
Pietro, you should have been consulted, first. Good comment.
2
At least New Yorkers can enjoy the place that was built with their money. Contrast that with all of the careless spending by the government on programs that don't work, on military programs that only do us more harm than good, on bloated government projects, then yes, I will take the new transit hub and see the bright side of things.
1
Enjoy what? It's a transit hub - sheesh, talk about "...bloated government projects".
3
I dunno. I think it looks pretty impressive. Can't wait to take a trip downtown to check it out.
Having said that $4B and 12 years, when it was projected to cost half that, and be finished in five years.
This is par for the course for New York - and only New York. Why isn't this a scandal? I've often asked myself that. Building anything in this city - outside of condo towers for billionaires - takes years or decades. A lot longer than anywhere else. The repairs to the Canarsie (L train) tunnel prompted some to suggest that a new tunnel should be built, and the MTA responded by saying that building a new East River tunnel would take at least seven years. Seven years. The Chunnel connecting England and France took five years to complete, and it's at least twenty five times longer. China, Europe, many third world countries do infrastructure and public works faster than us. Much faster. Why is it that in this town everything takes absurdly long to complete? And why is it that this is never a scandal?
Having said that $4B and 12 years, when it was projected to cost half that, and be finished in five years.
This is par for the course for New York - and only New York. Why isn't this a scandal? I've often asked myself that. Building anything in this city - outside of condo towers for billionaires - takes years or decades. A lot longer than anywhere else. The repairs to the Canarsie (L train) tunnel prompted some to suggest that a new tunnel should be built, and the MTA responded by saying that building a new East River tunnel would take at least seven years. Seven years. The Chunnel connecting England and France took five years to complete, and it's at least twenty five times longer. China, Europe, many third world countries do infrastructure and public works faster than us. Much faster. Why is it that in this town everything takes absurdly long to complete? And why is it that this is never a scandal?
4
The truth is, NOT ONE building down there is anything worth writing home about. Not one. And it's not just the ill-proportioned "Freedom Tower" with the over-sized mast. It's the whole enchilada. The most uninspired lot you could have dreamed up. Now with a four billion dollar "turkey carcass" as the center piece. The temporary shed was far cooler in it's minimalist, utilitarian style. Cheap and functional. Four billion dollars later what we end up with is an abomination. The emperor truly has no clothes.
This is not a daring, innovative vision but a group of lackluster buildings that don't relate in any way to each other and could have been built anywhere. Certainly not "World-Class" architecture by any stretch.
Mr. Calatrava is deserving of the criticism being heaped on his bungled, over-priced vanity project-hub but there's more than enough blame to go around here. After all, who was minding the store? Who approved this bloated monstrosity? No doubt the kickbacks and pay-offs were tremendous. In that context "vulture carcass" would probably be a more appropriate moniker.
To paraphrase the late, great Ada Louise Huxtable, in the end, maybe we really do get what we deserve.
Next stop: "Empire Station Complex."
This is not a daring, innovative vision but a group of lackluster buildings that don't relate in any way to each other and could have been built anywhere. Certainly not "World-Class" architecture by any stretch.
Mr. Calatrava is deserving of the criticism being heaped on his bungled, over-priced vanity project-hub but there's more than enough blame to go around here. After all, who was minding the store? Who approved this bloated monstrosity? No doubt the kickbacks and pay-offs were tremendous. In that context "vulture carcass" would probably be a more appropriate moniker.
To paraphrase the late, great Ada Louise Huxtable, in the end, maybe we really do get what we deserve.
Next stop: "Empire Station Complex."
8
Travel around, and you realize that Americans build utilitarian glass boxes. It's what we do. We rarely pretend to architecture. It is all about the $ per square foot return on the lowest possible cost. Nothing wrong with that. We realize by now that architecture making mankind better was only a quaint notion.
For me it wasn't much of a surprise for just about every component of what was planned for the new WTC to go up in costs, which makes so many wonder why weren't the Twin Towers just rebuilt even when that was found to cost a fraction of all of this.
The conjoined offspring of the following three words: architect, star, and jerk is Starchijerk.
I like modern architecture; but all that stark antiseptic white is hard on the eye.
Furthermore, all that white is a maintenance migraine headache; but the companies that get the contract to keep that place looking decent are smiling as they see nothing but lush fields of green.
I like modern architecture; but all that stark antiseptic white is hard on the eye.
Furthermore, all that white is a maintenance migraine headache; but the companies that get the contract to keep that place looking decent are smiling as they see nothing but lush fields of green.
2
From Seattle, I can see both sides: all that money wasted can coexist with a beautiful public structure that imparts awe. I'll have to check for myself the next time I'm in NYC.
I take a little pride in frumpy Seattle's expanding subway. This month we get two new stations whose design is nothing to sneeze at, months early and millions under budget.
I take a little pride in frumpy Seattle's expanding subway. This month we get two new stations whose design is nothing to sneeze at, months early and millions under budget.
1
Several readers have commented that this is a testament to one man's ego, but remember it was ultimately the PA's decision to go with Mr. Calatrava's design and the ensuing overruns (many caused by changing PA requirements). The ego has always been intertwined with the art. Signing up with an architect like Mr. Calatrava means accepting that ego and the design that is its result.
1
Unfortunately, I think the whole world trade center site was reconstructed without true inspiration. The only exceptions are Calatrava's transportation hub and the tower base pools that at least give the visitor something to ponder on. All the buildings, however, are boring glass boxes including the Freedom Tower. While countries around the world are building impressive modern buildings, the designers for the Freedom Tower decided to build a giant Narwhal.
2
This station is also a memorial to the demolition of the World Trade Center and the lives lost. I am surprised there is no mention of this in the article.
Calatravas has a protracted history of excessive cost overruns so blame those who chose him for this project. He does seem to be a bit of a one trick pony.
The station does seem to be excessive for the actual needs. The station seems to have been built, with public dollars, primarily to create retail opportunities for corporations. I don't like that.
It is tragic that there is always money for taxpayer funded boondoggles but not enough money for food stamps for the hungry, welfare for the less fortunate, univeral health care and healthy eating.
When will we humans get our priorities together?
Calatravas has a protracted history of excessive cost overruns so blame those who chose him for this project. He does seem to be a bit of a one trick pony.
The station does seem to be excessive for the actual needs. The station seems to have been built, with public dollars, primarily to create retail opportunities for corporations. I don't like that.
It is tragic that there is always money for taxpayer funded boondoggles but not enough money for food stamps for the hungry, welfare for the less fortunate, univeral health care and healthy eating.
When will we humans get our priorities together?
1
With all due respect to this newest civic monument, I submit that the hundreds of thousands of commuters who have to suffer daily through the nightmarish, third-rate, rat-hole, be-ready-to get-bumped, natural-light-deprived, squalor of the 1960's Walmart-in-the-basement nexus of Amtrak, the LIRR and NJ Transit could have used some of the largesse invested in this project to advance renovation of Penn Station.
2
It looks very much like my TERK television antennae. I almost intuitively understand what flying buttresses do, yet appear elegant. Now sure about the carcass in the sun, does it have solar capabilities? I bet the talent up the street at Cooper-Union could have figured out a way to generate current from the inevitable winds that will blow through those ribs. One would think in the 21st century for $4 Billion it could at least pay for its own lighting. But then we've squandered about 2 Thousand Billion Dollars in the ME and only 5% of the houses in Kabul have indoor toilets.
As a resident of Rockland County, I find the resources spent on this grandiose subway station to be grotesque. Here in Rockland we are told constantly by state officials that expanding our limited public transit options is impossible because of a lack of funds. The money spent on this boondoggle could easily fund bus rapid transit and expanded train and ferry service here that would get tens of thousands out of their cars, reducing air pollution, greenhouse gases and congestion. And stimulate our economy. It's a disgrace that such funds were spent on this station when so many needed transit projects go unfunded.
1
I'm waiting for a thank-you letter from PA NY/NJ for supporting this monstrosity with my toll money on the GW Bridge. As I pay $15 every day to enter, from $8 in 2011. A sickening 90% increase in less than 5 years.
I hope the hub is real pretty, because it is a disgusting waste of taxpayer money.
I hope the hub is real pretty, because it is a disgusting waste of taxpayer money.
3
"[G]lass panes can slide open." What is the cost to maintain these, let alone to operate them, or to repair them? Are they susceptible to 'signal malfunctions' and destructive water infiltration?
The MTA seems to be quite gifted at learning nothing from experience. Recall its impressive report about the flooding of its subways from massive quantities of rain and consider that that was about an August storm when Spitzer was governor, not about Superstorm Sandy. The MTA treated Superstorm Sandy like a sui generis weather event, and sold it that way, which most of the public seems to have purchased hook, line and sinker.
Failing signal operations daily plague MTA subway operations, maintenance of elevators and escalators is not regularly funded or even whimsically executed, and now we hope for a poetic public servant (and the MTA has no servants on its not inconsiderable staff - each entitled to a free ride for which the riding public pays) to do whatever one is supposed to do at some distant point to cause the glass panes to open....only, one must imagine inevitably per the prologue of incompetence that is the MTA management, to find that the glass has been broken all along and broken glass has jammed shut the frame so it cannot open, and the MTA will need $4billion to design, manufacturer and operate an enormous scissor lift to take repair staff to the broken glass, which will need $16billion for parts and labor. .. while we wait for the late arriving subway. Seriously.
The MTA seems to be quite gifted at learning nothing from experience. Recall its impressive report about the flooding of its subways from massive quantities of rain and consider that that was about an August storm when Spitzer was governor, not about Superstorm Sandy. The MTA treated Superstorm Sandy like a sui generis weather event, and sold it that way, which most of the public seems to have purchased hook, line and sinker.
Failing signal operations daily plague MTA subway operations, maintenance of elevators and escalators is not regularly funded or even whimsically executed, and now we hope for a poetic public servant (and the MTA has no servants on its not inconsiderable staff - each entitled to a free ride for which the riding public pays) to do whatever one is supposed to do at some distant point to cause the glass panes to open....only, one must imagine inevitably per the prologue of incompetence that is the MTA management, to find that the glass has been broken all along and broken glass has jammed shut the frame so it cannot open, and the MTA will need $4billion to design, manufacturer and operate an enormous scissor lift to take repair staff to the broken glass, which will need $16billion for parts and labor. .. while we wait for the late arriving subway. Seriously.
4
Port Authority, not MTA, but point taken
Worse still, broken glass jammed the frame open so it can't close.
We all have our boondoggles, but yours is a honey. I am so sorry.
We all have our boondoggles, but yours is a honey. I am so sorry.
Keep in mind that the PANYNJ is not affiliated with the MTA in any way or form, and they are a completely different agency altogether.
Four. Billion. Dollars.
we could have had *nine* other subway stations instead.
Or a regular station at the WTC, the canceled-because-of-budget 10th Avenue station on the 7 train extension, AND either Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway (to 125th Street) or an AirTrain from Astoria to LaGuardia.
Or we could have finished the new tunnel under the Hudson that Chris Christie killed a few years ago. When one of the existing tunnels goes, it's not going to be pretty.
we could have had *nine* other subway stations instead.
Or a regular station at the WTC, the canceled-because-of-budget 10th Avenue station on the 7 train extension, AND either Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway (to 125th Street) or an AirTrain from Astoria to LaGuardia.
Or we could have finished the new tunnel under the Hudson that Chris Christie killed a few years ago. When one of the existing tunnels goes, it's not going to be pretty.
3
"...the hub is a disaster for architecture and for cities."
A breathtakingly negative, bitter review. For me, this review, and the preponderance of equally scathing comments, are a disgrace to our city's culture and an indictment of our society's devolving aesthetic sensibilities.
This structure was conceived as an uplifting expression of hope and the indomitable human spirit in the face of the sheer evil that was perpetrated where it stands. The sight of this architecture is meant to heal the raw wounds that still live within those brave enough to come to this tragic place. The Oculus is made of air, light, purity, transparency, and uplift, and it is the required foil to the tears, darkness, absence, and void that the September 11th memorial so powerfully represents.
Only an truly unimaginative person could revile this structure as a ‘dino carcass’ and admit they do not “know what the hub is supposed to mean, symbolically.” To me, it is far more than just a white dove taking flight from the cupped hands of an innocent child, an image offered by the architect. I see an explosion of good, of light, of optimism; a rising sun, the rays from the Statue of Liberty's crown, a vast cubist open eye. I see an abstract reaching for the sky, emotionally soaring, inspirational, holy, communing with heaven; a temple. A wordless prayer.
To the bean-counters, and those whose souls are too small to understand such things: never has four billion dollars been better spent on our city.
A breathtakingly negative, bitter review. For me, this review, and the preponderance of equally scathing comments, are a disgrace to our city's culture and an indictment of our society's devolving aesthetic sensibilities.
This structure was conceived as an uplifting expression of hope and the indomitable human spirit in the face of the sheer evil that was perpetrated where it stands. The sight of this architecture is meant to heal the raw wounds that still live within those brave enough to come to this tragic place. The Oculus is made of air, light, purity, transparency, and uplift, and it is the required foil to the tears, darkness, absence, and void that the September 11th memorial so powerfully represents.
Only an truly unimaginative person could revile this structure as a ‘dino carcass’ and admit they do not “know what the hub is supposed to mean, symbolically.” To me, it is far more than just a white dove taking flight from the cupped hands of an innocent child, an image offered by the architect. I see an explosion of good, of light, of optimism; a rising sun, the rays from the Statue of Liberty's crown, a vast cubist open eye. I see an abstract reaching for the sky, emotionally soaring, inspirational, holy, communing with heaven; a temple. A wordless prayer.
To the bean-counters, and those whose souls are too small to understand such things: never has four billion dollars been better spent on our city.
1
Another starchitect pile of dog doo doo, in soon to be smeared white no less.
Hubristic design, if you must have it, should have a grand purpose; this one's puny. And, comparing it to the even more catastrophic failure of Madison Square Garden won't fill that dearth of purpose. Let's hope it attracts tons of tourists.
Hubristic design, if you must have it, should have a grand purpose; this one's puny. And, comparing it to the even more catastrophic failure of Madison Square Garden won't fill that dearth of purpose. Let's hope it attracts tons of tourists.
1
It is obscene to spend 4 billion dollars on an ego stroking extravagance using public funds that could have been better spent building thousands of units of public housing serving the needs of New Yorkers for generations to come.
Surely a more modest expenditure could have resulted in a functional and esthetically pleasing train station (say a billon dollars worth) and if those in the field of architecture and urban planning felt something more grand was needed, it should have been paid for with private donations.
C. Vanderbilt built Grand Central to serve as the terminus of his railroad empire. He didn't come hat in hand asking the public to fund his vision.
Mr. Calatrava's work in this case, inspires in me only disgust and condemnation of wretched excess at a time when New Yorkers are suffering and Nero seems to be fiddling.
Surely a more modest expenditure could have resulted in a functional and esthetically pleasing train station (say a billon dollars worth) and if those in the field of architecture and urban planning felt something more grand was needed, it should have been paid for with private donations.
C. Vanderbilt built Grand Central to serve as the terminus of his railroad empire. He didn't come hat in hand asking the public to fund his vision.
Mr. Calatrava's work in this case, inspires in me only disgust and condemnation of wretched excess at a time when New Yorkers are suffering and Nero seems to be fiddling.
4
how long before it all smells like urine and sweat ?
3
Who designed that? Batman??
1
I could, perhaps, look past the cost and delay if we were getting an attractive and functional PATH station. But charming as the Oculus may be, that is not where a PATH customer spends their time. After a weekend outing in Manhattan, I have spent half an hour down on the narrow, cramped platform waiting for a train to Jersey City (yes they are that infrequent on weekend nights). On the actual platform the gleaming white aesthetic feels sterile and oppressive - like some kind of high-tech morgue, or something from a Terry Gilliam film set in a dystopian future.
This mood is enhanced by the escalators, which have recorded voices endlessly repeating inane rules for safe use "hold the handrails ... do not take strollers on the escalators". Somehow civilization has used escalators for decades without a problem, but the Port Authority has to continuously brainwash its passengers about their dangers.
When you're tired and just want to get home to bed, waiting way too long for the next train, squinting against the white glare while droning recorded voices mutter insipid warnings -- at that moment the aesthetic glory of the Oculus somewhere above fails to inspire. Tourist-inspiring monumental architecture is great, but people need a subway station that works for them as train passengers.
This mood is enhanced by the escalators, which have recorded voices endlessly repeating inane rules for safe use "hold the handrails ... do not take strollers on the escalators". Somehow civilization has used escalators for decades without a problem, but the Port Authority has to continuously brainwash its passengers about their dangers.
When you're tired and just want to get home to bed, waiting way too long for the next train, squinting against the white glare while droning recorded voices mutter insipid warnings -- at that moment the aesthetic glory of the Oculus somewhere above fails to inspire. Tourist-inspiring monumental architecture is great, but people need a subway station that works for them as train passengers.
10
The please use the handrails technology was provided by some Long Island Co in which I once owned stock.. yup more boondoggle. But no politician is willing to take on either the Port Authority nor the MTA.. yup we need Trump.
Related to the italicized description at the bottom of the article:
If someone takes the 2 or 3 trains to Park Place and walks west, one will definitely NOT reach the Oculus. THAT is reached, however, by taking the 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J or Z trains to Fulton Street and walking west.
Park Place is several blocks north of where the Oculus resides, so I hope that anyone following these directions enjoys their swim in the Hudson River, instead.
If someone takes the 2 or 3 trains to Park Place and walks west, one will definitely NOT reach the Oculus. THAT is reached, however, by taking the 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J or Z trains to Fulton Street and walking west.
Park Place is several blocks north of where the Oculus resides, so I hope that anyone following these directions enjoys their swim in the Hudson River, instead.
2
and the graffiti artist have a clean canvas
2
What a grouchy review! It's a stunning building that incorporates great symbolism. People stop in their tracks when they see it. (I know this because I am often standing behind them as they block the sidewalk and gape!) In a city teeming with mediocre construction, this effort should be applauded. The "boondoggle" has nothing to do with the building itself but with the cost overruns incurred by a construction schedule dictated by politics. This train station will become a destination of its own, and that is the power and beauty of great public architecture.
4
"But if the takeaway lesson from this project is that architects need a free pass, a vain, submissive client and an open checkbook to create a public spectacle, then the hub is a disaster for architecture and for cities."
But look at the completely botched World Trade Center, the opposite example: Liebeskind's designs were botched by a client without vision beyond rentable square footage resulting in a building that is a huge eyesore (and not only for the oddly color-mismatched window panes) - where an inspirational architectural monument would have been fitting.
I regret the cost, and even more the narrow passages (did they not learn from Penn Station?) - but the tight lot can hardly be blamed on Calatrava. I'd say: amazing what he did with the confining space!
But look at the completely botched World Trade Center, the opposite example: Liebeskind's designs were botched by a client without vision beyond rentable square footage resulting in a building that is a huge eyesore (and not only for the oddly color-mismatched window panes) - where an inspirational architectural monument would have been fitting.
I regret the cost, and even more the narrow passages (did they not learn from Penn Station?) - but the tight lot can hardly be blamed on Calatrava. I'd say: amazing what he did with the confining space!
4
It reminds me of the 179th Street bus station near the George Washington Bridge. Same ribs in the sky. Same white color.That was a product of the 50s hailed in its era as a great work of art. I don't think you'd find anyone who thought that today.
1
Its just weird looking. Guess that makes you famous and makes you billions nowadays.
The stuff that gets funded in NYC really never ceases to amaze me. There are an absurd number of housing inspectors, crane inspectors, gas leak inspectors, pothole fixers and so forth in NYC. Commissioner "I've never been slashed!" Bratton says it is fiscally impossible (as well as unnecessary) to put a cop on every train in NYC to protect the riders, but if those riders visit the WTCTH, they're bound to be blown away by the aesthetics and the cost. Hopefully, there'll be no cranes hanging over the facility or do-it-yourself gas hookups when I visit!
1
Authorities in New York and the entire nation have been skimping nickels and dimes in every project for the past half a century, and they have stopped thinking big, exciting and majestic. The results have been atrocious, with poorly designed structures that have even failed to bring proper functionality. Now finally New York city has this transit hub that one can be proud of. It may not be totally functional but it's undeniably grand, unusual and a worthy addition to the best sights of New York. Surely, the great buildings and monuments of antiquity: the Pyramids, the Parthenon, the palace of Versailles, must have cost fortunes and they lack much "functionality." But no one today begrudges their spectacular grandeur.
3
Calatrava's work is stunningly beautiful. It should be above a modern train station that seamlessly links NJ, NY City, and Long Island.
Too bad it is wasted on a subway station.
Too bad it is wasted on a subway station.
I really find it depressing to see so many people infatuated with the structure. It looks nice and all, but in the end, it does nothing to help with the increasingly crowded infrastructure. That amount of money could have been used to build the new Amtrak NJ tunnels, which are needed anyway when Amtrak has to repair the old tunnel. It could have been used to expand the amount of tracks in Penn Station. It could have been used to expand or even replace the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
I know a lot of people hate Penn Station because of its looks, but in the end it's a train station meant to serve commuters, not architects. The old Penn Station building is gone, unfortunately, but would be a HUGE mistake to crate and equate a new and nice looking building with functionality. Taking care of the crowding has to take priority over aesthetics.
This station takes in much less people than the 42nd Street-Times Square subway station. No one should have spent $4 billion to add that monstrosity.
