by: Robert Hauer Santos Assoc. AIA
Event: Design for Living: Intermodal Transportation Facilities
Location: Center for Architecture, 12.08.08
Speakers: Peter David Cavaluzzi, FAIA — Principal, Ehrenkrantz Ekstut & Kuhn Architects; Jeff Dugan, AIA — Principal, Dattner Architects; Peter Scaglione, AIA, AICP — Associate Partner, Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners
Moderator: Robert Davidson, FAIA — Senior Vice President, STV Incorporated
Organizers: AIANY Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; New York New Visions
Sponsors: Champion: Studio Daniel Libeskind; Supporters: Gensler; Humanscale; James McCullar & Associates; Friends: Costas Kondylis & Partners; Forest City Ratner Companies; Frank Williams & Associates; Hugo S. Subotovsky A.I.A. Architects; Mancini Duffy; Magnusson Architecture and Planning; Rawlings Architects; RicciGreene Associates; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Syska Hennessy Group; Trespa North America; Universal Contracting Group
The Myrtle-Wyckoff Station by Dattner Architects with Domenech Hicks & Krockmalnic.
Dattner Architects
The way architects design intermodal transit facilities is changing rapidly. The fundamentals of new urban structures and planning are being studied and applied throughout the U.S. — and locally, as NYC prepares for new urban growth. Three projects of different scales were recently presented in a panel.
The Gateway Center in Los Angeles, designed by Ehrenkrantz Ekstut & Kuhn Architects, will link subway, rail, and bus transit in a rapidly expanding downtown location near Union Station. The new transit hub was influenced by analysis of circulation patterns and is designed to remain at the center of the urban core as the city grows, according to firm Principal Peter David Cavaluzzi, FAIA. It will offer plazas, city sightlines, and circulation paths to help anchor developing neighborhoods.
At the other end of the size spectrum, the Myrtle-Wyckoff Station, designed by Dattner Architects with Domenech Hicks & Krockmalnic, is sited at the heavily urbanized border between Queens and Brooklyn. The station has a central rotunda with a channel-glass cylinder rising above the public entrance and crisscrossing elevated catwalks and stairways. Public art spans the round ceiling. Even though it is not truly an intermodal facility, the station is close to the future site of a bus terminus being planned around the corner. It is not clear, however, whether there is an intention to link the two into a single facility.
The Hoboken Terminal project is a large-scale renovation of an existing intermodal facility. On the National Register of Historic Places, the complex accommodates rail and waterborne transit. Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners used the building’s history to influence the rebuilding of the main terminal hall. Using original plans and modernizing the lighting scheme, stained glass and copper complement the Victorian-styled structure. The original clock tower was replaced with prefabricated sections that were stacked on-site. The pride shown in the exacting restoration of the public spaces will encourage greater use of the facility, stated Associate Partner Peter Scaglione, AIA, AICP.
Robert Santos, Assoc. AIA, works for Gruzen Samton Architects.