I know a lot of people hate Penn Station because of its looks, but in the end it's a train station meant to serve commuters, not architects. The old Penn Station building is gone, unfortunately, but would be a HUGE mistake to crate and equate a new and nice looking building with functionality. Taking care of the crowding has to take priority over aesthetics.
This station takes in much less people than the 42nd Street-Times Square subway station. No one should have spent $4 billion to add that monstrosity.
3
These comments confirm what I feared... New Yorkers have become angry, bitter, and disillusioned.
2
It is conveniently forgotten that the World Trade Center was a boondoggle itself and was unnecessary and an inappropriate investment of toll monies wrung from motorists. The entire premise of the "public authority", beginning with the Triborough Bridge, was a fraud on the public to obtain free public land to build a bridge financed by interest bearing bonds which, once paid off, would revert o the City. It never happened and it was never intended to happen as the continuing cash flow was too tempting not to be siphoned off for other projects. The motorists are captives as there's no free direct passage from Queens to the Bronx just as there's no free passage from New Jersey to Manhattan. That, again, we've all been bilked is an old old old story -- a never ending story.
5
Much of the cost overrun was caused by actions of Government Officials. Compared to the 7 Trillion $ banks bailout and the 7 Trillion $ total cost of the War in Iraq it does not come close. Also don't forget the Oculus is part of the memorial to the victims of 9/11. I think Calatrava should be commended for his creation rather than criticized for the cost.
Because when you walk around the site of the former Twin Towers, what you REALLY want to see is something that reminds you of a bunch of bones sticking out of the ground.
4
The dark blue Atlantic is rising so may it make nice fish habitat. Fear not, NYers, you will adapt by evolving sydactyly toes, nictitating membranes, gills, Knicks and Yankees colors.
1
The use of the word 'oculus' to describe a very long cigar shaped skylight is more than a stretch. It is used only for circular, eye-shaped openings. I'm curious if this was the architects choice. If so then I find it a subtlety ostentatious (and wholly necessary) overreach on his part; if it's the writers choice, then just a poor understanding of historical architectural terminology.
4
Agreed.
The overstretched and under-talented Port Authority of New York and New Jersey could not successfully manage a neighborhood bodega. And the politicians who've been un-running it for the last twenty years should all be trumped. I mean, this is user-fee, toll-paying, taxpayer money they've been throwing out the windows like Scrooge McDuck!
3
How can NYC possibly justify spending $4 billion on a "hub" that serves 50,000 commuters a day when millions of people are forced to navigate the embarrassing dump known as Penn Station. Yet another sign of civic stupidity and political corruption. Rome isn't just burning, it's imploding. We'll be able to pick through the ruins in our lifetime.
7
This review is so cynical. Public officials can build cheap, lackluster structures and the result will be soviet-style architecture or a fancy warehouse clad to look like something else. We deserve beautiful, high quality public architecture that expresses the greatness and hope of the American spirit--especially at WTC. As to the cost, the public finance and regulatory process for infrastructure, like all things that touch our political process, is complex, prolonged and seemingly illogical process. Much of what is done is in place to protect our rights as citizens, but it works against anyone trying to build a project. The cost for Grand Central of $80m ($2B in 2013 dollars) as you allude to would probably end up rivaling the hub's final cost if it were subject to today's regulations and physical constraints. The WTC trans hub will prove the test of time. Kudos to NYC for having a vision.
1
The 4 billion would have been better spend on the third tunnel (that Christie veteod), not another fancy station/mini mall.
10
This hall has all the warmth and "majesty" as a design stolen from the drafting table of Albert Speer.
5
Distinctive architecture has the power to mitigate the banality of urban landscapes. So, while the PATH Terminal design may have turned into a civic boondoggle, it is a distinctive, if diminished design, and that has value, especially at the WTC site where it is by no means the most disappointing part of what has been built. The early, hopeful imagery of resilience and transcendence and the desire to create a great a public space have given way to a pervasive imagery of destruction, loss and fear hemmed in by the pursuit of profit and expediency. The PATH Terminal, as built, looks as much like a steel frame collapsing in on itself as the soaring spirit of the city, and most images do not show that it is wedged up against the neighboring high-rise depriving it of even a setting that flatters it.
1
The cost is astronomical, but what's even worse are the trade-offs. We have a tunnel under the Hudson which is crumbling and a replacement is 10-15 years behind schedule, because they cant find the money. The infrastructure needs of the subway system are immense, yet services are being cut despite the increase in ridership because of lack of funds. And they still haven't figured out how to pay the full cost of the new Tappan Zee bridge. Yet they dig up $4 billion for this vanity project? Atrocious.
9
This project is simply the latest architectural folly in the seemingly endless boondoggle that is the World Trade Center.
Does anyone else remember Ellsworth Kelly's proposal for the WTC? It was bold, beautiful, and inspiring in its simplicity—and it certainly would have been less expensive. It is worth recalling now as a reminder of what could have been...
Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/arts/critic-s-notebook-one-vision-a-hi...
Image: http://greg.org/archive/2003/09/11/ellsworth_kelly_on_ground_zero.html
Does anyone else remember Ellsworth Kelly's proposal for the WTC? It was bold, beautiful, and inspiring in its simplicity—and it certainly would have been less expensive. It is worth recalling now as a reminder of what could have been...
Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/arts/critic-s-notebook-one-vision-a-hi...
Image: http://greg.org/archive/2003/09/11/ellsworth_kelly_on_ground_zero.html
2
This column will be dated the minute the public enters and sees for themselves how complex the the system is and where the architecture is. As for the NYTimes, an extremely false and dangerous narrative that architecture is the reason for 4 billion price tag. Then again, Kimmelman takes every opportunity to equate architects as the out of touch when he knows better. Definition of demogauge.
3
A century from now, I expect Grand Central will be just as beloved as it is today. I have no idea whether this "Oculus" will even still be there, but even if it is I doubt it will be a tenth as beloved as Grand Central.
7
Michael Kimmelman is an excellent architecture critic. Calatrava's designs are cheesy and the NYC architectural landscape has been degraded with this expensive structure that lacks a straightforward function. The money could have been used instead to build affordable housing. Even in Valencia, Spain, his buildings are perceived as distasteful and with no engineering value by the residents of the city. Calatrava is another overrated architect just like Renzo Piano.
3
Don't do the accounting based on a new train station. This is much, much more. It is a symbol of the resilience and determination of the American people and all the people of the free world. This structure signifies an outright denial of terrorism! Add that value to the analysis!
Then shouldn't it have been an American architect to symbolize the "resilience and determination of the American people"? Yes, you mentioned the rest of the free world, but it was first and foremost an American tragedy and need.
4
then mainstream elite politicians worry about why Trump is so popular.
4
Let me get this straight:
-About half of the city's roads are rubble;
-Many of our public schools don't have working toilets and the teachers buy chalk and paper out of their own paltry salaries;
-Most of the subways in the city look and smell like decrepit public urinals; some renovations, like 63rd and Lex, have been stopped mid project for so long they are already deteriorating;
-Somehow, elected officials couldn't find anything to do with $4 billion so we made the most expensive train station in history, at probably 10X the necessary cost???
It's like building a trailer park with trailers that doors and windows that don't seal and then buying a Ferrari to park in the center with the idea that everyone will enjoy looking at it. There are probably 3.6 billion ways that money could be used more effectively.
-About half of the city's roads are rubble;
-Many of our public schools don't have working toilets and the teachers buy chalk and paper out of their own paltry salaries;
-Most of the subways in the city look and smell like decrepit public urinals; some renovations, like 63rd and Lex, have been stopped mid project for so long they are already deteriorating;
-Somehow, elected officials couldn't find anything to do with $4 billion so we made the most expensive train station in history, at probably 10X the necessary cost???
It's like building a trailer park with trailers that doors and windows that don't seal and then buying a Ferrari to park in the center with the idea that everyone will enjoy looking at it. There are probably 3.6 billion ways that money could be used more effectively.
8
"About half of the city's roads are rubble"
Not true.
"Many of our public schools don't have working toilets"
Not true.
"teachers buy chalk and paper out of their own paltry salaries"
True
"Most of the subways in the city look and smell like decrepit public urinals"
Not true
Look, you're entitled to not like the Oculus - I don't like it either - but what's the point of the hyperbole? Making stuff up is a losing proposition.
Not true.
"Many of our public schools don't have working toilets"
Not true.
"teachers buy chalk and paper out of their own paltry salaries"
True
"Most of the subways in the city look and smell like decrepit public urinals"
Not true
Look, you're entitled to not like the Oculus - I don't like it either - but what's the point of the hyperbole? Making stuff up is a losing proposition.
1
So did all of the increases in fares and tolls go to building this? If so it's an outrage. The PA constantly raises tolls on bridges and tunnels regularly meanwhile everyones paycheck has been frozen for years. I resent such wasteful use of money.
2
This critic may be right that the architecture is both bizarre and an outrageous expense, but remember that critics utterly savaged both the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center when these buildings rose. Reading these criticisms today is equal parts comical and sad. How wrong they were!
For me, it resembles "Jaws" or "The Scream". The exterior is an offensive looking structure that has nothing in common with its surroundings and gives back nothing to the people it serves. I had occasion to use the interior a month ago. It turned out to be a cavernous drone of creamy pillars whose intention seemed to be to dwarf its human passersby. I began envisioning a structure that could have been -- maybe one that provided sky light and a sense of life to the interior and give passersby a place to interact, not possible with this design. How did this happen?
5
Wow!
Millions spend in infrastructure and public spaces.
What a horrible use of taxes!!
No! My taxes would be better spend paying for the military or to bail out banks!
I can't believe that anybody could think of renovating our crumbling infrastructure.
The nation that built the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal! No we should think small, guys, small!
Millions spend in infrastructure and public spaces.
What a horrible use of taxes!!
No! My taxes would be better spend paying for the military or to bail out banks!
I can't believe that anybody could think of renovating our crumbling infrastructure.
The nation that built the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal! No we should think small, guys, small!
3
Millions is one thing - billions is quite another story, thank you. Clearly money needed to be spent on a new station, no reasonable person questions that. That need, however, doesn't justify waste and excess.
4
It's the only beautiful, soaring piece of architecture on the entire site. Though his original design was even better, Calatrava's Oculus is still graceful and inspiring.
4
The same thing was said of Millennium Park here in Chicago. It is home to an impressive, architecturally significant bandshell designed by Frank Gehry, displays of public art, the world's largest rooftop garden. There were huge cost overruns. "Boondoggle" was a word used frequently more than fifteen years ago when it was built. Today it is a centerpiece of the city. Some say it is the greatest Chicago project since the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. No one talks about the cost overruns now. Perhaps the World Trade Center Transportation Hub will be great for New York. Another grand statement of recovery from 9/11. I'd like to see it someday.
25
Millennium Park is a magnificent, 20-acre public space built over a former sub-grade parking lot and train tracks. It cost less than 15 percent ($500 million) of the transit hub, and half of that cost was funded by private contributions. It has become an economic development engine for downtown Chicago--which it is doubtful will be the future of the transit hub.
2
Millennium Park is great, but remember that it was formerly rail yards and parking lots and scruffy park land. With its completion Chicago gained a brand new green space in the heart of downtown for recreation, concerts, and festivals. No one talks about cost overruns anymore in part because the park has boosted tourism and real estate values. (Boston hopes its Rose Kennedy Greenway, built atop the Big Dig, will have a similar effect.) Calatrava's new transit hub serves a functional purpose and replaces something that was already there, at enormous cost and limited utility. The better comparison is with Grand Central.
1
In Spain they say," Calatrava te la clava" Calatrava sticks it to you (moneywise).
2
Today's boondoggle is tomorrow's tourist attraction.
$4 B? That's a lot of bridge and tunnel commutes, even at their current tolls. Is the Port Authority ready to open its books yet? And if so, will they be the right set of books?
4
For the price, you'd think we would've at least gotten more—and wider—staircases to access the actual PATH train tracks. The crowd congestion is going to be awful once surrounding skyscrapers are built and start to fill up.
5
I like the white color that will become dirt brown in a short time. Very appropriate for NY architecture.
3
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Shelley
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Shelley
1
I believe there were similar harsh criticisms when the Eiffel Tower was built.
Yes, exactly. And the Pompidou Center too. We need to just wait a bit. Then look back, in 2030, and look again at who said what. Not to say I'm sure it will become an adored addition, but it will probably be at least a minor plus thing, maybe a bit more.
The Pompidou center is still grotesque.
2
Expensive, yeah, but I won't pass judgment until I've walked the room. Maybe the money was worth it; maybe not. Maybe if it develops a life as a performance space, it will fulfill its mission. I don't know. Serendip has yet to have its say.
I do wish to put in a plug for a Sebald-like contemplation of space and memory, where they chance to meet in a public room. Grand Central Station. Pardon me; Terminal. The Vanderbilt St. side. Up the marble stairs, to a bar-café. Is it still there? I hope so. I used to meet a friend there for Martinis. Six o'clock or so. We sat, chatted, watched humanity going about its urgent business. Quite a show. Very humbling.
My friend has gone to wherever heroes go. 101st Airborne. Dropped behind enemy lines before D-Day. Bastogne. The Ardennes. I hold dear the memories of our conversations at Grand Central. He knew my father.
I wish for the Calatrava structure to generate excellent memories for those who pass through it. We shall find out together, nichtwar?
I do wish to put in a plug for a Sebald-like contemplation of space and memory, where they chance to meet in a public room. Grand Central Station. Pardon me; Terminal. The Vanderbilt St. side. Up the marble stairs, to a bar-café. Is it still there? I hope so. I used to meet a friend there for Martinis. Six o'clock or so. We sat, chatted, watched humanity going about its urgent business. Quite a show. Very humbling.
My friend has gone to wherever heroes go. 101st Airborne. Dropped behind enemy lines before D-Day. Bastogne. The Ardennes. I hold dear the memories of our conversations at Grand Central. He knew my father.
I wish for the Calatrava structure to generate excellent memories for those who pass through it. We shall find out together, nichtwar?
3
The Port Authority of NY and NJ has ended up building the Trump Casino of subway stops. No wonder Chris Christie now works for the Donald.
1
I wish people would stop defending hideousness in the name of "modernism", spending billions for ugly, when much needed repairs to current functional, and more beautiful infrastructure go begging.
5
history will judge that this greatness of time say 10- 30 years from now. this would easily drive tourist and other to see it. which would led to the resultant investments in the area. the conclusion once this happens was why NYC did not build something like this sooner.
Yes, it looks so out of place from the top - like the glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris. Now THAT is a waste of precious taxpayer money.
I wondered what the hell this thing was when I was at the 9/11 museum last winter. It's kind of amazing, with all the financial pressures on urban centers these days, that this thing was funded. One would think that an attractive but more pedestrian design could have been executed for far less money.
Like the Eiffel Tower, however, this this is destined to become a landmark in New York City. The jury is still out on whether it'll be loved, loathed, or tolerated.
Like the Eiffel Tower, however, this this is destined to become a landmark in New York City. The jury is still out on whether it'll be loved, loathed, or tolerated.
I believe in creating inspiring public spaces. But form must always follow function. So the first question that must be asked is "does this space work well as a train station? Does it make its passengers' lives better?" If the answer to that is no, then it doesn't matter how beautiful it is.
IMHO, Calatrava's designs always seem to put grandiose appearances ahead of the little details required to improve function. If Mies van der Rohe was at one extreme of eschewing frivolous form and believing "God is in the details", Calatrava can be summed up with "To Hell with the details!" as long as the form is pretty.
Incidentally, this very paper had a great article on the functional failings of previous Calatrava projects:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/arts/design/santiago-calatrava-collect...
IMHO, Calatrava's designs always seem to put grandiose appearances ahead of the little details required to improve function. If Mies van der Rohe was at one extreme of eschewing frivolous form and believing "God is in the details", Calatrava can be summed up with "To Hell with the details!" as long as the form is pretty.
Incidentally, this very paper had a great article on the functional failings of previous Calatrava projects:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/arts/design/santiago-calatrava-collect...
37
Interesting piece. This quote says a lot, "“The problem is that Calatrava is above and beyond the client.”
1
This looks almost identical to Calatrava's Milwaukee Art Museum. In fact, you would think these pictures were taken in Milwaukee if they weren't identified as being in New York City. Maybe he just recycled those drawings.
7
if he did it should not have cost $4 bn.
3
What an insane country we live in. The cost overruns of this project - even the fact it was built in the first place, with this absolutely insane amount of money - is contributing to the citizens' growing mistrust, exhaustion and dread with the leaders of this country. Mr. Calatrava and whomever he convinced at the Port Authority and elsewhere to fund this project are fully responsible for the public's growing mistrust of public financial management.
6
Amazing how much this looks like the Milwaukee Art Museum (a building that I love, BTW.) "One-trick pony," indeed!
7
Sorry, i could not disagree more. The penny pitching, economics first approach toward community strcutures results in the current Penn Station - an epic and tragic disaster in every conceivable metric.
This country spends $650 Billion dollars a year on the military.
How do you put a price on something like this? Diificult for sure but I suspect walking through this structure "elevates" the spirits of average citizens a little every day while providing a solemn reminder of the victims of 9/11. That has value to a society via the internal lives of its people.
No doubt this could have been done better and cheaper but no large and complex undertaking worth doing will come off perfectly. Just ask Boeing (models of private sector efficiency?) about the delays and failures experienced in launching the Dreamliner.
This station will be around for 100 years at least so if you amortize it out, that is a small pittance. And maybe, just maybe future New Yorkers will look at it and say, "What a beautiful strcuture, I am sure it cost a lot at the time, but is was a worthy investment.a"
This country spends $650 Billion dollars a year on the military.
How do you put a price on something like this? Diificult for sure but I suspect walking through this structure "elevates" the spirits of average citizens a little every day while providing a solemn reminder of the victims of 9/11. That has value to a society via the internal lives of its people.
No doubt this could have been done better and cheaper but no large and complex undertaking worth doing will come off perfectly. Just ask Boeing (models of private sector efficiency?) about the delays and failures experienced in launching the Dreamliner.
This station will be around for 100 years at least so if you amortize it out, that is a small pittance. And maybe, just maybe future New Yorkers will look at it and say, "What a beautiful strcuture, I am sure it cost a lot at the time, but is was a worthy investment.a"
44
this station, considering build quality, will collapse long before the century. Plus it looks very high maintenance.
2
Sorry, while it is grandiose, solemn is hardly a term I would use to describe this structure. It's large and complex as a piece of structure, but that was by choice, not necessity. That, therefore, does not justify the exorbitant cost. It's a subway station, essentially, not a highly complex, technical contrivance that soars through the air like a Dreamliner, thus the analogy is inapt.
3
Penn Station (in it's current form) has been only around for 50 and should be demolished immediately. I'd rather have a $4bn piece of art than a worthless rat's nest
1
This is a wonderful building.
3
$4 Billion....what do the bathrooms look like??
5
And, let's note, that the #1 subway stop at the World Trade Center is still not functional 15 years after...
8
You cannot complain about the 1-Line stop not being finished.
That train was kept running through the site while the entire World Trade Center was being built directly on top of it (and below it and around it).
Doing that literally added hundreds of millions of dollars to the budget and who knows how many months to the overall schedule.
This project is a classic example of damned if you do, damned if you don't.
That train was kept running through the site while the entire World Trade Center was being built directly on top of it (and below it and around it).
Doing that literally added hundreds of millions of dollars to the budget and who knows how many months to the overall schedule.
This project is a classic example of damned if you do, damned if you don't.
1
Everything at the WTC site bring up The Onion article from 2006
...New York Governor George Pataki..."This vast chasm, dug at the very spot where the gleaming Twin Towers once rose to the sky, is a symbol of what we can accomplish if we work together."
All our other developed nation pals have been getting this right for a couple generations and we cant get a single thing right.
While I love this building, I too agree, so...all these billions and we still dont have new tunnels under the Hudson? We dont know how the new TZ will be funded, our airports are 3rd world at best, it takes way to long to get to DC and Boston from NYC, etc... we just dont know how to do anything grand and forward thinking anymore.
But this is what happens when we put incompetents in change of the PANYNJ.
...New York Governor George Pataki..."This vast chasm, dug at the very spot where the gleaming Twin Towers once rose to the sky, is a symbol of what we can accomplish if we work together."
All our other developed nation pals have been getting this right for a couple generations and we cant get a single thing right.
While I love this building, I too agree, so...all these billions and we still dont have new tunnels under the Hudson? We dont know how the new TZ will be funded, our airports are 3rd world at best, it takes way to long to get to DC and Boston from NYC, etc... we just dont know how to do anything grand and forward thinking anymore.
But this is what happens when we put incompetents in change of the PANYNJ.
6
what is more important? This building or more new tunnels under the Hudson? YOu need to get your priorities straight, as have the politicians who decided to build this. Commuters complain too much.
35 miles, 2 million truck loads of earth and £6.5 billion later: Switzerland completes work on the world’s longest tunnel 8,000 feet beneath the Alps
The incredible 35-mile long NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel now surpasses Japan’s 14.5-mile Seikan Tunnel
Tunnel will transport passengers from Zurich to Milan in 2 hours and 50 minutes, shaving an hour off current time
With the first safety tests being under taken in October, the tunnel is due to open to the public in June 1 2016
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3211503/35-miles-2...
The incredible 35-mile long NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel now surpasses Japan’s 14.5-mile Seikan Tunnel
Tunnel will transport passengers from Zurich to Milan in 2 hours and 50 minutes, shaving an hour off current time
With the first safety tests being under taken in October, the tunnel is due to open to the public in June 1 2016
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3211503/35-miles-2...
3
puts in perspective the total waste of money on this station.
2
Instantly in the top ten most important architectural buildings in New York City.
Expensive? Yes. It's a long term investment that will eventually pay off. Forget the critics. They bore me as usual.
Expensive? Yes. It's a long term investment that will eventually pay off. Forget the critics. They bore me as usual.
3
It may or may not be in the top ten, depending on who is making the list. But investment implies return, and it's difficult to see how this structure will net any financial benefit anywhere near commensurate with the outlay.
2
Total visitor spending from New York City tourism in 2014: $41 billion.
Form follows function. If the form follows the functions it is designed for then you have a winner. The rest is aesthetics. In 100 years, if it's still standing and not under water due to global warming, it may need a paint job...other than that we will have to wait and see.
"Degenerated" or "evolved for the worse;" not "devolved."
As a transplanted Midwesterner, I have very fond memories of my time living in Milwaukee, Chicago, and St. Louis. The recent arrival in NYC of some of my favorite childhood eateries – Potbelly Sandwich Shop, Chick-Fil-A, IHOP, Denny’s – has brought me great joy, and each visit has filled me with nostalgia. But I am even more thrilled to see, with the arrival of this lovely replica of the Milwaukee Art Museum, that NYC has now started importing my favorite Midwestern landmarks. I am eagerly anticipating my future visits to the Park Slope Arch, Wrigley Field of Staten Island, Mt. Rushmore-Bronx, Gowanus Cloud Gate, and the World’s Largest Ball of Twine (that fits in Queens).
7
This city is just amazingly misled. this reject cost $4 billion dollars. Instead of limiting the cost to 4 one billion, and then using the other $ 3 billion for low income housing we are stuck with a piece of architecture that is non sellable. We are totally misled in New York State. Almost being led by wasteful idiots. Currently massive new condominium towers go up all over the city getting tax breaks with direct support from our governor and Mayor while developers are anti union, and do not build enough low income and middle income housing. Welcome to NYC in the 21st century. the ex Mayor Bloomberg is worth $ 40 billion and yet left the city with a record number of homelessness. the Second Avenue Subway has come in way over budget and only goes a fews miles, we
are definitely misled in NYC.
are definitely misled in NYC.
5
It looks familiar -I was at the the Liège-Guillemins railway station last year and the structure in the story gave me a feeling of deja vu. I checked it out on YouTube: "Belgium: The Liège Guillemins Railway Station designed by Santiago Calatrava". One idea for railway stations does go a long way.
So our schools here in the city are decrepit, overcrowded and the lack funds to make them world class but we have 4 billion dollars to spend on a train station? 4 billion dollars!!. Everybody involved in this project should be embarrassed that they got an open checkbook because they wrapped the station in the cloak of 9/11 and didn't revolutionize downtown transport; New Yorkers should be mad on both parts
6
Quite a few people writing in here forget that architecture is our first and foremost artistic expression. (can't hang pictures without a wall) and it is truly a sign of the times that folks now look at the bottom line rather than expression in architecture.
This attitude reminds me of a George Carlin routine about strip malls and the way roadside America looks as you go from coast to coast. Carlin noted "how did it happen?" pause to look at the audience "because they like it that way, they like it all ugly like that".
Heaven forfend some construction crew would have to come in and do some work later on a building as unique as this. It is little to ask in a country suffocated with electric wires, sign posts, strip malls and cement.
This attitude reminds me of a George Carlin routine about strip malls and the way roadside America looks as you go from coast to coast. Carlin noted "how did it happen?" pause to look at the audience "because they like it that way, they like it all ugly like that".
Heaven forfend some construction crew would have to come in and do some work later on a building as unique as this. It is little to ask in a country suffocated with electric wires, sign posts, strip malls and cement.
Why would a high traffic area be made with all white materials?
The mind boggles.
The mind boggles.
3
make work program for janitors.
Even worse than the 'soaring bird' design (what exactly does that have to do with underground transit), the fact that it is white in this sooty grimy city means that it will be dingy and dirty and look awful inside a few months.
The reason everyone in this city wears black is not just because black is cool.
The reason everyone in this city wears black is not just because black is cool.
3
An architect is a craftsman first and foremost -- not an artist. If a building doesn't work, its beauty is irrelevant.
Calatrava clearly sees himself as an "artiste" who subordinates all other concerns to his own aesthetics. This attitude is fine for a rebellious painter, but not for someone building a public utility. Shame on the Port Authority for enabling this childish egomaniac.
Calatrava clearly sees himself as an "artiste" who subordinates all other concerns to his own aesthetics. This attitude is fine for a rebellious painter, but not for someone building a public utility. Shame on the Port Authority for enabling this childish egomaniac.
6
Is it just me or don't you also expect a gaggle of Star Wars storm troopers to emerge, blasters at the ready, announcing that the Evil Empire has landed in downtown NYC prepared to take on The Port Authority of NY & NJ? Now that would be a popcorn worthy battle of heavyweights.
How, with all the pressing infrastructure needs in the NYC area (another tunnel to NJ, connectivity among the airports, a new LGA, a partially funded capital plan for the MTA, a new bus terminal, expanded Javitts, etc., etc.) this $4B boondoggle subway stop got prioritized is a testament to blind (and dumb) political decision making.
May the Force be with us.
How, with all the pressing infrastructure needs in the NYC area (another tunnel to NJ, connectivity among the airports, a new LGA, a partially funded capital plan for the MTA, a new bus terminal, expanded Javitts, etc., etc.) this $4B boondoggle subway stop got prioritized is a testament to blind (and dumb) political decision making.
May the Force be with us.
4
It's not just you. I was looking for the right comparison and you nailed it.
It does seem like just the right place to wear a billowing, Vader-esque cape.
With due respect to Mr. Calatrava, and all of the architects at the site of the former WTC, it's become a tourists attraction, a site so filled with an equal mix grief and glee for disrespectful visitors, going down there is a depressing. The monstrosity built as a "Hub" appears to lean toward appeasing the theme park crowd, as does the memorial with cavernous waterfalls. Is it a wonder from an engineering perspective, you bet. But it's overblown, overdone, with a desperation to please, leave the mark of ego on the part of its designers. Sadly of all, none of it was built for the residence of Manhattan, as is the trend now, The High Line (baby stoller-selfie parade) Times Square and its costumed characters trying to eek out a living, so dreary, Soho, a giant homage to retail and a sidewalk bazaar of oddities and tacky decorative wall hangings, Central Park filled with ugly pedicabs.
We are no longer a city of workers, doers, thinkers, we have become a city reliant on the people we ran away from in the suburbs. Welcome to your digestible version of New York, visitors.
We are no longer a city of workers, doers, thinkers, we have become a city reliant on the people we ran away from in the suburbs. Welcome to your digestible version of New York, visitors.
9
Sorry, but $4 billion (FOUR BILLION DOLLARS) could have been much better used. How about getting the Second Ave subway really rolling? Refurbish many decaying stations along the 6 line? A FOUR BILLION DOLLAR station for a handful of people that commute from New Jersey. Wow. A total disaster for all involved. Calatrava has now become a joke that only the dumbest city planner would hire, the Port Authority look like clueless inept dupes, and the people of the city that this station was supposed to help are left with an enormous bill for something that, bases on the pictures here, already looks dated.
5
A handful? Jack, this building is going to become the feather in our cap, throngs of people from all over the world are going to come and see it. For once we didn't succumb to the lowest common denominator and did something extraordinary. Why can't you see that? We spend billions on bombs and wars we have no use for, and something beautiful is created and you find fault in it because of fifty years mismanagement in highways over rail and you want to vilify a building that will take your breath away? Absurd, Jack.
2
Go complain to the MTA. The PA has nothing to do with maintaining the subways. Just a reminder.
I have been reading the times for many years and I recall nothing but enthusiasm for this project from your writers and critics. Now that it's done it's a boondoggle. Not your finest moment!
3
Architecturally, if we take Goethe's premise that architecture is frozen music, then this thing is the equivalent of a 1970s symphony for oboe, fire engine bell, and whale song. Financially, it's seems to be a mass transit version of the F35. Practically, based on one commenter's post here stating that the staircases are only one person wide, it sounds a lot like the current Penn Station.
25
I must say that it doesn't "sound" like 1970's music, I imagine something different, say gladiator's theme form the movie and not that I like it.
OF COURSE it is a "boondoggle"! It was built by or for or through the Government, locally or federally. That is what they do - boondoggle. But much of the "boondoggle" money ends up in mysterious pockets, and that part of the "boondoggle" should be investigated. You KNOW that money did not end up in the pockets of the peasants. The Revolution is coming.......
4
I remember reading, some years ago, a New Yorker article on concrete. It said the when the mafia ran the building trades, work got done on time and on budget. Too bad the oversight that brought down organized crime is never applied to the organized political crime that makes taxpayers' dollars wantonly expendable. That's one reason we have Trumpism.
1
Don't worry. It will be one of the city's iconic landmarks and will attract visitors (and therefore money) for years to come. The same architect designed the similar Oriente Station in Lisbon in 1998, and it's still a tourist magnet nearly two decades later.
3
I was reminded of the 4 billion price tag this morning as I crossed the Goethal's Bridge to Staten Island and paid a $15 toll. The Port Authorithy has been ripping off commuters on the bridges and tunnels for year so they can pay for these boondoggles while their executives ride around in helicopters and limos. It is a disgrace but it's a good thing that I wasn't going to Brooklyn because I'd have to pay another $15 fee to cross the Verazzano.
4
You left out the most obvious thing -- it's also part of a memorial for the 3,000 people who died there -- and in that respect, it is magnificent. Your argument comes off as self-serving when you leave out inconvenient facts.
3
For an example of the other extreme, watch for the "Brutalist Architecture" of Washington DC's metro expansion in suburban Maryland, where a cost-cutting conservative governor has cut any features that might uplift Metro users, leaving future generations of commuters to start their days navigating barren structures reminiscent of prisons, devoid of even landscaping.
1
many of those commuters would also not be very happy to be paying billions more $ to pay for the extravagance you enjoy.
1
But why do we have to have extremes at one end or the other? Yes, we should spend something to receive the wretchedness of brutalist public spaces, but that can mean a few hundred thousand, not a few billion!
1
I agree with you completely. The answer is somewhere in between. Society needs to decide how much we're willing to spend to have a livable public space. We needn't be extravagant, but those who never use public transportation should not force commuters to endure an environment of despair.
1
Here on the west coast we have even a mightier boondoggle. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, rather half a bridge, that cost has exceeded seven and a half billion dollars. It has a symbolic but clunky cable stay tower that was unnecessary structurally and continues to be problematic. A simple concrete viaduct design would have been elegant and provide magnificent views of the bay and cities - and completed in half the time. It replaced a steel bridge built in the 1930s and slightly damaged by earthquake in 1989. Apparently the city of Oakland felt slighted by not having a symbolic element to complete with the San Francisco side's multiple suspension design. (The bridge is an amazing 8 miles in length and runs through a island tunnel midway, only the Oakland side was replaced.)
1
I love this structure. A country defines itself by it's art and architecture. Think of the Eiffel Tower, the leaning tower of Pisa, Big Ben, etc.
On the other hand, when I think of the United States, I think of the trillions you spend on killing millions of people around the world. (The First Gulf war alone killed around a million Iraqi's. The second Gulf war killed another million.) Not to even mention the millions of refugees that the rest of the world now has to rescue because of the total destruction left behind. These refugees are going to result in the breakdown of Europe in the same way as the flood of a million refugees into Syria, from the gulf wars, caused it to break down.
On the other hand, when I think of the United States, I think of the trillions you spend on killing millions of people around the world. (The First Gulf war alone killed around a million Iraqi's. The second Gulf war killed another million.) Not to even mention the millions of refugees that the rest of the world now has to rescue because of the total destruction left behind. These refugees are going to result in the breakdown of Europe in the same way as the flood of a million refugees into Syria, from the gulf wars, caused it to break down.
I think I saw this already in the Avengers movie? One of those flying caterpillar things that Iron Man, Thor, Hulk et al took down in the big fight climax scene?
On my to-do list is to capture it with a live video. I have been dying to photograph its innards, but the seemingly endless construction precluded entry.
To see is to believe.
To see is to believe.
New York City has demeaned itself with this whole extravagant site. Brutalism trying to incorporate existentialism, perhaps? With a double-shot of grandiosity & irony? And the hucksterism of the elevator ride and Disneyland-in-Manhattan on the observation level ... good lord. I was appalled even before I read this article, which makes it even worse. I'm glad Milwaukee got Calatrava before he started believing his own press.
Looks pretty cool to me. Good job. :-)
1
I'm not a big fan of Calatrava's work: his designs look good from a distance, but seem tacky once you get closer. (Kind of like Andrew Cuomo.) But we own it now, and it may appeal increasingly over time; I doubt it, but it may.
I do have to disagree with posters who decry investment in creative urban architecture. As much as I feel for the travails of Flintstones (yes, that's the actual demonym) and their nasty water, I can't see how NYC urban design budgets should be judged by Michigander (yes, the actual ...) needs.
I do have to disagree with posters who decry investment in creative urban architecture. As much as I feel for the travails of Flintstones (yes, that's the actual demonym) and their nasty water, I can't see how NYC urban design budgets should be judged by Michigander (yes, the actual ...) needs.
4-yrs ago Calatrava was paid $13mil to design the new hotel and train station at Denver Intl. Airport. When the City of Denver wouldn't go along with his increasing budget he quit. They used parts of his design (they paid him to do so), but got rid of a lot of the white steel design (sounds familiar). They also ditched a very expensive bridge he designed for the rail line, where it crosses over the main roadway to the airport. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/757469/denver-international-airp...
1
I regularly find these digressions about a beautiful piece of architecture to ignore a large number of the facts. A good amount of the cost overruns can be placed squarely on the shoulders of the PA. It was their screwy timetables and incongruous requirements that threw the budget truly off the rails. Architecture is mostly dead in this city, and it's refreshing to finally see something that isn't a glass box.
Bravo Claltrava. Sorry you have to deal with shortsighted American practicality.
How about another architectural review in 5 years once everything in place. Sure looks good from the photos.
I will never understand New York's transportation priorities. Penn Station is in dire need of rebuilding, and this PATH station is where the area put its priorities. Absolutely ridiculous. A similar situation developed in Chicago where a quarter billion dollar station has been built that may never be used for anything. Planners need to start thinking intermodalism. Easy transfers between regional rail/bus, intercity rail/bus and aviation. It all needs to work together as a cohesive whole. Even in Mexico where intercity bus rules the intercity public transportation market, almost all bus companies leave from a central station in most cities. Europe and Asia are far ahead. Let's stop wasting money and start investing in an interconnected transportation system.
I want my money back.
2
It's amazing how these big name architects bamboozle city officials around the world. In fact, that is the real talent they have, not producing designs that are bizarre and hard to build and maintain.
2
Four billion dollars for one subway station? As awful as he is, this is the sort of gross abuse of the public purse that drives people to populists like Trump.
Kurt Vonnegut said, “Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.”
Wikipedia records there are 422 subway stations in NYC. Most of them are desperately decrepit and squalid, without escalators or properly maintained elevators (where they even exist), and that's before we get to crumbling cement, broken tile, litter or a clean, working public toilet. Four billion divided by 422 is nearly $10,000,000.00 per station. Spent effectively, these funds could have improved the subway experience for MILLIONS of New Yorkers.
Instead, we demonstrate to the world our New York city public transportation elites are incapable, indifferent to providing decent transportation infrastructure for the people of this city.
Kurt Vonnegut said, “Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.”
Wikipedia records there are 422 subway stations in NYC. Most of them are desperately decrepit and squalid, without escalators or properly maintained elevators (where they even exist), and that's before we get to crumbling cement, broken tile, litter or a clean, working public toilet. Four billion divided by 422 is nearly $10,000,000.00 per station. Spent effectively, these funds could have improved the subway experience for MILLIONS of New Yorkers.
Instead, we demonstrate to the world our New York city public transportation elites are incapable, indifferent to providing decent transportation infrastructure for the people of this city.
24
Thanks for the simple math reminder - shocking really.
3
The author is doing the public no great service by minimizing an extremely complex structure into simply "the 18th-busiest subway stop in New York City."
Everyone should Read David Dunlap's article for a more factual analysis on what made the Hub so complicated and costly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/nyregion/the-4-billion-train-station-a...
Everyone should Read David Dunlap's article for a more factual analysis on what made the Hub so complicated and costly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/nyregion/the-4-billion-train-station-a...
1
There comes a point in time when criticism crosses a line into snark and ill-placed attempts at humor. This is one of them. Instead of being grateful to have such an iconic piece of Calatrava's work in Manhattan, the critic seems at once disdainful of the design, but indicts it alongside the admittedly extravagant use of funds and misplaced idea behind the building's purpose. How about separating them? The building, to anyone who understands architecture like this, was as much a work of Calatrava, as it is an homage to Minoru Yamasaki, architect of the original World Trade Center towers. The sweeping lines are very much in keeping with Yamasaki's Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan outside Detroit, and as well, include design elements of Yamasaki's McGregor Conference Center at Detroit's Wayne State University. There is just so much bourgeois in writing these days, that this criticism falls in line with that of decades past when great architects were maligned in the press.....only to be vindicated years later when more sober reviews prevailed.
14
Sir, I don't see anything snarkish in Kimmelman's critique of Calatrava here. Criticism that is not critical, when required, is useless. Calatrava's designs need not be placed on a pedestal. And, for the most part, Yamasaki was a terrible architect--kitchy, insensitive to urban context, and vacant of genuine architectural ideas.
3
This is why architecture is a laughing stock now. Yes, you say, the building is an extravagant waste of money, and looks bizarre, but it is also a work of homage and a tasteful accompaniment to buildings in Bloomfield Hills and Detroit that the overwhelming majority of commuters will never see, and would not connect if they did.
Four billion dollars is a lot of money, and a subway station is, first and foremost, supposed to function well as a transportation hub. Whatever happened to architects capable of making beautiful something that did its job well, rather than trying to shoehorn function into buildings whose primary virtue is that they recall and mimic other (often equally hideous) buildings?
Four billion dollars is a lot of money, and a subway station is, first and foremost, supposed to function well as a transportation hub. Whatever happened to architects capable of making beautiful something that did its job well, rather than trying to shoehorn function into buildings whose primary virtue is that they recall and mimic other (often equally hideous) buildings?
25
"This is why architecture is a laughing stock now."
Oh! The ego!
I am happy that I was taught the difference between an opinion and facts back in 5th grade.
Oh! The ego!
I am happy that I was taught the difference between an opinion and facts back in 5th grade.
1
Kimmelman's review is premature. Give the Calatrava's work a half-century before preparing an objective critique.
3
The way we build things today, do you think it will be in one piece in a half-century?
2
This will be the exemplar of bad architecture for the next century.
Good architecture is architecture that serves the needs of its users. Bad architecture is architecture that is 100% over budget and that exists only to satisfy the architect's pretence of being an artist, at someone else's expense.
Good architecture is architecture that serves the needs of its users. Bad architecture is architecture that is 100% over budget and that exists only to satisfy the architect's pretence of being an artist, at someone else's expense.
10
What about St.John the Divine? Still not completed. Chartres? Gaudi's work in Barcelona?
You like hanging around Penn.Station or Robert Moses's Coliseum or Port Authority Bus Terminal? You like that kind of architecture? You find it inspiring?
You like hanging around Penn.Station or Robert Moses's Coliseum or Port Authority Bus Terminal? You like that kind of architecture? You find it inspiring?
Apropos of very little, the twin towers had the same architect as the main terminal at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport: Minoru Yamasaki.
Get over it, folks!!! Boondoggles are just another sign of our greatness. From the Big Dig in Boston, the Arch in St.Louis, to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco our garish displays of self confidence, grand vision, and, yes, naked wealth have come to symbolize us to the world. They announce what we are.
3
Exterior looks like a Carnival cruise ship mast - which will look appropriate sticking out of the water in a hundred years.
10
Seems a waste for such limited usage. Surely, the MTA could have found a better use for $4 billion. I can think of quite a few which involve millions of commuters, not thousands.
5
what a waste of money..........and once its " operational "........it will be a waste of time trying to get to your train........
once again......the NYC administration, led by that total waste of space
DeBlasio.............has taken a great oppurtunity to do good and turned into
something REALLY, REALLY stupid
once again......the NYC administration, led by that total waste of space
DeBlasio.............has taken a great oppurtunity to do good and turned into
something REALLY, REALLY stupid
1
It's beautiful, stunning and a joke. As a creative a major part of your job is creating within reason. This is nothing of the sort.
And if you are going to go over budget I mean at least buy the air rights to the left of the building, its pathetically crammed next to some banal high rise and it kills any of the grace of the feathered appendages.
Meanwhile, the L train will be shut down for years and no one thought that the fastest growing neighborhood in the country might need another track to handle this growth?
And if you are going to go over budget I mean at least buy the air rights to the left of the building, its pathetically crammed next to some banal high rise and it kills any of the grace of the feathered appendages.
Meanwhile, the L train will be shut down for years and no one thought that the fastest growing neighborhood in the country might need another track to handle this growth?
33
Everything I agree until that last point. It took the MTA about 10 years to built about 2 miles of new subway track. The L tunnels don't have 10 years to wait. And what happens to the hypothesized third tunnel after construction is done?
The last point was about priorities of the MTA and NY/NJ Port Authority. This project's $2B in overages could have gone a long way in fixing serious problems in the NYC subway. Even if its 10 yrs or however long to build new tunnels, something more has to be done. And to answer your question, the tunnel and track would be used to handle express trains on the L, which it so badly needs.
Just say the magic phrase "9/11!" and anything becomes justifiable no matter how how much it costs or how ugly it ends up. And if you doubt that, ask George W. Bush or Hillary Clinton about the Iraq Nam War.
4
And if you question anything, you can be attacked as being "unpatriotic".
1
So the "transit hub' is a "boondoggle"?
Wasn't pretty much everything connected with the Trade Center a boondoggle of the most cynical sort? Silverstein and similar "developers" all made out like bandits, largely by exploiting NYer's emotions.
Meanwhile, NY still can't get a desperately-needed train station to replace that boondoggle travesty of another era: Penn Station/MSG...
Wasn't pretty much everything connected with the Trade Center a boondoggle of the most cynical sort? Silverstein and similar "developers" all made out like bandits, largely by exploiting NYer's emotions.
Meanwhile, NY still can't get a desperately-needed train station to replace that boondoggle travesty of another era: Penn Station/MSG...
5
Letting "artists" do whatever they please is fine with canvas, but not with buildings
The "beauty" of projects like this that the state funds is that there is absolutely no incentive for the architects and designers to build something that is practical, pragmatic or sturdy because the PA can always go to the state or riders to pay for their mistakes.
Site unseen, I imagine in about a year or two the NYT will be writing about leaks, flooding, and "hundreds of millions in repairs". I predict that the intricate design and one off form will in turn cost the taxpayers additional billions of dollars over time to maintain the structure above and beyond what is required for functionally designed building with common materials. Lets remember that construction in the city has a hard time dealing with methods and materials that have been used for centuries.
The PA has a storied and very unsuccessful history in the real estate annals of NYC, and considering that there is probably not a single person in NY that thinks the PA does a good job (outside their employees), it's probably best that we focus on the structure of their organization and not the structures they build.
The "beauty" of projects like this that the state funds is that there is absolutely no incentive for the architects and designers to build something that is practical, pragmatic or sturdy because the PA can always go to the state or riders to pay for their mistakes.
Site unseen, I imagine in about a year or two the NYT will be writing about leaks, flooding, and "hundreds of millions in repairs". I predict that the intricate design and one off form will in turn cost the taxpayers additional billions of dollars over time to maintain the structure above and beyond what is required for functionally designed building with common materials. Lets remember that construction in the city has a hard time dealing with methods and materials that have been used for centuries.
The PA has a storied and very unsuccessful history in the real estate annals of NYC, and considering that there is probably not a single person in NY that thinks the PA does a good job (outside their employees), it's probably best that we focus on the structure of their organization and not the structures they build.
3
The angle should have been, "architect finds silver lining in infrastructure boondoggle." Instead, misinformed "architecture critic" scores easy points by aligning architecture with excess and luxury. Please find a new architecture critic, an actual expert on this (or any) field. This argument is bogus on so many levels.
I'm confused, is he arguing that the architects should not work on massive infrastructure projects because they will become symbols for political failures?Oh and here's a bunch of silly metaphors. It fails both as architecture and political criticism.
Think Dunlap did a better explain action of Calatravas role here... Hands aren't clean, but remember that the Milwakee Art Museum, very similar design (with freakin flapping wings) cost 122 million. And it's awesome. So, does Kimmelman think an ugly 3.5 billion station is better?
That sounds like an argument Donald Trump makes. "I'll give you a refurbished U.N. at half the cost." Yes, and.....?
I'm confused, is he arguing that the architects should not work on massive infrastructure projects because they will become symbols for political failures?Oh and here's a bunch of silly metaphors. It fails both as architecture and political criticism.
Think Dunlap did a better explain action of Calatravas role here... Hands aren't clean, but remember that the Milwakee Art Museum, very similar design (with freakin flapping wings) cost 122 million. And it's awesome. So, does Kimmelman think an ugly 3.5 billion station is better?
That sounds like an argument Donald Trump makes. "I'll give you a refurbished U.N. at half the cost." Yes, and.....?
3
Thank God someone is summing up what a waste this is. It's pretty, no doubt, but we folks in Jersey City did just fine the old brown and beige cement station that was the old WTC station. I miss the bathroom. Now it's an upscale mall that does nothing for the people who work in the building. The original mall had Alexander's, two Duane Reades, a bunch of banks. A worker could run errands and eat cheap in the original WTC. Now it's a shine to the moneyed hubris of Pataki and Bloomberg. Useless to the people who live here but pretty on Instagram. The New New York. PS: There are not enough escalators from track to ground level in the Path station. It's a mess.
1
The Hub is not, as you say, a simple subway stop tucked inside a shopping mall.
It provides common infrastructure and underground connections all over -- from Brookfield Place to the WTC Towers to the Fulton Street Mall. Being so interconnected, it was subject to the various political winds pertaining to a highly unique project, like demands that the Memorial be opened by the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Since the Hub runs under the World Trade Center site it is also the foundation for what sits above, including the Memorial Museum which is directly on top of the PATH station. That poses a tricky situation. Primarily, the Hub wasn't built yet, so they built the roof first to support the Memorial Museum then they built the actual train station below. As another NYTimes article mentioned, that meant they couldn't use cranes to hoist materials/equipment down like a normal project would, so they used freight trains to ship everything in train by train. While all of this was going on, an active subway (the 1-line) was running directly through the construction site, so everything had to happen above, below, and around this complication. I'm sure Staten Island commuters were happy that didn't shut down, but I don't see anyone quantifying that benefit.
Then they built a beautiful train station (underground). Then they built a stunning mall.
And I'm sure I missed plenty.
Costly? Yes.
But don't minimize what can only be classified as extraordinary construction.
It provides common infrastructure and underground connections all over -- from Brookfield Place to the WTC Towers to the Fulton Street Mall. Being so interconnected, it was subject to the various political winds pertaining to a highly unique project, like demands that the Memorial be opened by the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Since the Hub runs under the World Trade Center site it is also the foundation for what sits above, including the Memorial Museum which is directly on top of the PATH station. That poses a tricky situation. Primarily, the Hub wasn't built yet, so they built the roof first to support the Memorial Museum then they built the actual train station below. As another NYTimes article mentioned, that meant they couldn't use cranes to hoist materials/equipment down like a normal project would, so they used freight trains to ship everything in train by train. While all of this was going on, an active subway (the 1-line) was running directly through the construction site, so everything had to happen above, below, and around this complication. I'm sure Staten Island commuters were happy that didn't shut down, but I don't see anyone quantifying that benefit.
Then they built a beautiful train station (underground). Then they built a stunning mall.
And I'm sure I missed plenty.
Costly? Yes.
But don't minimize what can only be classified as extraordinary construction.
1
Kinda makes ya wanna vote Republican, eh? Trump wooda built it different - a good business deal like Grand Central, and a betta deal for common people, too. Govament needs to know its limitations. Way atta whack now. Ya know? Question more!
2
To a Republican, everything connected with moving people over rails is a "boondoggle." Unless, of course, it's in your district.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/politics/28mica.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/politics/28mica.html
Well -
You got something for your money, right?
Something very beautiful and unique?
Yes.
How many other times has governmental funding vanished in smoke and mirrors? Spent on ?
The money is spent....
Quit complaining and enjoy a beautiful space.
You got something for your money, right?
Something very beautiful and unique?
Yes.
How many other times has governmental funding vanished in smoke and mirrors? Spent on ?
The money is spent....
Quit complaining and enjoy a beautiful space.
2
Yeah but can it sustain hurricane winds, blizzard snows and flooding?
Who's going to be mopping up and maintaining this specious building?
And at what costs? Nice but....
Who's going to be mopping up and maintaining this specious building?
And at what costs? Nice but....
4
This looks gorgeous and cool. But how cool did it really have to be here, in this greatest of cities, where the rest of the transit system is a shambles? What a waste!
4
Was the additional $1.8B worth it? Well, that money could have gone towards the desperately needed, and now gone ARC tunnel project.
Leave it to politicians to fund the pretty, rather than the useful. I'll be thinking of that when they have to close 1/2 of the Hudson River tunnels for repairs and train volume drops to 25% of it's already stressed capacity.
Leave it to politicians to fund the pretty, rather than the useful. I'll be thinking of that when they have to close 1/2 of the Hudson River tunnels for repairs and train volume drops to 25% of it's already stressed capacity.
4
Train stations are really busy working spaces. That's why I like Grand Central so much. I can focus on getting from point A to point B fairly easily and still be aware of the exceptional building without getting hit over the head with it's design. And if I have time I look around and marvel at it's architecture. This new station seems unnecessarily grandiose and maybe a little bit vain but eventually you can get used to anything. Wait until the cleaning budget gets cut and it gets covered in grime. It may just blend right in .
2
And we have to suffer forever at Penn station. Same as it ever was. Waste of money and blood.
4
I haven't been inside, but I was unimpressed by the external structure. It doesn't fit the space, even apart from the memorial pools. But it also conflicts in aesthetic with what the reflecting pools and trees of the memorial are trying to do for visitors. There's nothing peaceful or graceful about the structure. It leaves an impression of spiny-ness, as for a spiny animal or plant protecting itself from predators or herbivores. It tries so hard to be art that it comes off as contrived. Judging from the links to the other structures, this is an architect who would best fade to oblivion. Unfortunately, NYC has slowed that transition.
4
I am not downtown often, but did think that it looked jarring from the outside.
However, I am a big fan of interesting architecture so I'm hoping that it will grow on me (and others).
After all, at first people didn't like the Eiffel Tower either!
However, I am a big fan of interesting architecture so I'm hoping that it will grow on me (and others).
After all, at first people didn't like the Eiffel Tower either!
That $4 billion dollars sure could have been spread around the whole transit system a little better. It's obvious the people who make these decisions do not take the subway at rush hour, unless it's a photo op. New York has the worst subway system ever.
2
What makes living in New York, or any great city, really wonderful is the architecture. Icons. Empire State, Public Library, Statue of Liberty, on and on. Grandiose, captivating.
Do we really want one of the great cities in the world to have box-like, "highly functional" buildings without all of this?
I applaud the decision-makers on this project. Architectural critics don't seem to understand.
Do we really want one of the great cities in the world to have box-like, "highly functional" buildings without all of this?
I applaud the decision-makers on this project. Architectural critics don't seem to understand.
3
The Headline says it all- A Big City Boondoggle- there are enough already. JGAIA
1
Looks like a filleted fish, carcass picked clean. An apt architectural metaphor!
4
$4 Billion for a subway stop. Ok that's excessive. When I was visiting NYC this thing was under construction and it looked incredible. The pictures in the article belie Mr Kimmelman's criticism. Can't wait to see it.
1
If I were rushing to catch a train, I do believe the last thing I'd want to see happen was for my jaw to drop open. All this fru-fru everywhere now in so-called architecture is just clumsy and extraneous kitsch, completely lacking in elegance and subtlety. Purely done out ego gratification and self indulgence on the part of the designer. A Roman column is beautiful, simple, elegant . . . and it holds the building up. All these modern soaring accessories just bloats the budget and is as functional to the content as is fancy and expensive wrapping paper on a cheap gift. Our own beloved Walt Disney Music Center here in LA and designed by Frank Gehry, embodies this syndrome perfectly. With people literally starving and homeless on the streets, this display of wasteful public self indulgence tells a lot about the state of our society. Just ask Rome, who made those columns.
86
On your last point (cost of the Disney Center versus the needs of the homeless), where is an ethicist in all this? This 4 billion dollar civic monument is a perfect example of what Princeton's Peter Singer writes about. How much good (or lessening of suffering) could have been achieved if a portion of the budget was redirected.
As a civilized city, what is our responsibility for the good?
As a civilized city, what is our responsibility for the good?
2
There's a difference. Disney Hall wasn't built with public funds. The Hub was a waste of taxpayer dollars. The Disney Hall was a gift to the city from the Disney family.
3
You're right. Perhaps all our buildings should look like Walmarts and bank branches. We wouldn't want any busy people to be dropping their jaws.
In an attempt to reimbue buildings with vitality, architects began moving away from the "tyranny of the box" decades ago; these "fru-fru" forms are among what has resulted. If you don't respond these often uplifting and inventive forms, what's your solution? And how, precisely, would you spend all the savings—to everyone's satisfaction—to feed and house the poor?
In an attempt to reimbue buildings with vitality, architects began moving away from the "tyranny of the box" decades ago; these "fru-fru" forms are among what has resulted. If you don't respond these often uplifting and inventive forms, what's your solution? And how, precisely, would you spend all the savings—to everyone's satisfaction—to feed and house the poor?
17
We can quibble about the artistic merit. I personally think it is grotesque and totally out of scale for its use -- what this article correctly identifies as nothing more than a subway station. Grand Central Station was built in the days of cross-country train travel when New York was the center of the world -- there is just no comparison to the PATH. But, like it or not, this project is indisputably an enormous waste of public funds from a government agency that, a few miles away at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, keeps tens of thousands of daily bus commuters into Manhattan traveling through a dilapidated, smelly relic of a facility. Wasn't there a beautiful building that could have been built at this site for this purpose for far less than $4 billion?
24
In my (limited) experience, the PABT seems to work. It isn't dilapidated or smelly. It's not "elegant", but it does the job. Perhaps it needs expansion as the number of riders increases, but that's something else.
I am a pro-infrastructure spending Keynesian, but wow, this thing looks like the crashed, egg-infested ship from the Alien. How could NYC let this project get through the political process? You can blame the past republican administrations for this frightful, incongruous mole on the island's landscape. Enjoy.
9
Not to worry if the structure does not suit your taste or pocketbook. In 50 years I am sure that New York will come to its senses and put a new Madison Square Garden on top of it.
4
How far above sea level is it ?
12
wow - graffiti artist's dream - all that white space!!
6
Overpriced and poorly managed it may have been--and I am sensitive to calls for investment in more practical and useful services--but I also believe that we as a country tend to under-invest in public works projects that are awe-inspiring and beautiful. While the costs should be better managed, the United States needs more of this kind of bold, beautiful, visionary use of public space. How dreary our lives are when all we have is grey, dull, square, utilitarian public buildings that serve their purpose but do not inspire.
74
I completely agree.
Just make sure everyone is fed and properly educated and well-cared for first.
Just make sure everyone is fed and properly educated and well-cared for first.
I appreciate your sensitivity and understand your dismay at the paucity of public art, architectural achievements and beautiful public spaces.
The problem is that people have to be fed, sheltered and earning a living wage in order to be able to pause long enough to be inspired.
The problem is that people have to be fed, sheltered and earning a living wage in order to be able to pause long enough to be inspired.
I wondering if it is just the money that bothers the author? I was looking on NYT.com for some criticism of the appalling Mid-town high rises and Pencil buildings like so much trash of the 1% on the skyline. Can we trust that the Port Authority would have made better use of this money somewhere else? I have no confidence in that. So a city like New York deserves more soaring spaces that can be enjoyed and perhaps lift the day of the 99% workers.
6
Because New York, where subway stations have no air conditioning and most are not wheelchair accessible, has no better use for 4 billion.
12
This is the work of an egomaniac, a disciple of THE FOUNTAINHEAD. It may stand up to the test of time but that would be purely accidental.
1
With climate change, Lower Manhattan will soon be underwater. This monstrosity will protrude from those murky waters like the grotesque skeletal remains of a beached whale. A fitting, symbolic epitaph to the fruits of human greed and hubris.
So in the end I like it.
So in the end I like it.
11
This is what you get when you have a bunch of bureaucrats spending other people's money. They should all be sued for grossly violating their fiduciary responsibilities.
5
it's phoenix out of the ashes, a piece of art and architecture,
also a luxury shopping mall, a subway station,
it works on so many levels
also a luxury shopping mall, a subway station,
it works on so many levels
3
Always the problem when the architect over shadows the building project. Like the new World Trade Center. It the architects masterpiece - but the clients buck. It has been this way for 1000 or more years. It does take 50-years to appreciate great buildings. The Frank Llyod Wright's Guggenheim for example. Saranien's TWA building at JFK or Dulles Airport. It a city worth trillions of dollars, this expenditure is not that great.,,but it could have finished the 2nd Ave subway. It did take $1 billion to just to redo Grand Central - 1/2 billion for MOMA addition and the Hudson yards will be many times this amount. Great cities do warrant great spaces - not always this costly (most of the bill is paid by the Port Authority of NY & N, to the worried Texan). Now if NY got all those oil and gas payments & subsidies they get in Texas...maybe it could build more great spaces. Freeways in Texas cost more the the new Hudson tubes.
1
Santiago Calatrava's transit hub is more than a boondoggle. To me, this giant turkey carcass of a subway stop is a sad, frustrating reminder of those awful years after 9/11 when there was opportunity to rebuild a swath of Lower Manhattan into an even more dynamic place than it was before. Instead, talk of infrastructure investment that could extend the Long Island Railroad to a hub downtown, making transfers between PATH and MTA seamless and a One World Trade Center design that would be the envy of the world, all vanished over time thanks to egos, mismanagement and fights between developers and the monster public agency.
Just because you put lipstick on a pig, it doesn't make it pretty.
Just because you put lipstick on a pig, it doesn't make it pretty.
4
I think people will feel differently about it - for the better - once the sting of the cost has faded. Yes, it should not have cost double what it was supposed to cost, and the engineers should have done a better job of assessing that before the project was selected. But daring projects often are unpredictable, and New York should embody daring.
3
I would embody daring if it didn't take public money out of the taxpayers' pockets. There many other more important areas where that money could have been used. A weird looking train station for 4 billion is a complete waste when we have so much homelessness, joblessness and a pitiful educational system.
1
The feeling I get passing by the yet-unopened but visible space is hope. It's light, airy, unoppressive...the polar opposite of that blight upon humanity, Penn Station. I cannot wait to be able to pass through and enter my office in a good mood.
5
All I want is to be able to get to the E train from the PATH without having to walk a block east, get up to street level, then walk back that same block in the other direction - passing the closer stairs to the E train that are marked for people going UP the stairs only(!) - cross Church street, and go down stairs to the subway station, which is 10 feet from where I started in the first place, but on the other side of a wall they created back in 2004. That would be great architecture.
22
Asking them to do that would require common sense and a team who actually took the trains to get to their destinations.
2
I hate to admit this, but I like it. It is a good fit to have an uplifting artifice at a sacred place. I will do my best to forget about the cost.
7
Wasn't there just an article in these very pages bemoaning the lack of large public work projects?
Ah yes, here it is:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/13/opinion/what-happened-to-the-great-urb...
Did the Central Planners forget to have a consensus meeting to align messaging?
Ah yes, here it is:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/13/opinion/what-happened-to-the-great-urb...
Did the Central Planners forget to have a consensus meeting to align messaging?
5
I work across the street and have been watching it take shape for the past year. At the risk of revealing myself as a child of the 80s, it looks like a big banana clip.
10
I thought I was the only one who thought this!!
How come famous architects have difficulty meeting budget and creating buildings that withstand the elements? Frank Lloyd Wright was a pioneer in this area.
6
In part because the people responsible for reining them in, as in this case NYC and the PA, didn't have the spine to stand up to the monumental ego of the architect. Most architects are realistic enough to temper their design urges while still balancing their need to meet the financial realities of their clients. But this wasn't private or corporate money, where those holding the financial strings knew better at some point to say "enough!" to the architect; instead you have people steeped in the "hey, it's not my money" thinking and, voila - billions of dollars in overrun.
1
Because they are famous for being bad architects. It's like the most expensive restaurants, serving tiny portions of food no one likes, but eats (if they can afford it) to show that they can afford it.
It's another form of conspicuous consumption: show off your wealth by wasting it conspicuously. Unfortunately, transportation terminals are paid for by the average traveller or taxpayer who cannot afford conspicuous consumption.
It's another form of conspicuous consumption: show off your wealth by wasting it conspicuously. Unfortunately, transportation terminals are paid for by the average traveller or taxpayer who cannot afford conspicuous consumption.
1
It much much more troubling than Michael's article. Architecture reflects society. American architecture in particular needs to become far more democratic, far more competition oriented, and far less American Idol laden. Mr. Calatrava is not "unique". He is unbelievably lucky in a wold that attaches moral ethical attribute to the fortunate.
Its a Donald Trump moment. The Oculus ought to be gold-plated for $4 billion. What an outrage. How many homeless could this money have housed?
Its a Donald Trump moment. The Oculus ought to be gold-plated for $4 billion. What an outrage. How many homeless could this money have housed?
3
I agree, Calatrava is a one-trick pony, and the trick has become very tiresome. Good luck keeping it clean.
7
A monument to one man's ego, at the public's expense. Absurd to have wasted so much money, and a classic example why people have less and less trust in all levels of government, when cost overruns in the billions have become a yawn and "oh well".
Then factor in reality. Aside from it's nothing nearly busy enough to warrant the size (setting aside the grandiose design and wasted space), some other comments are spot on about those pretty but likely hazardous gleaming white floors. Which raises another point - white?? With the MTA's history of little to no maintenance and cleaning, how long before this goes from soaring dove to soiled dove, with gum stuck to the marble, leaks staining the walls, ceilings and the "oculus" (exemplifying our modern penchant for dreadful construction quality), graffiti, random stickers adhered to the walls, and the attainment of the same "patina" as every other station. What a waste of money and poor public design.
Then factor in reality. Aside from it's nothing nearly busy enough to warrant the size (setting aside the grandiose design and wasted space), some other comments are spot on about those pretty but likely hazardous gleaming white floors. Which raises another point - white?? With the MTA's history of little to no maintenance and cleaning, how long before this goes from soaring dove to soiled dove, with gum stuck to the marble, leaks staining the walls, ceilings and the "oculus" (exemplifying our modern penchant for dreadful construction quality), graffiti, random stickers adhered to the walls, and the attainment of the same "patina" as every other station. What a waste of money and poor public design.
63
It could have been clad in copper for all that money and aged beautifully.
Instead, we will have a faded filthy turkey carcass to look at for an eternity.
Instead, we will have a faded filthy turkey carcass to look at for an eternity.
3
"A monument to one man's ego, at the public's expense. "
That may be true. But it is also true of the Pyramids, the cathedrals, the ancient temples around the world. Did they not in the long run serve the public? Penn Station may have ok utilitarian function - but does it make your spirits soar?
That may be true. But it is also true of the Pyramids, the cathedrals, the ancient temples around the world. Did they not in the long run serve the public? Penn Station may have ok utilitarian function - but does it make your spirits soar?
1
It's best to model its maintenance to Grand Central than to your average subway station. Yes, the NYC subway is disgusting, and belies a lack of civility and respect for public space. However, the "marble floors" comments popping up are ridiculous. The floors at Grand Central are also marble, as well as in many classy (meaning non-US, carpeted) airports (Barcelona comes to mind). Marble is a beautiful and established flooring material, and shiny doesn't mean health hazard as there are plenty of non slip surface options available. Excellent public design. And don't forget this is not any old subway station, it's a symbol of resurgence against the Islamic attacks.
Does this super structure have TV monitoring, a medical/emergency area and on site transit police for after and before rush hour?
3
It's one helluva beautiful boondoggle.
5
"Boondoggle" has become such a loaded word, a word so instantly leapt to by people dismissing something they disapprove of -- generally without putting any thought into their dismissal -- that I return the favor by instantly dismissing their argument without consideration. So much power in three little syllables!
5
Wait until all the lawsuits come filing in after commuters and tourists slip on those marble floors after snowstorms or thunderous summertime storms. What were they thinking? Beauty is in the mind of the beholder; safety is not. I cannot imagine how much extra it will cost to make those floors anti-slip if they are not already. After reading this article, I presume they are not.
7
One can only feel sadness, in seeing this ... for those who died at that day ... for those who died in the 15 years wars launched upon false premises which followed... for faltering democratic republics that let unelected leaders drag our nation through such morass.
And yet, life goes on, for millions of people living in this nation, in mostly free circumstances....in spite of the tyranny of 9/11 and the aftermath.
Simply amazing.
And yet, life goes on, for millions of people living in this nation, in mostly free circumstances....in spite of the tyranny of 9/11 and the aftermath.
Simply amazing.
3
As usual, the appreciation of the arts is lost on the majority of the public. I'm as cynical as anyone...but I think it is inspiring.
5
Well, it is prettier than Boston's Park Street Under.
1
I see the new station as a winged dove that transforms its space from the relentless drone of the capitalist money machine into something that can elevate the human spirit - something metaphoric that can remind us that there is more to life and lower Manhattan than the endless tables of the raucous money changers in the great Temple.
As for its cost, one can only blame the leadership that allowed it to happen - something of a surprise really, given the capitalist wisdom that purports to occupy that particular corner of the planet. Maybe they aren't so wise after all.
As for its cost, one can only blame the leadership that allowed it to happen - something of a surprise really, given the capitalist wisdom that purports to occupy that particular corner of the planet. Maybe they aren't so wise after all.
5
to me, It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of Man forced to live in a barren, Godless eternity like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void with nothing but waste, horror and degradation, forming a useless bleak straitjacket in a black absurd cosmos.
(c) woody allen
(c) woody allen
1
Calatrava's projects are always over budget and have maintenance problems. Milwaukee finished their art museum for $138 million which was 4X over budget but is starting to look like a deal next to this project in NY. It's location is also much more appealing next to Lake Michigan as it looks like a bird taking flight.
Give me $4 billion and I will knock your socks off with a building and I will pocket at least half of that amount for my personal needs.
Part of good design is being able to meet a budget. Anybody can spend money with abandon. This guy could be a US Congressman.
Give me $4 billion and I will knock your socks off with a building and I will pocket at least half of that amount for my personal needs.
Part of good design is being able to meet a budget. Anybody can spend money with abandon. This guy could be a US Congressman.
19
Unbelievably beautiful. Great art and architecture lives well past the memory of the expense. It is a grandiose expense, and the money could have been spent elsewhere with probably much better utilitarian value, but since the structure is in place its best to treat the expense as a sunk cost and just enjoy what it represents and where its sits. Too often we build boring buildings that serve us well, but blend in. This one definitely won't. Good on NY, just happy my taxes didn't pay for it, but my tourist funds will help when we come and visit.
43
like you, I too am glad that my taxpayer dollars (all $4bn) did not pay for it. Pitty the NY taxpayers who will be paying for this for the next 20 or so years though! LOL
Architecture function vs Art, I love the combination. Born of architect stock, living in 1850 function w/little cash I approve of both. Sometimes Architecture takes times time to find the Artist in the Architecture's original eye. I see a backbone in this piece of function and those whitewalls we know won't remain white. Who knows what this function will be seen as in years to come. Money isn't everything.
Dear Architect... Stunning sculpture. The problem, however, with so many architects, is that they want to build a piece of art.
Great aspiration...so please, become a sculptor. Create great forms.
But you see, when a sculptor acts like an architect, we mere mortals who are condemned to *use* your sculpture, lose out.
A building must first, be great at what it does. Then it can be great at how it looks.
Acing that combination is what makes a great architect.
My biggest beef with some architects is that they carry a conceit that misses the point that a building is nothing without the people for whom it is designed. I'm looking at you, Union Carbide hq in Danbury and General Foods in white plains.
Ask the workers in those buildings, or the local fire marshals, their opinions.
Great aspiration...so please, become a sculptor. Create great forms.
But you see, when a sculptor acts like an architect, we mere mortals who are condemned to *use* your sculpture, lose out.
A building must first, be great at what it does. Then it can be great at how it looks.
Acing that combination is what makes a great architect.
My biggest beef with some architects is that they carry a conceit that misses the point that a building is nothing without the people for whom it is designed. I'm looking at you, Union Carbide hq in Danbury and General Foods in white plains.
Ask the workers in those buildings, or the local fire marshals, their opinions.
1
Guess I’ve been out west too long, as NY seems to be not NY. Over emotionalizing about nearly every thing that has any emotional component especially if a public servant has to feel that feeling as an intrinsic part of their job. The boondoggling of public projects that makes the criminal incompetence and overspending in Boston’s Big Dig and the SF/Oakland Bay Bridge look positively competent and honest. Everyone always got a cut and overspending was normal but come on a $4B subway station! What’s next $100 cups of coffee?
The worst thing is this whole redesign and build project at the Twin towers site. The only right solution was to rebuild the exact same towers 10 or 20 stories taller with a giant middle finger on top for an antenna.
The worst thing is this whole redesign and build project at the Twin towers site. The only right solution was to rebuild the exact same towers 10 or 20 stories taller with a giant middle finger on top for an antenna.
One single question: How do you keep an ultra white building looking clean in NYC with all the soot and dirt? And this building looks like it will be a nightmare to clean. A pure white building is complete arrogance. it's like wearing a white fur coat through NYC slush after a major snow storm.
It will be interesting in ten years to see the maintenance budget on this building. I'm sure the Port Authority has no idea what that might be....
It will be interesting in ten years to see the maintenance budget on this building. I'm sure the Port Authority has no idea what that might be....
8
I find myself vexed by this architectural review. I want to not only like the Transportation Hub; I want to love it. I am also a Calatrava fan and I've felt it has taken too long for his brand of genius to become a greater part of America's architectural landscape.
The hub exterior couldn't be more striking, and it's the kind of dazzle New York both needs and deserves. I do see the metaphor of the wings formed by the ribs representing those we lost on 9/11 and on that level it works beautifully.
However, not having been inside the facility yet, I am dismayed to read about what sounds like a circuitous path of halls leading to the train lines. I've always detested architecture that turns a building into a maze. John Portman's Embarcadero Center in San Francisco has walkways that lead you upstairs, only to bring you back down, and his Renaissance Center in Detroit is filled with so many dead ends, one would swear he was in a teenage dystopian novel where the goal was to escape a lurking monster. This hub is sounding too much like that sort of design.
But while we're comparing the hub to the architectural masterpiece that is Grand Central, let's be fair enough to also compare it to the recent incarnation of Penn Station, where low ceilings and hideous interiors truly do give one the feel of Soviet design. Even at a bloated price, let us be thankful the WTC hub brings aesthetic pleasure to New York again, and not the punishment we know some architects can unleash.
The hub exterior couldn't be more striking, and it's the kind of dazzle New York both needs and deserves. I do see the metaphor of the wings formed by the ribs representing those we lost on 9/11 and on that level it works beautifully.
However, not having been inside the facility yet, I am dismayed to read about what sounds like a circuitous path of halls leading to the train lines. I've always detested architecture that turns a building into a maze. John Portman's Embarcadero Center in San Francisco has walkways that lead you upstairs, only to bring you back down, and his Renaissance Center in Detroit is filled with so many dead ends, one would swear he was in a teenage dystopian novel where the goal was to escape a lurking monster. This hub is sounding too much like that sort of design.
But while we're comparing the hub to the architectural masterpiece that is Grand Central, let's be fair enough to also compare it to the recent incarnation of Penn Station, where low ceilings and hideous interiors truly do give one the feel of Soviet design. Even at a bloated price, let us be thankful the WTC hub brings aesthetic pleasure to New York again, and not the punishment we know some architects can unleash.
3
Design and art are very important components of any large city. It is how we make unnatural things look natural. It is also how we change the robotic feel of places such as NYC to something more feeling. That said, I reject categorically that even $2 billion was required to accomplish this goal at the WTC hub (non-hub). Boondoggle? How about ripoff?
3
All well and good! And I'm sure architecturally and visually This Hub will pop! But you know, I'm more concerned that the overwhelming number of commuters under forty won't be reading, (certainly not The Old Grey Lady!) and on their gadgets as they commute, rather than what has always been considered constructive reading, video games will be the rule! And this Thursday night at our Republican debates, most folks will be focusing on Trump versus Kelly, and that focus will probably be on the look of his hair and whether or not she is wearing too much lip gloss as usual! Yep, that City On The Hill! America, where art thou?!
1
I like it! And I work right next to it.
3
that worked out well, didnt it
Whether you like the design or not (I love it), New York City has a structure for the ages in an area that certainly deserves something special.
3
An astounding and scandalous waste of money.
In the meantime, the mass transportation infrastructure continues to crumble and transit fares continue to rise.
Similar infrastructure crumble for Port Authority bridges.
Worth noting that AAA has long highlighted this boondoggle.
The politicians, including former Mayor Bloomberg, who supported paying a "starchitect" should be ashamed.
In the meantime, the mass transportation infrastructure continues to crumble and transit fares continue to rise.
Similar infrastructure crumble for Port Authority bridges.
Worth noting that AAA has long highlighted this boondoggle.
The politicians, including former Mayor Bloomberg, who supported paying a "starchitect" should be ashamed.
1
4 billion in taxpayer cash for a subway station---no big deal--new yorkers have plenty of money to buy the best!!! They are rich!!! Pay up!!
Looks like he borrowed wholesale from the attic space of Gaudi's Casa Battlo in Barcelona: ribs that suggest being inside a whale-like creature, all painted blinding white, at a steep angle. See the building's website https://www.casabatllo.es/en/casa-batllo/loft-terrace-restoration/
1
Good artists steal all the time. Or pay homage, as the case may be.
1
Use trains in Europe and then use a train in NYC. America is clearly not #1 in public transportation. The train system in NYC is a complete joke compared to the one in Paris. Just a joke.
4
Having used both systems, I can attest that while the Paris metro is by and large quite beautiful, it is like a delicate flower compared to the NY system. Not only is it a fraction of the geographical size - Paris is only about as big as The Bronx - it carries only a fraction of the 6 million riders per day that we have here, and it closes at night.
1
A flawed local institutional structure and earmarked lump-sum federal grants combined to permit this egregious misallocation of public resources. The Port Authority has too much independent power, is too enamored of grandiose capital projects, and has too much monopoly power over tolls to finance its operations and capital budget. The federal government, and the NY politicians - Schumer, Pataki, Bloomberg - who helped to extract these resources from the federal government, in the wake of 9/11, were and are all derelict in their duty and their vision. The resources could have been so much better used in enhancing public transportation in NYC.
4
"Cost was the Port Authority's responsibility." This statement shows the utter lack of coordination between starchitect and client, between scope and cost, between form and function.
The Hub is a perfect example where political pandering undermined technocratic project management.
The Hub is a perfect example where political pandering undermined technocratic project management.
3
A big part of the cost was driven by the fact that the MTA wanted to keep the subway running to South Ferry during construction. This cost like 25% of the budget. It was an engineering marvel that they pulled off but it was awfully expensive.
Over time i would thing that making an easy transfer between multiple subway lines and path will be a huge win for NYC. The Media is discounting the benefit of the easy subway transfers.
I like the soaring wing. I just cant believe that the government allowed an office building to be built so closely. it destroys the look of the wing.
Over time i would thing that making an easy transfer between multiple subway lines and path will be a huge win for NYC. The Media is discounting the benefit of the easy subway transfers.
I like the soaring wing. I just cant believe that the government allowed an office building to be built so closely. it destroys the look of the wing.
3
Heartstoppingly gorgeous.
1
no matter what was build, the costs would have been excessive. the project was in a sense doomed from the start.
we Path rider though, will enjoy the space for the while.
we Path rider though, will enjoy the space for the while.
1
What an unconscionable waste of money this station is. I ride the PATH every day, and I can't help but see this as a huge missed opportunity. Weekend trains are highly overcrowded due to the combination of the Journal Square and Hoboken lines, and they're even making noise about cutting overnight PATH service (which will save all of $8 million a year....or 1/500 of this monstrosity, however you prefer to remember it). This money could have been used to expand the PATH to uptown Hoboken, Weehawken, and points north, and to expand weekend service, which would have done far more of a public service than this. Calatrava's space is like a knick-knack - pretty to look at but functionally almost useless. The critic didn't even mention how the marble floors become treacherous when it rains or snows. Overall, this station is a triumph of form over function at the expense of things that could have actually helped many people. What a shame.
140
Nick the problem with your post is that you are looking at this from a practical point of view. Just look at it from an aesthetic view, not worrying about its use, its cost or its durability. Then you will grow to love it, at least for a year or 2 till it starts falling apart.
Just think of the money we could save if we discontinued train service to New Jersey!
You strke me as the kind of person who would have criticized Shah Jehan for building the Taj Mahal, Gustave Eiffel for his famous tower or even the three pigs for building their house of bricks instead of using cheaper material. Man(kind) doesn't live on bread alone, fella' - chill out and enjoy the view.
And then there's the dump that is Penn Station. Too bad there's no money for that. It's all been spent for what exactly?
5
As an aside, the start of construction of this "Instagram-ready" station actually predates the first Instagram post by at least two years.
1
I agree with much of what Kimmelman says here. Calatrava's designs are frequently grandiose and over-scaled. There's something Disneyesque and kitchy about them too. The least-admirable aspect of Calatrava's building here is the way it does not fit-in with its immediate urban neighborhood. It's scale is bloated, making it look like a temporary world's fair pavilion. Especially bad is the way it does not interact with Saint Paul's church, a very important landmark, across the street. Ultimately, Calatrava's wild imagination becomes a sign of narcissism and so of incipient disrespect for the places where he builds
11
If you're going to spend that much on a building, at least it should be an original design, not a replica of a previous building in Lyon. What an artistic and financial waste
6
White marble floors? Painted white walls? I am in favor of spending public money on civic architecture that enhances daily life, but the materials should be appropriate and durable. Calatrava's form is spectacular, but the structure will soon be stained and grubby, looking more like an old stage set than great architecture.
2
I visited the site last November...my tour guide mentioned Jonah and the whale as a reference. I immediately thought of the movie Alien and Alien resurrection. I'm sure it's odd crammed looking fit will be an attraction to NYC for years to come.
1
I only wonder how long it will take to see all those beautiful marble walls and ribs covered with ads and billboards. They will be needed to help cover the massive cost overruns that anybody, even with minimal knowledge of construction costs should have seen coming. - And what happened to the wings opening to let in light and air?
Milwaukee's Calatrava was paid for by wealthy private citizens and cost a fraction of what NYC's C cost.
HMMM - maybe NYC is trying to get the moniker of The Big Easy - oh that is another of my favorite cities - NOLA.
Four Billion Dollars - but lots of money in NYC - a little less now.
HMMM - maybe NYC is trying to get the moniker of The Big Easy - oh that is another of my favorite cities - NOLA.
Four Billion Dollars - but lots of money in NYC - a little less now.
2
Why isn't there a simple modern feature like a people mover? The whole thing looks absurd.
2
Is it too much to ask that we have beautiful and inspiring design? I'd rather see money spent on that than on a lot of other things. At least everyone who passes through there (rich or poor) will get to experience it.
No one says designs shouldn't be beautiful or inspiring. But a $30,000 Chevrolet can be as beautiful and lasting a design as a $300,000 Rolls (people still crave the 55 Chevy, for example), AND this was built from our tax dollars.
It would've been more beautiful and inspiring if it wasn't so wasteful with money that could've been spent on helping people have a better quality of life in the city (rich and poor) in more tangible ways. There are plenty of ways to add beauty to a city without needing to spend billions.
Why did billions of dollars go into building this massive structure that will only benefit some people who use that station, while subway trains that serve the rest of the city are still running late, breaking down, not showing up, stations are dirty, crowded and in desperate need of repairs, and (lets not forget) Metrocard fairs are still rising? I don't get it.
4
In five years, this thing is gonna look as bad as the brutalist apartment complexes form the early 60s.
4
What else could have been built with that money?
A new train tunnel to New Jersey?
A subway from Newark airport to Times Square?
A subway from Jersey Gardens to Liberty State Park to Washington Square Park?
We will never know.
A new train tunnel to New Jersey?
A subway from Newark airport to Times Square?
A subway from Jersey Gardens to Liberty State Park to Washington Square Park?
We will never know.
7
Where is this place? The article doesn't say.
I just hope it is Teflon coated, inside and out, or it is going to look like a nightmare in a few months. Has Mr Calatrava ever seen the snow in New York City a day or two after the storm? I think not.
6
seriously.
1
...when the world trade center towers fell, the sad hodgepodge of downtown buildings and their stunning paucity of aesthetic or any other visual qualities became all the more apparent.
Expensive lipstick on a pig.
Expensive lipstick on a pig.
5
"...but he has become a one-trick pony..." Dallas built a signature Calatrava bridge a few years back. After a pretty penny was spent buying Mr. Calatrava a new Barcelona townhome, reality set in. The city had him come back and re-design a much-reduced version that fit the budget.
Alas! Dallas now has its very own signature-brand Calatrava bridge along with, well, 30 other cities around the globe. As a bonus, the one we have looks just like Sacramento's....only smaller. In fact it looks just like every other Calatrava bridge except the little draw-bridge in Buenos Aires which is even smaller.
Even though the University of Texas has an architecture school right here in North Texas, we insisted on a brand-name rather than use local talent and building something original. But that's what rubes always do. But I kind of expect NYC to eschew brands and commission something daring. Instead it did it Dallas-style and chose another insipid, sterile and pompous Calatrava pile. Looks like we'll have to go to Los Angeles to see anything original.
Alas! Dallas now has its very own signature-brand Calatrava bridge along with, well, 30 other cities around the globe. As a bonus, the one we have looks just like Sacramento's....only smaller. In fact it looks just like every other Calatrava bridge except the little draw-bridge in Buenos Aires which is even smaller.
Even though the University of Texas has an architecture school right here in North Texas, we insisted on a brand-name rather than use local talent and building something original. But that's what rubes always do. But I kind of expect NYC to eschew brands and commission something daring. Instead it did it Dallas-style and chose another insipid, sterile and pompous Calatrava pile. Looks like we'll have to go to Los Angeles to see anything original.
3
um. Maybe, just maybe telling the truth about what happened on 9/11 to Building Seven to the people of New York would be a bigger and more meaningful statement than this bizarre building.
1
Why do we need a train station that looks like a bird? Why can't it look like....a train station?
21
I think the city of Milwaukee might have to take NYC to court for copyright infringement.
This is a remarkable clone of the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM), other than the museum having movable external wings and sitting iconically on the shoreline instead of in the middle of a city block.
Anyone who has seen or visited Milwaukee might have no choice but to refer to this as "MAM 2"
This is a remarkable clone of the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM), other than the museum having movable external wings and sitting iconically on the shoreline instead of in the middle of a city block.
Anyone who has seen or visited Milwaukee might have no choice but to refer to this as "MAM 2"
9
Milwaukee will need to get in line behind the train station in Lyon.
1
When I saw the photo I first looked for the door to the gift shop to get my bearings. Yes, it is really a clone.
And, while all that white marble is pretty, it is almost a danger to persons with vision issues or issues with depth perception - not good for a transportation hub.
And, while all that white marble is pretty, it is almost a danger to persons with vision issues or issues with depth perception - not good for a transportation hub.
1
One wonders to what extent the Milwaukee plans were recycled for the NY project, and whether NY was given a discount for that. I doubt it.
Looks beautiful but overly costly...and those white walls won't stay clean long. Looks like a great space for some graffiti.
4
White hides dirt better than any other color.
Whenever Americans see a new and innovative piece of public architecture they automatically label it a "boondoggle". A new highway causing tons of traffic is not. And of course this writer neglects to mention a few minor details, like the fact that this hub and all the new World Trade center infrastructure are standing on top of each other. This complicates the work and makes everything expensive.
And it is not Calatrava's fault that Port Authority made his design less attractive by adding ugly security features that also raised the cost. Somehow the rest of the world is OK with the security features of his design but PA needs more. And how is it architect's fault that " Westfield Group, which oversees retail at the hub, doesn’t intend for there to be cafes with tables spilling across the floor of the Oculus." This just diminishes the utility of the building due to near sightless and aversion to taking minor risks.
And it is not Calatrava's fault that Port Authority made his design less attractive by adding ugly security features that also raised the cost. Somehow the rest of the world is OK with the security features of his design but PA needs more. And how is it architect's fault that " Westfield Group, which oversees retail at the hub, doesn’t intend for there to be cafes with tables spilling across the floor of the Oculus." This just diminishes the utility of the building due to near sightless and aversion to taking minor risks.
5
Your statement about the tendencies of Americans is unfounded and incorrectly generalized. This is an article written by the New York Times architecture critic! It is not innovation that is being criticized, but inappropriate style and function within context. It is not just the architect who is to blame, but all those who collaborated to allow this to happen.
The original proposal for the Milwaukee Art Museum was very impressive. I t showed the building all by itself with the lake behind it. The actual building is placed among other architecture and has nothing in common with any of it. The Calatrava sticks out like a sore thumb; there is no continuity. Inside, there are all sorts of curving swoopy spaces that are useless for almost anything. The café, the gift shop, even the ticket counters are sort of twisted into the strange spaces, making them look like the afterthoughts they are. To me, the entire structure is just something you have to walk through to get to the original museum where you find beautiful spaces that display the art to its best advantage. I get the impression that the Transit Hub has all these wonderful Calatrava innovations and more.
9
The original Michael Graves building for the Seattle Art Museum had similar problems: a grand staircase that took up most of the main floor and was almost useless for showing art, or selling tickets, or having receptions, or almost anything else. With the new addition, the staircase, once the centerpiece of the building, is now practically abandoned and rightfully so.
As some who works in architecture, I have had an experience that I suspect is universal for those in my field: working in an office where the designer sculpts the skin of a structure, and then hands it off to the project architect, and tells us to make the program fit. The more sculptural the skin, the more awkward the fit and the spaces within. I have not yet visited the completed path terminal, but the grand public space of the "Oculus" aside, I suspect that you are correct.
1
It's a beautiful, impractical space to be sure. To sit in the restaurant at the Museum is a akin to what we call around Milwaukee, a Polish flat (basically a basement flat where the lovely views of the lake are invisible). But let's ruminate on marble floors. They're slippery as hell. How does this work for a subway station?!
1
Guess what didn't actually open up this morning? You guessed it. Plenty of construction workers taking selfies and the fire alarm got set off. Pretty par for the course.
17
Too much money in too few hands with too little taste. Seems apropos of NYC somehow.
14
A fitting symbol. Now we should name it after a big corporation or an obnoxious billionaire.
Citicorp Center and Trump Tower are already taken. Lincoln Center got David Koch.
Who's left? Who's rich?
Citicorp Center and Trump Tower are already taken. Lincoln Center got David Koch.
Who's left? Who's rich?
1
That is absolutely hideous
5
And one of the ironies is that in the meantime, the Port Authority has threatened to cut overnight PATH service, trains are overcrowded at all times and there is not enough service. There used to be separate trains for Jersey City and Hoboken on weekends years ago but now they are combined and trains are slow and packed to the gills.
1
I can understand Mr. Kimmelman’s takeaway point - that beautiful public architecture, which this is, shouldn’t require such an extraordinarily high price point both in dollars and process. But I think we have to focus on the good here - the building has succeeded - as I can’t help but be stirred by the emotive force of this design. In this article what is most disconcerting is the title - it seems more NY Post than NY Times. Using a dismissive catchphrase to place a bumper sticker on an interesting & thought provoking building isn’t helpful to the broader conversation – which I believe MK is trying to promote - which is, as a culture, why our architecture often falls way short of where it could, and should be. Yes, Grand Central is a beauty for the ages but let's agree that Mr. Calatrava is, thankfully, striving for and succeeding in giving us the same wonderment and awe.
3
If only it wasn't so similar to what he did in Milwaukee: https://www.google.com/search?q=santiago+calatrava+milwaukee&espv=2&.... For $4B NYC shoul at least have something original. It looks like a turkey carcass from the outside.
1
Still can't and won't ever compare to our classic designs for Grand Central or the old Penn Station among others. They pleased the population at large. This building will please such a small minority of people and they will all sit around a table and pity the rest of us for thinking it's ugly and unappealing, pity us for not understanding grand vision and waste.
10
Just goes to show that you can never please people. New Yorkers have been carrying on for over 50 years that the Original Penn Station was demolished. Now we build an amazing station and they complain about that. Amazing.
15
And Penn Station is still the same dump. They should have rebuilt that one instead. It's a disgrace.
But that's exactly the point. We have this, at a huge cost, but we can't fix Penn Station?
1
The comparison of this project to Penn Station is inapt, since the latter was built with private funds and demolished due to financial infeasible when railroads were no longer the only means of transportation. Penn Station was considered an architectural masterpiece: a grand civic space of classical elegance that celebrated the technology of the industrial age. This "Hub" may be amazing as you say, but the criticism has to do with it's inappropriate response to urban context and intended use, rather than an arbitrary reaction by grumpy New Yorkers.
1
With tens of thousands of homeless people in this city, I am so glad we built the most expensive train station n the history of the world. maybe some of them can sleep in it.
19
I hope we remember the amount spent on this jewel when New York and New Jersey look to the federal government for contribution to the Gateway Program for rebuild of the train tunnel between NJ and NYC (now estimated at $20 billion).
3
And the 4 billion wasn't for the the part that people notice. There were other expenses, for more practical aspects, that the public will never see.
I love it sitting there like a butterfly among the tall buildings. I can't believe the negative male comments once again picking apart anything new and innovative. This is the 2lst Century. Get used to it.
Well, I guess we now know what they're doing with our overpriced George Washington Bridge tolls. Port Authority = Patronage Boondoggle!
1
There is no here there. The magical promise of a hub without free or convenient connectivity and transfers is by itself fraudulent. Inside the skeleton of a beast that leaks. If it had coincided with three new transit tunnels to New Jersey as did the original Pennsylvania Station, maybe it would have some significance. Instead it looks like an alien roach motel of modernity dropped on the Trinity Church. As it is it provides some corrupt conception of a World's Fair that never was. Form without function for $4,000,000,000.
3
Has it actually opened? It wasn't at 7am this morning when I arrived at the WTC on the PATH train.
Well said. I imagine myself as Jonah may have felt when riding the escalator up from track one; it feels as though I'm being pushed toward a whale's baleen filled maw. The marble stairs are quite beautiful though, at least for the moment.
I hate to say this, but the hub's exterior immediately reminds me of the tail of a crashed airplane. Is that the intended image?
After reading this, I'm sure I will not visit this train station ever.
After reading this, I'm sure I will not visit this train station ever.
1
Wow! I hope it floats.
5
The comment about the paint and maintenance was telling. I've visited another of Calatrava's disasters in Valencia, Spain and the maintenance problems are ongoing. The pools are filthy, paint is chipping, and the opera house was closed when I was there because of various dangers, falling tiles, etc. There are indeed visual delights but they aren't part of the normal functions of the architecture. This will be an ongoing and needless expense in the future adding to the excesses of the project.
2
The structure appears to be both functional and visually interesting from within and without. It is a new public space 'shoe-horned' in a city that has been giving away land and sky to small minded quick dollar developers. It is the first truly public non-repurposed structure the city has within its borders....since, what? the 'functional' Port Authority Bus terminal?
3
I think this would be a good time to review the story of the Sydney Opera House, which cost 15 times its original estimate and took 16 years to build instead of the originally estimated 6 years. Which is not to claim that this project is its equal. But remember that the success of the Sydney Opera House is not about how many people see performances there, but that it serves as a visual symbol of Sydney and Australia.
12
They're still building it – now the interior.
Did you look at the pictures? It is hideous and nonfunctional. Nearly as obnoxious as these dang stainless steel monstrosities that so many critics find impossible not to gush over.
Apparently hideously ugly and nonfunctional is the new built right for the purpose intended.
Apparently hideously ugly and nonfunctional is the new built right for the purpose intended.
1
$4 billion? That's ridoculus.
6
Looks beautiful, sounds impractical. Any transportation hub should be architecturally pleasant and appealing, but given the amount of people that will be using this hub, it begs the question of the merits of it being done on such a grand scale.
2
Each time I pass that structure, I'm reminded of a downward-swooping eagle that has one wing clipped and is totally out of its element. Quite the symbol.
4
One thing Kimmelman missed is that Calatrava originally called for half the number of spines in the oculus. The NYPD, wanted more so that there was less glass and presumably less susceptibility to bombs. So, not only did the NYPD have a direct effect on the cost and schedule, but they also ruined, in my opinion, the gracefulness and openness of the original design.
5
Then perhaps the architect should have considered the actual space, city and needs of the city while designing, and not just his own hubris.
As a tourist and a really passionate visitor of NYC I look forward to see the Hub in the flesh, but I hope the building will not follow the path (pardon the pun) of The Calatrava Bridge in Venice. It's glass-made and it is so slippery they had to put carpets on it. As usual, the costs have been more than twice the original budget; a legal dispute is ongoing between the Venice municipality and the architect. Again, the project was realized with public money.....
2
His campus in Valencia has tons of problems too. The NYT had a story on it a few years ago.
This shows the revolving door of the crumbling American public infrastructure. Sour grape pieces like Mr Kimmelman's article perpetuate the idea that everything should be had for a penny. If the project had cost 3 and note 4 billion, the complaints would be same. Who cares one hundred years later if Grand Central had cost $80 or $160 million?
Mr Calatreva has shown ambition, it may be not to everyone's taste, but let's stop whining about the cost and start enjoying the beauty and functionality of a precious public place (one of the few) in downtown real estate. One hundred years from now, who knows what the NYT critics would say then?
Mr Calatreva has shown ambition, it may be not to everyone's taste, but let's stop whining about the cost and start enjoying the beauty and functionality of a precious public place (one of the few) in downtown real estate. One hundred years from now, who knows what the NYT critics would say then?
11
Why shouldn't we complain? In 2016 in NYC, $4B is too expensive; downtown is not the only area that needs public spaces, and we have other projects, like the long-running 2nd Avenue Subway, that need attention and funding. Mr. Kimmelman did not begrudge money being spent on the Oculus, he pointed out the overruns. The overruns are obscene in a city that needs more parks, more middle-income housing, and more attention paid to the 17 other public transportation spots in New York that are busier than this station.
The comments and reactions around this station's opening are direct evidence of the fact that most people don't actually know why it's built. Many of you are saying, "Stop complaining, we just got a beautiful new train station hub to connect many downtown subway lines and the PATH."
This is incorrect. The WTC hub does not provide free transfers between subway lines. That's what the Fulton Street station is for. The WTC hub is more of a shopping mall (eventually, since none of the stores are yet open), through which PATH commuters can walk if they want to get to the tendrils of the Fulton Street station. The process of getting from a PATH platform to a subway platform is going to be virtually unchanged, except instead of walking on the street past a pretty church you get to walk through a whale's skeleton.
This is incorrect. The WTC hub does not provide free transfers between subway lines. That's what the Fulton Street station is for. The WTC hub is more of a shopping mall (eventually, since none of the stores are yet open), through which PATH commuters can walk if they want to get to the tendrils of the Fulton Street station. The process of getting from a PATH platform to a subway platform is going to be virtually unchanged, except instead of walking on the street past a pretty church you get to walk through a whale's skeleton.
10
Isn't the purpose of all Port Authority/MTA construction projects to waste taxpayer money and enrich frieds of those running the agency or otherwise politically connected? I have complained for months in comment sections on the undoubtedly expensive and terribly ill conceived from not only a historic preservation but also in terms of cost and safety, the unfinished and dreadful "renovations" of the still filthy beyond belief 168th St. no 1 train station. A drop faux vaulting was placed below the (still mostly extant handsome and it only needed cleaning) brick vaulting putting additional weight on the superstructure-- in other words making it more likely to fall on the tracks. BRAVO. Expensive and unnecessary granite flooring-- sure costs more than tile and is thicker than tile thus diminishing air space in the stations further.. now filthy just like the old floor that were no cleaned for about 15 years..(MTA does not believe in cleaning properly-- does not cost enough $$ no one can get rich on that). Old steel railings very slippery have been left, elevators still filthy and old have not been cleaned, exterior stairs were incorrectly reconstructed so there is a large step down at the top of the staircase- to the sidewalk level- entranceways should have only slightly sloped pavement here- as at 103rd no 1. No hand railing on the top step as at 79th St. no 1. but NO ONE CARES including politicians, editors, writers, or the now numb general public. GREED IS GOOD. gg
5
It's the right building but in the wrong city. I was thinking maybe Las Vegas.
6
I'm an architect working on on of the retail stores in the Oculus, and I can say from direct experience that the Port Authority should shoulder a substantial portion of the blame for the cost overruns. It's a bloated, self-serving, arbitrary bureaucracy, filled with inspectors inspecting each other. It's so wasteful. NY/NJ needs to take a hard look at this organization after this mess.
113
One has to compare an over-budget, much delayed structure built in part, if memory serves me correctly, with Port Authority bridge/tunnel toll raises rather than any imposition on its bond-holders, with Hoover Dam built in the mid-thirties, completed two years ahead of schedule which harnessed the Colorado river, brought electricity to seven states and the costs of which remain fully funded by the fees from the power distribution at no cost to current tax payers. Brass doors to this day are polished every night!
Thank you, Michael Kimmelman, for your best and most important criticism yet. Even if a little late. Alas, this extraordinarily precious cow is long out of the barn and plowing aimlessly through the fields of lower Manhattan, knocking over anything in its aimless path. Not that most of us don't love cows, mind you.
And the comparison to Grand Central is poignant, along with others' comments on Penn Station, a cautionary tale for the ages.
As I think about Calatrava's cow, I find myself with some irony having just begun a reread of Christian Norberg-Schulz's GENIUS LOCI, his call to an architecture whose foundations are deeply embedded in what Norberg-Schulz called "a structure of place". Quite contrary to that call, the Hub is, layered mixed-metaphors intended, foundation-less. If a sign of anything, that of a city that has lost its way — architecturally, urbanistically, historically. Perhaps this center less Hub is, then, after all, a symbol of our times.
And the comparison to Grand Central is poignant, along with others' comments on Penn Station, a cautionary tale for the ages.
As I think about Calatrava's cow, I find myself with some irony having just begun a reread of Christian Norberg-Schulz's GENIUS LOCI, his call to an architecture whose foundations are deeply embedded in what Norberg-Schulz called "a structure of place". Quite contrary to that call, the Hub is, layered mixed-metaphors intended, foundation-less. If a sign of anything, that of a city that has lost its way — architecturally, urbanistically, historically. Perhaps this center less Hub is, then, after all, a symbol of our times.
4
And the ever-rising tolls on the Hudson River crossings are just a coincidence when considered against the cost of this not-particularly-functional PATH station? Fifteen dollars to go through the nearby Holland Tunnel, with plans of that toll increasing again in the near future, and the obscene cost of Oculus or Oculus Prime or Oculus Rift or whatever oculus you choose being financed by the most insular, secretive two-state organization that appears answerable to no one but itself may be a coincidence. But I, and anyone else who continues to keep paying the ever-rising tolls, should never believe in coincidence.
4
It's visually the best and most interesting building at the WTC, it's splendid! A great sculpture, too.
3
Is that hard to do ?? There are no other buildings at the WTC !!!!
We won't be around a hundred years from now, but I'm thinking critics then will love the place. BTW, I've only seen it from the out side, but I love it now.
Brilliant, actually, if viewed as a poultry carcass representing the picked clean bones of taxpayers.
33
It just seems to criticize this project is so easy to do, and so counter productive. It's like a message to others who might aspire to try to do something better than cheap, cheap, cheap ... a warning that they shouldn't try. For all the selfies that will be taken in the main hall, around the corner from a new tourist site in NYC, "ground zero", during the next 50 years, that's worth it already. Try to imagine those selfies being even worse. It's not so hard, imagine a dark shopping mall. But to criticize it means you are high brow and refined, so people will.
3
Some of Kimmelman's points are well taken. Most shocking of all, is that the "hub" is actually just underground passages and hasn't eliminated the need to cross turnstiles when changing trains. No longer having to go upstairs and walk over and back down is a public benefit, but not worth 4 billion dollars. It seems to me that the Por Authority built a mall with subway access rather than a transit station wth some shops, and that is a pretty grotesque misuse of public funds.
That said, Kimmelman's goes overboard in places. Avoiding the atrocious commercializations of GCT's balconies and lower level "food court" is a great thing, for instance.
That said, Kimmelman's goes overboard in places. Avoiding the atrocious commercializations of GCT's balconies and lower level "food court" is a great thing, for instance.
Its a cool structure, we knew it would be overpriced, I am just disappointed that this funding priority got moved to the top of the list due to the 9/11 effect. We have much more pressing infrastructure needs (Penn Station, all the airports, subway expansion)...I just can't help but think that if Penn Station had 9/11 attached to it, it wouldve been rebuild immediately and at any cost. Funny how money is always so tight until a crisis/tragedy, then politicians have more than enough of it to go around...
1
Let me make a metaphor for this project. Client hires Lamborghini to make a car. Lamborghini spends two years and designs the car. After they start building the car the client requests that the engine be moved to the opposite side of the car, two more doors are added, the sunroof is turned into trees, and the car must still go 200 miles an hour. Halfway through client relizes they don't have enough money and hires Kia to build the car.
CLIENT THEN BLAMES LAMBORGHINI FOR COST OVER RUNS AND POOR QUALITY - NY TIMES BLAMES LAMBORGHINI AS WELL????
Port Authority did not manage this project well. Architect is a convenient scape goat.
CLIENT THEN BLAMES LAMBORGHINI FOR COST OVER RUNS AND POOR QUALITY - NY TIMES BLAMES LAMBORGHINI AS WELL????
Port Authority did not manage this project well. Architect is a convenient scape goat.
18
this is pretty much what has happened, and it unfortunately happens often. the budget and schedule over-runs were the result of mismanagement and a multitude of last-minute changes by the Port Authority, the same mismanaged group that gave us the 9/11 building site debacle. the greatest difference between this Port Authority debacle and the 9/11 Port Authority debacle is that the architect in this case was a very talented individual who persevered despite obtuse politics and an indecisive client. praises for the architect.
Outside the Oculus is like a sculpture, inside it soars like a church. Unlike the "freedom tower" and the former twin towers, it makes you feel uplifted and inspired and even amazed at what human beings can accomplish. I wish Mr. Calatrava had designed the tower, too.
3
Excellent article; thank you, Mr. Kimmelman. I'm a great fan of Calatrava's architecture and also am lifelong train rider (my new book of poetry titled "Waystations"), but the economics of this new hub are appalling.
1
Whatever the virtues or waste of the Oculus, for a tiny fraction of the 4.5 billion it cost to build the something real and authentic, a genuine tribute to the memory of the innocents taken, 9/11, could be returned. For 30 yrs the iconic Koenig Sphere stood in the center of the WTC as a symbol of world peace. On 9/11, though damaged it emerged as the only artifact to survive intact. However, it has been deemed that its dents and scars have rendered it too stark a reminder of the attacks for the pristine memorial and site; it might "infringe upon the integrity" - to use memorial officials words - of the site. Truth, memory and authenticity has been sacrificed for artistic excess.
22
Whatever it is and or is called. it hub is monument to a government's inability to control projects, budgets, etc. and as a sea wall/whatever has not been started/ built this and too many other lower Manhattan building and monuments will be damaged by another Sandy and or rising sea levels.
So hold the tram from Queens to Brooklyn, the new Penn station and built more affordable housing & homeless shelters for the NYC existing residents and soon to be arriving middle eastern immigrants and finish the second ave subway with all new projects of a billion or more voted on by the residents/voters of NYC.
So hold the tram from Queens to Brooklyn, the new Penn station and built more affordable housing & homeless shelters for the NYC existing residents and soon to be arriving middle eastern immigrants and finish the second ave subway with all new projects of a billion or more voted on by the residents/voters of NYC.
1
Not one remarkable building has been erected in the 42 years I've lived in New York City. It is about time and totally worth the wait. As far as the money is concerned, in comparison to the tragedy, a great memorial worth every dime.
Chicago had to put off the opening of Millennium Park, what, 3 times? And it is totally worth it. People love it.
So, "boondoggle"? That is really, really unfair. This is a godsend to a city choking with Dallas Houston type architecture.
Chicago had to put off the opening of Millennium Park, what, 3 times? And it is totally worth it. People love it.
So, "boondoggle"? That is really, really unfair. This is a godsend to a city choking with Dallas Houston type architecture.
54
This makes me think of the election-time browbeating that politicians give us about the need to fix America's broken infrastructure. Roads, bridges, tunnels need to be repaired, jobs will be created, America will be put back to work! You can be sure creating a huge federal pot of public works money will lead to white elephants like the Hub, no industry is more riven with corruption and waste than construction.
7
I remember moving to the city for graduate school decades ago and wandered into Grand Central mainly because I did not really know the building well. After the better part of a day spent discovering the many magical and sometimes mysterious spaces within the structure I literally fell in love with a building. Architecture can do this, it can borrow into our unconscious and take root. The singular purpose of so many 21st century trophy projects like Mr Calatrava's is to make a first impression like the opening scene of a Hollywood blockbuster. What is lost is the deeper aspiration, the ambitious dream and the hope that a work of architecture can live beyond the superficial spectacle and take hold. I doubt this will be the case and lament that many architects of late have lost a little bit of that dream .
70
This is a sound critique, even with (what I think is) the typo: architecture not only burrows into our unconscious, in the hearts and aspirations of great architects, it BORROWS from it. Grand Central Station is a paradigm of burrowing and borrowing. The Hub flies above the earth. It doesn't dig into the city.
3
Well said.
This is why we can't have nice things anymore. You complain and moan about the cost. How many people did it give jobs to? What 3rd world facility did it replace? Enough with the complaints already. This is why Trump is winning. America wants Yuge! New! Quality! not, we can't, forever war, settle for crumbs. Got it?
34
'This is why we can't have nice things anymore. You complain and moan about the cost.'
It's not so much the cost that is at issue as the cost overruns and no doubt, corruption. Visit the three airports surrounding New York City. Now visit Denver, San Francisco, Minneapolis airports and tell me what you see? 'Nice things.' Very nice things. With the money pouring in to the Port Authority the runways could be paved with gold. Instead, we get seldom cleaned, non-working bathrooms, torn carpets and sullen employees. It's depressing and embarrassing.
It's not so much the cost that is at issue as the cost overruns and no doubt, corruption. Visit the three airports surrounding New York City. Now visit Denver, San Francisco, Minneapolis airports and tell me what you see? 'Nice things.' Very nice things. With the money pouring in to the Port Authority the runways could be paved with gold. Instead, we get seldom cleaned, non-working bathrooms, torn carpets and sullen employees. It's depressing and embarrassing.
2
I look forward to the day when I can travel from uptown to downtown on the Second Avenue subway to visit the WTC Hub. Oh, no, wait a minute. There's hardly any more money for the 2nd Ave line. Where did all that money go??
21
$4 billion... can't help but think of how many grants that would fund for working artists and writers. But that would be a waste of taxpayer monies. Whereas a construction job provides jobs. Well, at least for the people in position to suck up the money. Sorry, but the new hub ain't the Parthenon, or even close. Sounds like corruption to me. Or would be if the story were located anywhere else but NYC.
6
So, screw the commuters and travelers (and the convo if ripple their increased friction y will bring) to hand out cash to writers and artists who's work most people don't much like? What?
1
Personally, I find the design to be overrated no matter how much some will tend to love it. However, I never saw the reason for having the WTC PATH station having a fancy entrance, which I feel does pretty much nothing to help with the trains that are serving. Due to the high costs, even Randy Foye, the chief executive of the PANYNJ, didn't attend the opening. Then again, I'm not too surprised about how much each component of the official plan for the WTC site has gone up in their original costs. All I can say for this is just "Don't look at me I wanted the Twin Towers rebuilt." As a matter of fact, having back a complex that consisted of just that would have cost a fraction of that very price rather than this oculus, a vapid memorial/museum, and that illegitimate replacement that was once dubbed the Freedom Tower despite the fact that didn't even describe the process that picked it. Nevertheless, the PANYNJ can always cover the cots just by raising the tolls and fares on the crossings and transportation that they own to place it on the commuters. Even the Fulton Transit Center nearby is overrated and unnecessary but the MTA can always raise the fares to cover that as well. Overall, it just makes me feel why some didn't want to stop when it was still proposed and have back what was taken from us that day, which was the Twin Towers and save such a fortune, but so many waited until it was too late to think that.
3
Come on. At this late date does anyone really trust the bloated and corrupt Port Authority to accomplish anything that doesn't go over budget or take years to produce. Living close to the 8th Avenue Port Authority Terminal, I watched as so called "improvements" to the site were began and took years to complete while all around the terminal high rise after high rise went up and became occupied. And there were many times the project appeared abandoned with machines left idle for days and no personnel visible. Meanwhile across the street on Nineth Ave a PA space that once housed a Senior Center still remains dark and a magnet for gathering homeless after several years of not having a tenant even after a plea to the PA from local residents to allow Styles Vegetable Market there after high rents forced them out of our neighborhood. I'm afraid I have nothing but contempt for an organization which gives itself trips to tropical islands for "conventions" and gouges the NY and NJ public at every level.
25
It pretends life, yet is actually the ribcage of those who perished there. Much like the whole park ~~ a mish mosh of coldness that separates people from each other rather than unites. Public spaces by definition breathe with life. This is a disgrace in every regard.
9
Go beneath the facade of this 'monument' and Rotundra at Fulton Station and you will see the same dirty, crowded rat-infested subway station with peeling paint and lord know how many health violations packed 8 deep at rush hour.
Just imagine if a small portion of the billions of public money could have been used to make even the most basic repairs to most NYC subway stations used by the plebs who pay for this.
Just imagine if a small portion of the billions of public money could have been used to make even the most basic repairs to most NYC subway stations used by the plebs who pay for this.
146
Enduring beautiful architecture that stands the test of time relates to its surroundings, integrates into the neighborhood, serves the function it was designed for, This looks to be an art piece that belongs in a museum, another ego driven statement paid for by the public. What will it look like ten years from now? How much will it cost to keep it looking fresh?
12
I am looking forward to seeing this in person but my first thought was-white marble floors? In NYC? That should employ a major army of cleaners. By the way, how do you keep a building like that clean? Good luck with all that. Still can't wait to see it.
In less than a year, those uncleanable white wings will be mottled gray with grime and soot.
It is in NYC, not on the shoreline of a pristine lake.
It is in NYC, not on the shoreline of a pristine lake.
And yet so many essential transit projects are just beyond the pale financially and organizationally. We can't get a 7 train extension, we can't replace decaying and overburdened NJT and Amtrak tunnels under the Hudson. We don't have meaningful, plentiful or affordable high speed rail. But this somehow gets done.
56
But a key reason those others projects don't get done is exactly this kind of snipping over projects that do get done. Hey would a public official support another ambitious transit project when they get hurls abuse for this one?
It somehow remains out of sight that the WTC environs have become the prime example of our national navel-gazing preoccupation.
We saw the new Transit Hub under construction when we were in the World Trade Center district late last year. It's a beautiful building, but I couldn't help thinking it looked like Godzilla diving into the Hudson. Made me want to watch old Matthew Broderick films.
5
I recall the scathing criticism that the original World Trade Center was subjected to in early 1970s (including by the New York Times). Yet it somehow became a beloved symbol of New York City. The new transit hub has its pluses and minus but the parts I have seen are a pretty impressive public space that New Yorkers (and tourists) will warm to. See you at the Oculus!
17
I didn't think of the World Trade Center as a beloved symbol of New York City. I thought of it as a forced marriage to an unattractive partner where love will come later.
I find it amazing that what everyone in these comments wants is a large train station that costs nothing. We already have one; it's called Penn Station and everyone wants it replaced.
71
Yes - clearly you haven't seen it lately. It's a dump.
People don't expect a large train station for nothing. They expect a decent station commensurate with the usage it gets. As the 18th busiest station in NYC, why should this building get such a huge proportion of the budget? We could have rebuilt Penn station for that much. We could have funded the next 4 miles of the 2nd Ave., Subway. A small, pretty building would've sufficed. What a waste. What a missed opportunity.
The comparison to Grand Central is neither apt nor relevant, as the two stations were constructed in different times, serve different commuting lines and are in very different places.
PATH commuters and downtown subway passengers just got themselves a soaring, beautiful station, the likes of which this part of the city has never seen.
The station is an immediate landmark and, over time, will develop its own rich history.
PATH commuters and downtown subway passengers just got themselves a soaring, beautiful station, the likes of which this part of the city has never seen.
The station is an immediate landmark and, over time, will develop its own rich history.
55
Over time, in about six months, those white wings will be a dingy mottled gray.
And what again does a bird's wings have to do with trains?
And what again does a bird's wings have to do with trains?
And what do Roman baths ( the old Penn Station) or the classical structure of Grand Central have to do with trains? Logically speaking, nothing. Perhaps you'd like a station built out of railroad ties?
As far as the white wings, they've already been there for about two years, and are doing fine.
As far as the white wings, they've already been there for about two years, and are doing fine.
I am not a designer. I know zero about civil engineering. and I'm certainly no the go-to person on transportation. However, when the powers that be saw that this was going into cost overruns, why did no one say, "stop the madness" and fix this? It is public money, afterall, and probably could have been put to better use. While I agree with some of the commenters that it's a visually stimulating structure, perhaps practicality should have trumped the sculpture of it all? too late now.
11
The Port Authority regards all receipts as "their" money, accountable to no one, except the two governors who appoint them.
2
You may recall that the Port Authority has no accountability and is mired in its own scandals.
1
I'm sorry but I think, from what I'm seeing in the pictures - it's amazing.
The world, or at least the US has enough big box stores and cheesy 4 wall tilt-up evangelical mega churches off of freeways to make the blind glad they can't see what happened to the beautiful land those things displace.
The world has a lot of problems but spending excessive money on inspirational public edifices is not really one of them. Giving free healthcare to an obstructionist congress who does not govern but only blocks progress for political reasons is a financial boondoggle.
Giving huge amounts of tax payer dollars to Universities that already have obscenely huge endowments is a financial boondoggle.
But spending money so we can all walk around places like these is not a problem. It's what I expect when I visit New York.
Carry on New York. You're still the apple of my eye.
The world, or at least the US has enough big box stores and cheesy 4 wall tilt-up evangelical mega churches off of freeways to make the blind glad they can't see what happened to the beautiful land those things displace.
The world has a lot of problems but spending excessive money on inspirational public edifices is not really one of them. Giving free healthcare to an obstructionist congress who does not govern but only blocks progress for political reasons is a financial boondoggle.
Giving huge amounts of tax payer dollars to Universities that already have obscenely huge endowments is a financial boondoggle.
But spending money so we can all walk around places like these is not a problem. It's what I expect when I visit New York.
Carry on New York. You're still the apple of my eye.
366
** 4 billion dollars ** is an insane amount of money for one train hub, essentially for PATH trains.
So yes the new Path station IS a financial boondoogle, though you say it is not.
2
Carry on? The project came in at 82% above the initial $2.2 billion estimate. Even if you believe there are not better ways to spend the public's money, an 82% overrun qualifies as a boondoggle. I personally don't find graft inspirational, even when its byproduct is an aesthetically-impressive public space.
2
Calatrava has designed numerous stellar buildings. It's no secret however in the architectural world however that he consistently misses the budget by factors of 2-4 and the Port Authority should have known that. There are plenty of star architects who would have designed aesthetically equally pleasing or even more beautiful and functional buildings while honing closer to the budget - Foster, Piano, Rodgers - along with a slew of up and coming talents. Functionality over time - ie maintenance - is also critically important for public commissions and this building like others of Calatrava is likely to not age well given the difficulty of building it well even on a bloated budget.
Time will ulitmately test of the success of failure of his selection for this commission.
Time will ulitmately test of the success of failure of his selection for this commission.
1
It's beautiful and I can't wait to see it on my next trip east. But how are they going to keep that thing clean?
5
This again illustrates the vast and growing chasm between rich cities and the rest of us. We are begging for a paltry 55 million for clean drinking water.
My heart aches.
My heart aches.
405
I agree with you wholeheartedly. This is a monstrous expenditure when juxtaposed against Flint's problems. But part of what is wrong with Flint, MI is the political culture and the kind of thinking that wouldn't spend for necessary infrastructure such as your drinking water system nor for a new and necessary transit hub. You in Flint, we in metro NYC and elsewhere need to affect a radical (dare I say a revolutionary?) re-thinking of who gets elected and then act on it. I wish you and your neighbors well in once again getting clean drinking water.
1
And mine aches for the people of Flint. The first person to question is the Governor of Michigan.
4
It doesn't just bring to mind the art museum in Milwaukee, it appears to be a near-clone. That museum is beautiful, and in a great setting next to Lake Michigan, but it fails to be a good place to display much art. Good for statuary and other 3-D installations, but not so good for flat things that need to hang on walls, because too many walls are either curved or ribs. Good luck to New York on its new transit hub.
7
If you want an example of architecture, cost control and construction done right look no further than Rotterdam Centraal station.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotterdam_Centraal_railway_station
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotterdam_Centraal_railway_station
7
I totally agree, but having spent time in the Netherlands, the culture is starkly different in terms of honesty, efficiency and corruption.
7
How many immigrant beds does it have?
2
This project never should have been undertaken at this price tag given all of the other more serious and necessary transportation needs facing New York City. This was money that could have been spent towards expediting the 2nd Avenue subway, building a new Penn station, or building additional metro north stations in the Bronx and along the Westside (see below). This is money that could have been used towards building a tunnel to Staten Island. This is money that could have been spent building the cross-borough TRX line (see below). The fact that this money was spent to create a glorified mall and a monument to a politician’s vanity is profoundly sad, disgusting, and enraging.
Metro North Expansion: http://web.mta.info/mta/planning/psas/pdf/homemap_11_2011.pdf
TRX Cross Borough: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/02/8561985/rpa-call...
How Cost of Train Station at World Trade Center Swelled to $4 Billion: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/nyregion/the-4-billion-train-station-a...
Metro North Expansion: http://web.mta.info/mta/planning/psas/pdf/homemap_11_2011.pdf
TRX Cross Borough: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/02/8561985/rpa-call...
How Cost of Train Station at World Trade Center Swelled to $4 Billion: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/nyregion/the-4-billion-train-station-a...
32
I haven't seen the station and I'll reserve judgment on it. I am a life-long proponent of public transportation, however, and if it gives additional credence to the idea of relying on it, all the better.
That said, what really needs to be done with PATH is to increase the tunnel capacity, lengthen station platforms to increase the number of cars to a train, and extend service beyond Newark's Penn Station. As you can see, I live in Westfield, which is on the Raritan Vally Line. Forty years ago or so there was a serious proposal to extend PATH along the Raritan Valley tracks as far as Plainfield (or beyond). It was nixed by the residents of the towns along the line for fear that it would turn the area into Queens.
I favored it then and I favor it now. Imagine what $4 billion could have done.
That said, what really needs to be done with PATH is to increase the tunnel capacity, lengthen station platforms to increase the number of cars to a train, and extend service beyond Newark's Penn Station. As you can see, I live in Westfield, which is on the Raritan Vally Line. Forty years ago or so there was a serious proposal to extend PATH along the Raritan Valley tracks as far as Plainfield (or beyond). It was nixed by the residents of the towns along the line for fear that it would turn the area into Queens.
I favored it then and I favor it now. Imagine what $4 billion could have done.
24
The last paragraph of this column says it all. $4 billion in public funds for a train station? Obscene.
Just who got rich off this latest gargantuan municipal scam? I'll wait for the federal "bombshell" indictments sometime down the road. I worked at the late, great #2 Tower, WTC in the late '80's for 3 years, and I remember the WTC PATH terminal of that era: your basic boring train station, designed to transport thousands of NJ workers daily back and forth from downtown. Yet, what's $4 BILLION when you get an "Oculus" for it? As Ralph Kramden would have quipped, "a mere bag of shells!" Instead of waiting 5 minutes until you're seeing the sun on the street, you get it beamed on you underground right off the train? "Inspirational".
Just who got rich off this latest gargantuan municipal scam? I'll wait for the federal "bombshell" indictments sometime down the road. I worked at the late, great #2 Tower, WTC in the late '80's for 3 years, and I remember the WTC PATH terminal of that era: your basic boring train station, designed to transport thousands of NJ workers daily back and forth from downtown. Yet, what's $4 BILLION when you get an "Oculus" for it? As Ralph Kramden would have quipped, "a mere bag of shells!" Instead of waiting 5 minutes until you're seeing the sun on the street, you get it beamed on you underground right off the train? "Inspirational".
5
Good review.
Nearly all gov projects double or triple in cost, especially the big ones. It's of course because no one is really accountable, and no one pays any price for incompetence or inefficiencies of design or construction. No one is spending "their" money, just the collective's dollars. A great system, been this way since Plato's time.
I like inspiring and uplifting architecture and beauty. There is some of that here, but the cost as the author indicates is absurd. Like most people, I want the system to work reliably. We'll see.
Nearly all gov projects double or triple in cost, especially the big ones. It's of course because no one is really accountable, and no one pays any price for incompetence or inefficiencies of design or construction. No one is spending "their" money, just the collective's dollars. A great system, been this way since Plato's time.
I like inspiring and uplifting architecture and beauty. There is some of that here, but the cost as the author indicates is absurd. Like most people, I want the system to work reliably. We'll see.
7
it looks beautiful to me. our society needs beauty these days to offset the difficulties in our world.
59
yes, but some of the design (functionality as a transit station) only causes more difficulty and stress for those using it: narrow platform with insufficient number of stairs/escalators, and high maintenance floors that require frequent cleaning. one staircase is often closed for cleaning in the middle of evening rush hour.
As an Architect, these kind of projects always frustrate me. On one hand it stands as an amazing and beautiful testament to human ingenuity, on the other hand it represents the hubris and wasteful or costly designs of a "Starchitect and portrays the rest of us as equally aloof, inefficient or unable to demonstrate timely professionalism.
Mr. Calatrava is one of the last in a dying breed so perhaps it is only fitting his largest and most expensive project be saved for last, as I seriously doubt he'll ever receive such a large or expensive commission again in his lifetime.
Mr. Calatrava is one of the last in a dying breed so perhaps it is only fitting his largest and most expensive project be saved for last, as I seriously doubt he'll ever receive such a large or expensive commission again in his lifetime.
27
This blaming th achitect thing is rally out of hand. According to the article, the main problems with the project we're on the client side: The decision to build it as a mall and "event space" and maintain seperate turnstiles for each line, rather than the swipe-once entry of an actual subway transfer hub, for stance, is NOT made by the achitect. Likewise, wildly incompetent projections of construction costs for underground tunnels fall on the NY based public authorities who are supposed to be the experts in this, not the architect from Barcelona.
Calatravo is reported to have repeatedly compromised his design for the oculus in order to accomodate the shifting budgets handed him and the "value engineering" that the Port Authority sought. There has been zero evidence that he has been inflexible or hard-headed. And givn that he has delivered railway stations to other clients with a lot less trouble or budget challenge, is it really fair to assume that he is the one who doesn't know how t do this?
To the extent this project is a "boondoggle," it is a homemade one. With NYS and the PA in charge, it would have been the same story if you had been the architect.
Calatravo is reported to have repeatedly compromised his design for the oculus in order to accomodate the shifting budgets handed him and the "value engineering" that the Port Authority sought. There has been zero evidence that he has been inflexible or hard-headed. And givn that he has delivered railway stations to other clients with a lot less trouble or budget challenge, is it really fair to assume that he is the one who doesn't know how t do this?
To the extent this project is a "boondoggle," it is a homemade one. With NYS and the PA in charge, it would have been the same story if you had been the architect.
I agree. It all started with the great Frank Lloyd Wright and his Guggenheim. Yes, it's an architectural marvel and a great work of art. But it also makes a lousy museum. It's been this kind of egomaniacal succession of grandiose designs that are more about statement than purpose.
Perhaps he will do the Trump Presidential Library.
In it's beauty and meaning it is a rose. Brava.
4
I'm not sure I understand your criteria for great architecture Mr. kimmelman.. You are all over the place. Didn't you recently sing the praises of the awful new building at Bryant Park with the UFO disc?? I work next to it and I can tell you it's a daily eyesore.. I agree with Nick Metrowsky.. Know a boondoggle when you see one please.. NYC needs daring architecture and this looks like a beautiful addition.. Try taking a walk around Union Square to see some travesties like the digital clock NY'ers have to look at daily..ugh
3
Calatrava's ossified formalism is another black eye for the architectural profession. A one trick pony, indeed.
6
I am so ignorant of architecture that I don't even know what I like. But there is one thing I am rather sure about, which I will give an example of before turning to the train station. A friend of mine has a nice pair of Wellington style brown leather boots but they have high stiletto heels. This makes them obviously impractical for any purpose for which she might want to wear a good pair of boots.
A white building in New York City is as impractical as boots with stiletto heels. There will come a time when money is tight and the annual repainting will be considered a discretionary expense. The building will become a byword for dinginess. Or at best a byword for high maintenance.
A white building in New York City is as impractical as boots with stiletto heels. There will come a time when money is tight and the annual repainting will be considered a discretionary expense. The building will become a byword for dinginess. Or at best a byword for high maintenance.
6
First of all, regarding upkeep: you don't paint marble. And while this housewife questions the use of *white* marble, the stone itself is one of the most durable known. Look at the marble used in ancient Roman buildings that are still in use today.
It's just public money wasted by the government. Business as usual. Imagine the kick-backs.
3
The sneaking reveal of Calatrava that you find lacking at WTC will come in time: as it has in Valencia at "his" city, where large ceramic panels began to fall from the opera house due to the architect's oversight for something as hard to predict as the south Spanish sun, or in Bilbao, where the smooth glass floors of his footbridge were shockingly without traction when the London-like dampness of the Basque country condensed. Don't worry, the surprises will come, with additional costs for modifications and--if we're lucky--a lawsuit.
4
Oh Kimmelman, ye are so wrong. The building is breathtaking and I'm just seeing the photographs. It will be a much looked forward to experience when next visiting your great city.
3
That shot of the west concourse looks like something from a sci-fi movie about life in a soul-crushing, sterile, hideously lonely techno-nightmare future, or the inside of the world's biggest refrigerator. I've seen ugly before, but I don't think I've ever seen ugly this ice-cold before.
8
Hmph. I think it looks like all the hard work and technical expertise of a group of companionate humans all committed to a worthwhile goal. On to the future, no one left behind.
How can the Port Authority justify billions on one small project while other more pressing transportation needs go unmet? Who made this decision and why haven't the governors of New York and New Jersey, both of whom have their citizens tightening their belts, called this decision into question?
3
I think it's pretty cool......
8
I like the aspiration, clean look and futuristic feel. Can we not fill the US with forward looking architecture as suits our (former?) national character?
I've been watching this thing go up for years and my opinion hasn't changed since day one: it is the ugliest thing I've ever seen.
9
This is the wrong structure for the wrong place at the wrong cost. The real upshot of this project will be the withholding or lowering of funds from future disaster sites due to profligate spending and cost overruns here. That might be the saddest part of this debacle.
5
It's always a pleasure to come upon Michael Kimmelman's architectural insights. As per usual, this one appears to be spot on.
6
Come on, not even The Times expected this to be on time, let alone on time AND on budget.
3
Easily the most moving tribute to those whose lives were lost and the families they left behind were the two matching beacons that were lit on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Instead of leaving well-enough alone, billions upon billions are spent as we genuflect to the power of Capitalsm. Like, somehow, the more you spend, the more you care. Baloney!
8
As Vice President Biden accurately commented, LaGuardia airport looks like something you would find in a third world country. Short runways, cramped outdated buildings - yet the Port Authority wastes 4 billion dollars on a dysfunctional eyesore. Its time for NYC to take back control of our airports and bridges from the Port Authority, an entity that has always been run by political hacks. I would also suggest that we have a portrait gallery in the Oculus; a rogues gallery of every bureaucrat who signed off on this mess.
11
My God what an ugly article. I'm sure you would have said the same about the Parthenon. Thankfully you weren't around to comment.
55
The outside of the station is foreboding. On the inside, it looks as though one is in the belly of the beast. The entire MTA is one big boondoggle.
9
Built by Port Authority, not the MTA.
"What better way to enrich oneself or ones class than through the gauzy vision of patriotism." - American Zeitgeist
If the project was not attached to the memory of 9/11 it would have been completed in half the time for half the expense.
If the project was not attached to the memory of 9/11 it would have been completed in half the time for half the expense.
12
At the time it was built, Grand Central was viewed as a exorbitant and was roundly criticized. In today's dollars it cost over $2B to construct. It is a structure for the ages. Maybe this one will be too.
4
"roundly criticized"
Not actually true and GC was constructed out of private monies. It remains to be seen if the Downtown Path will stand the test of time. GC already has.
Not actually true and GC was constructed out of private monies. It remains to be seen if the Downtown Path will stand the test of time. GC already has.
9
Government wasting away hard earned taxpayers money - what's new.
9
The WTC Hub, like numerous other post-9/11 funded projects and initiatives, was a cynical attempt by those holding the reins of power to throw money at our collective grief while taking advantage of the opportunity to fleece an already victimized populace. Any rational objections that stood in the way of using unlimited public funds to assuage our fear and confusion at having become a target of the worst terrorist attack in our nation's history were summarily dismissed.
There are numerous, relatively well documented examples of those in power taking advantage of 9/11 to line their pockets, the pockets of friends and family, and the coffers of avaricious corporations. The WTC Hub is reminiscent of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in which hundreds of billions of unaccounted dollars were spent by the Military Industrial Complex, and anyone who challenged where money went or merely requested accountability was deemed an unpatriotic traitor. Remember the suitcases full of cash supposedly destined for warlords that seemed to get lost with regularity?
Imagine what $4 billion could have done to help the poor and middle class in our city. How about constructing a few dozen low rent buildings for non-rich people to help fulfill the promise of making NYC accessible/livable for ordinary citizens?
So much good could have been done with that money, but instead we'll spend the rest of our lives glaring at the "boondoggle," when we happen to be in that part of town, which isn't often.
There are numerous, relatively well documented examples of those in power taking advantage of 9/11 to line their pockets, the pockets of friends and family, and the coffers of avaricious corporations. The WTC Hub is reminiscent of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in which hundreds of billions of unaccounted dollars were spent by the Military Industrial Complex, and anyone who challenged where money went or merely requested accountability was deemed an unpatriotic traitor. Remember the suitcases full of cash supposedly destined for warlords that seemed to get lost with regularity?
Imagine what $4 billion could have done to help the poor and middle class in our city. How about constructing a few dozen low rent buildings for non-rich people to help fulfill the promise of making NYC accessible/livable for ordinary citizens?
So much good could have been done with that money, but instead we'll spend the rest of our lives glaring at the "boondoggle," when we happen to be in that part of town, which isn't often.
206
The greatest reward in reading NYT Comments – like this one – is finding again and again that the voices of "the people" are often so much smarter than those of the critics, and almost without exception smarter than those who foist boondoggles, etc., upon us. THE NEW YORK TIMES is an agent of democracy when it tries to be. Kudos.
3
We must, I believe, try to take into consideration generations yet unborn. Art is the ONLY thing that survives the centuries. It is undoubtedly true that "so much good could have been done with that money" but that can be said of the Pyramids and St Peter's Basilica and any one of a thousand other buildings that take your breath away. It need not, of course, be a choice - but I for one am glad that "Wow" places are still being built.
1
Didn't they do any research? Calatrava's City of the Arts and Sciences in Valencia cost a fortune. In addition it is a maintenance nightmare. The WTC Transportation Hub is beautiful. Good luck keeping it clean.
129
Calatrava's City of the Arts and Sciences in Valencia is an impressive monstruosity. It is striking to the eye, like something out of a science fiction movie, but it is not human friendly. It was a mistake to use him for the Transit Hub, it will be something to look at but not one to linger on.
The City of Arts and Sciences is a gigantic complex in a relatively small city of 1.5 million people, whereas this transport hub is one building in NYC—one of the world's premier cities. Yes, the City of Arts and Sciences has become a symbol of boom-time overspending, but at the same time it has become the top destination for tourists who bring money to the city. Additionally, it is a world-class architectural assemblage, and a symbol of futurism, featuring in many top movies and countless car commercials. Many of the maintenance issues have to do with the contractor, the builder and not Calatrava. You wonder how they'll keep it clean. Have you seen how shiny the floors of Spanish metro (subway) stations are? The secret is to be on top of it, clean it up constantly. As Joe Clark once said: "graffiti goes up one day, it comes down the next!"
The grand old buildings like Grand Central Station said to those using them, "Look at the wonderful building you deserve." The main branch of the library at 42nd, and the general post office, say the same thing.
The new transit hub says, look how much I cost.
The new transit hub says, look how much I cost.
46
As an architect and commuter, I must praise the vision of the planners who decided to invest in a lasting work of public architecture in the spirit of Grand Central Terminal and the lost Pennsylvania Station.
Contrast this to the tired dirty hole that is the modern NY Penn Station, which is hardly a fitting entrance to one of the world's greatest cities.
Yes, great works of civic architecture are expensive, but amortized over generations of visitors and commuters who will have their spirits uplifted, the costs are trivial.
Happily, just when it seems that our society has lost the ability to place value on public amenities, isn't it great to see a brilliant example of civic place-making that reminds us of what a great society SHOULD be?
Contrast this to the tired dirty hole that is the modern NY Penn Station, which is hardly a fitting entrance to one of the world's greatest cities.
Yes, great works of civic architecture are expensive, but amortized over generations of visitors and commuters who will have their spirits uplifted, the costs are trivial.
Happily, just when it seems that our society has lost the ability to place value on public amenities, isn't it great to see a brilliant example of civic place-making that reminds us of what a great society SHOULD be?
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Perhaps the money would have been better spent rehabbing the "tired dirty hole" of Penn Station instead.
3
for $4 bn?
Four BILLION dollars of public money for a train station is hardly "trivial." It's outrageous.
2
Mr Kimmelman has said all this before - and it still isn't "news" or objective, fair reporting. And let me note - I don't have a dog in this fight - but when I read a news story and it is clearly the same opinion-based critique I've read before - and the "boondoggle" overruns are so clearly within the usual variance of public works projects (sure, billions sound like a lot of money when you're reading the Thursday morning paper, but public works projects run over by billions quite often) - I think someone ought to point out: Mr. Kemmelman, move on. Get over it. Take a pill. Some of us like to think the public should invest in beautiful public buildings and places. Our country used to make those investments often. Not so much anymore. You don't like this particular project - it seems because it serves people from New Jersey - but you clearly have no more to say on it so stop promising new insights by submitting the same material to your editor yet again.
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This piece is billed as an Architecture Review, so one would assume that it's an opinion based critique, not a straight news story.
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Mr. Calatrava has given New York something for it's billions, but what do the rest of us tax payers all over the country, that paid for, it get out of it? Nothing !
What do I get out of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, paid for by tax payers all over the country? Nothing!
6
You might be pleased to hear that the cost of this was borne by the Port Authority--it comes out of, essentially, fares on the cross-Hudson bridges and tunnels. Basically, paid for by businesses and commuters in this region. Meanwhile, the Authority's midtown bus terminal (which is used by many more commuters and travelers than the downtown PATH station, which, in reality, is all this is), is crumbling.
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It is obvious that this project cost a lot, a lot more than was projected. But here is a contrarian view. How does one price art?
Do we not stand in awe at the foot of the ancient pyramids in Egypt?
Why do we feel love coursing our veins when seeing the Taj Mahal in moonlight?
And do we not feel strong and powerful as we see the shuttle take off into space at Cape Canaveral?
Just sayin'.
Do we not stand in awe at the foot of the ancient pyramids in Egypt?
Why do we feel love coursing our veins when seeing the Taj Mahal in moonlight?
And do we not feel strong and powerful as we see the shuttle take off into space at Cape Canaveral?
Just sayin'.
3
While i’ve not yet been inside Calatrava’s cave, the outside is an architectural disaster…more like a beached whale wedged between buildings.
As for the transit hub itself….what a disappointment, inside and out.
As for the transit hub itself….what a disappointment, inside and out.
6
This review echoes my feelings about the Freedom Tower. Liebeskind's original breathtaking concept morphed into a grotesque building that reminds me of the joke that a camel is a horse designed by a committee.
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White marble floors?? Really? Slip sliding away. Brilliant move and white marble AND walls, I give it 10 minutes before it starts to look grungy.
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Yes, the floors are slippery when wet.
1
I give it 10 minutes before some old lady slips and cracks a hip....
1
Wait for the lawsuits on the slips and falls, absolutely ridiculous, this might have flown in say a tropical climate but in NYC? In the winter? Slush, snow? Great idea using marble.
1
I am really impressed by this building! I would like to know if Mr. Kimmelman competed to design a building for this hub?
JPTeusink
JPTeusink
4
Two things that self-aware people eventually realize: 1.) That when you work for a living, the state confiscates a stunningly large portion of the money you earn. 2.) They do no spend your money with the oversight that you would.
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Mr. Kimmelman's links to Mr. Calatrava's other projects confirms his observation that the architect is a "one-trick pony." I doubt this space will ever attract regular visitors and support a variety of businesses.
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Though I have not seen the Hub, in a country not known for it's public acceptance of "modern" in architecture, clinging to its Ethan Allen furniture of it's parents and the gabeled cape cod they grew up in, any effort to renew the public space is welcome at first blush.
2
Maybe a more modest station with the rest of the money spent on improvements of the system as a whole!
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As a scientist, I've long known that comparisons are everything. The appropriate comparison for the World Trade Center Transportation Hub is not a train station like Grand Central, but perhaps Penn Station or the Times Square hub. There's absolutely no comparison to those grimy, grim, and totally depressing spaces. If a space produces "awe" and an uplifting sense of spirituality; if it is warm and welcoming, then it is a success, especially given its location. We can quibble about whether or not Santiago Calatrava is a "one-trick pony" just as we can about Frank Gehry, but the fact remains that this is his monument to New York City and the tragedy of 9/11. If this is truly a modern cathedral to those lost that is a gift of grace, then it is a priceless living memorial to the spirits of those victims and to those of us who pass through it.
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Better than a day of Shock and Awe.
10
Calatrava is indeed a one-trick pony. He tried to use what appears to be the exact same design in Atlanta, but in that case, his turkey was to be the new and excessively expensive concert hall for the Atlanta Symphony. Thank goodness the recession hit and the turkey didn't hatch in Atlanta. I'm sorry that it has roosted in your city, NY.
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Did Rudy Guiliani have anything to do with this fiasco? He's the guy who designated the location of the Public Safety "Command Center" to be placed in the original World Trade Center. And, that was even after the first terrorist bomb attack, in 1993.
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No, this was all during the Bloomberg administration. That said, we still have plenty of things in this city to be critical of Rudy about.
4
Ya, but it was a state driven project from the get go. Not Bloomberg.
While Calatrava's works are inspiring, particularly the Milwaukee Museum, this hub evokes the George Lucas film, THX 1138, in its design, color, and tone. If you're looking for warm, fuzzy, and inviting, go to Grand Central instead, or any of the old railway stations between New York and Washington, DC.
3
The fact that this "HUB" was going to be an overpriced shopping maul, built at the public's expense was well known ten years ago. Where was the New York Times then?
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Four Billion? For similar money, Atlantic City got the Revel, a monument to the death of the local gaming industry. At least this project is complete.
4
Here's the problem with Mr. Kimmelman's exaggerated rhetorical bitterness about the Oculus. The New York Times is a MIDTOWN promoting company and has been since it moved out of Lower Manhattan more than a century ago. The fact is Lower Manhattan now has the most stunning public building in all of New York City to the Times obvious dismay.
Sorry Grand Central Terminal but next to the Oculus Grand Central looks dated indeed. Note there was NO criticism at all architectural or otherwise in The Times of Grand Central Station when it opened February 2, 1913. rather The Times printed an 8 page special section glorifying Grand Central in glutinous ways. Read for yourself http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/561384/1913.pdf
Sorry Grand Central Terminal but next to the Oculus Grand Central looks dated indeed. Note there was NO criticism at all architectural or otherwise in The Times of Grand Central Station when it opened February 2, 1913. rather The Times printed an 8 page special section glorifying Grand Central in glutinous ways. Read for yourself http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/561384/1913.pdf
4
"The fact is Lower Manhattan now has the most stunning public building"
AH2, To call Grand Central "dated" as the sole reason to dismiss Grand Central as art would have art historians of every stripe looking at you with derision.
14
Thank you for sharing the link. I am in or near Grand Central several times a month and always leave a little time to gawk.
Somehow, after the first couple of times, I don't think I'll do the same at the Oculus.
Somehow, after the first couple of times, I don't think I'll do the same at the Oculus.
3
Grand Central Terminal is one of THE most beautiful structures currently in NYC, you are WAY off base on that one.
2
"Westfield Group, which oversees retail at the hub...."
Enough said. Westfield oversees a mall here in Annapolis. Garbage in....garbage out.
Enough said. Westfield oversees a mall here in Annapolis. Garbage in....garbage out.
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The white marble is already mottled with coffee stains and trying to exit the Path platform up a staircase wide enough for one, reminds me that designers rarely live the reality they create. For passengers its an annoying single file shuffle to get back above ground.
It's an even greater shame that it isn't even really finished. Heartbreaking waste of tax payers money.
It's an even greater shame that it isn't even really finished. Heartbreaking waste of tax payers money.
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"A staircase wide enough for one"? What if there's an emergency and hundreds of passengers have to quickly evacuate the platform? This sounds like a public safety nightmare in the making.
3
Wait until those white wings turn dingy gray, like dirty white grout.
What were they thinking? White in NYC?
What were they thinking? White in NYC?
1
Unfortunately, architects are forced to design "cattle chute" stairs by Building Code. The days of gracious, grand open stairways, like the one in front of the Post Office across from Penn Station are over, since the code mandates a handrail within grasp of anyone walking up a stair, rather than placing them intermittently according to the true need of the population.
1
Santiago Calatrava's work has always been very aesthetically pleasing and structural. In almost every project, there are massive delays, cost overruns and frequently structural problems. Hopefully the worst has passed.
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If I recall correctly, Frank Lloyd Wright was subject to the same criticisms. Artistry, rather than artisanship, often costs more, and innovation must include allowances for mistakes and miscalculations. Hopefully the innovation involved in this structure does not include fatal flaws that exceed standard architectural engineering safety factors.
Massive delays and cost overruns, even for a Calatrava, are not inevitable. His unique building at the new Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, came in on time and at the initial cost. Why? Because no committee from Atlas Shrugged came in to change the plans and no other egos were involved. We just let the master do his work unhindered.
Wrong book! The Fountainhead was the architectural novel. And Howard Roark, the protagonist, was, egotistical enough, and more.
1
I enjoy modern architecture but the new Path station screams of petulant arrogance and ego. The station is saying -- "Look at me I am exxxxxpennnnnsivvvvvve. You may walk under me, but only because I permit it"
It also looks like a human brain with pointy shards exploding out of it. It doesnt look like a winged bird.
Kudus for the nytimes to call it a boondoggle in the headline. That was brazen, and true.
16
(sigh)
That $4 billion could have been used to rebuild Penn Station, a truly magnificent, functional structure that could united three airports, Amtrak, three commuter railroads, almost every subway line in the City, and PATH.
That $4 billion could have been used to rebuild Penn Station, a truly magnificent, functional structure that could united three airports, Amtrak, three commuter railroads, almost every subway line in the City, and PATH.
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Couldn't agree more with you JH. Penn Station is simply not functional as a major hub of several different essential NYC train systems. The public money could have been so much better spent.
3
Could have, would have—and nothing gets done. Sure, a new Penn Station is absolutely necessary, but it would no longer be the gate to NYC it was once, as more than 85% of passengers today are subway commuters, and nearly all the rest are suburban riders. It's no longer an inter-city hub like before. The negotiations at Penn Station are complex, while the WTC hub (which is no "hub" either, it's a PATH station) had a clear mandate, and the land rights were settled, as was the federal funding. After all, this icon is more a symbol of resurgence than anything else.
damning by faint praise
7
Well, it it is better than the boodoggle of tearing down Pennsylvania Station, in 1963, and building Maison Square Garden on top of it.
Look at the bright side, New York, you created a great space to film futuristic movies. Sort of has a THX1138 feel to it; doesn't it?
At at least it is a large, lit space. When the stores finally open up; it will be a hum of activity. People did not like IM Pei's Pyramid at the Louvre; now it is a feature that people embraced. Eventually this will happen here too.
Look at the bright side, New York, you created a great space to film futuristic movies. Sort of has a THX1138 feel to it; doesn't it?
At at least it is a large, lit space. When the stores finally open up; it will be a hum of activity. People did not like IM Pei's Pyramid at the Louvre; now it is a feature that people embraced. Eventually this will happen here too.
90
Pei's pyramid at the Louvre is not "embraced" by anyone who appreciates architecture or history. It looked tacky at the time -- like an atrium in a suburban mall -- and has only become dated over the years. If people take pictures in front of it, it's only because it's now a permanent feature of the Louvre and thus a symbol of the museum, not because it's become a beloved work of architecture. Time has a way of inuring people to the ghastliness of ugly architecture.
7
I hope you are right, but the Louvre is a tourist mecca. I guess the WTC, in absentia, is, too, now, but I'd rather have a building that complemented daily lives rather than vacation travel.
4
Last I heard there was serious talk of getting rid of that boondoggle, the IM Pei pyramid at the Lourve, that is.
Any artist who thinks that his vision can be divorced from the execution of the vision in the context of a city facing crumbling infrastructure, an extreme shortage of affordable housing (indeed, few of the artist 99% can afford to live here anymore), etc is an irresponsible con-artist.
The Cooper Union (I am an alumni) made an equally grievous error when it commissioned Tom Mayne of Morphosis to design its New Academic Building. The $1,000 a sq ft price tag was spectacularly inappropriate for a school with a humble culture, built on a founding mission of education "as free as air and water". Its century-plus tradition of providing tuition-free education was the casualty of the architect's ego, so huge that he needed the entire front facade of the structure to sprawl the initial "t" of his first name.
At the end of the day, a building's greatness and beauty grows out of insightful, unexpected executions at the service of necessary utility. Great buildings are servants of progressive construction of social space, not a commodity of the spectacle - no matter how aesthetically pleasing - that imposes an unrelated, abstract, metaphorical form onto its function in a way that drains financial resources away from the architecture of social connectivity and purpose.