The second, in the 2000s, featured a glass ceiling over the former mail-sorting area, as the current Moynihan does, but eliminated all the building’s distinctive ceiling trusses, allowing the glass to all but disappear and resembling a view of the open air. For the third and final design, which got built, SOM retained some of the original trusses (also an idea in the first design); the trusses give Moynihan Train Hall not just Beaux Arts but an industrial aesthetic. “They certainly don’t make trusses like this anymore. It’s entirely riveted. It was before welding,” Cicconi says. “They’re all double trusses, too, because it was all part of an occupiable, walkable catwalk system.”
Even so, a glass ceiling inevitably recalls classic Victorian railway palaces. “We were very much aware of that reference and people making that connection,” Cicconi says. “There’s something about a large vault that both maximizes the volume inside and also kind of uplifts you in some way. It feels very civic.”
The architects also made a point of orienting Moynihan’s concourses to the outside, near windows, “so you’re always oriented to the city and you’re always taking advantage of the fact that you’re not in the dungeon of Penn Station,” Cicconi adds. “How can we enhance that more? That was the big design driver for the project.”
WHERE PAST MEETS FUTURE
Moynihan Train Hall comes with a corresponding series of upgrades to Penn Station and its infrastructure, including new daylit entrances also designed by SOM, as well as a planned Hudson River tunnel called Gateway that will substantially add capacity. They were conceived not just to improve riders’ experiences but as part of “a shift in the center of gravity westward,” as the architect calls it. Existing western Manhattan neighborhoods, like Chelsea and the Meatpacking District, began the trend in the early 2000s while Hudson Yards has added new real estate above
the open rail yards that had been there. “Moynihan really starts to set the groundwork for bigger-picture or bigger-scale improvements in the overall neighborhood and district,” Carr agrees. “It becomes a catalyst for future redevelopment of the area.”
For now, Moynihan Train Hall seems like more than just a majestic new railway station befitting the grandness of New York itself, more than a hybrid of classical architecture and modern engineering. It’s a step into the city’s future.
PHOTOS: DAVE BURK, © EMPIRE STATE DEVELOPMENT | SOM unless otherwise noted
Retrofit Team
OWNER: Empire State Development, in a public-private partnership with Vornado Realty Trust; The Related Cos.; Skanska; MTA; Long Island Rail Road; Amtrak; and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
ARCHITECT: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
- Roger Duffy, FAIA, design partner
- Colin Koop, AIA, design partner
- Laura Ettelman, AIA, managing partner
- Marla Gayle, AIA, project manager
- Jon Cicconi, AIA, senior design architect
- Andrew Lee, AIA, design architect
- Joyce Ignacio, senior technical coordinator
- Andrew Melillo, site representative
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Severud Associates, (212) 986-3700
MEP/FP/IT/TELECOM: JB&B
SKYLIGHT STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Schlaich Bergermann Partner
HISTORIC BUILDING RESTORATION: Building Conservation Associates Inc.
RAIL ENGINEER: Systra
CIVIL/GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER: Langan
LIGHTING DESIGN: Domingo Gonzalez Associates
ACOUSTICS/AUDIOVISUAL: Cerami & Associates
SECURITY DESIGN: Thornton Tomasetti, Weidlinger Protective Design Practice, and Ducibella Venter & Santore
HISTORIC PRESERVATION: Higgins Quasebarth & Partners LLC
TRAIN HALL CLOCK DESIGN: Peter Pennoyer Architects
MOYNIHAN TRAIN HALL BRAND IDENTITY: Watson & Co.
Materials
MARBLE FOR FLOOR AND WALLS OF MAIN CONCOURSE: Tennessee Quaker Gray Marble from Tennessee Marble Co.
TERRA COTTA: Boston Valley Terra Cotta
INTERIOR METAL PANELS: Permasteelisa
SKYLIGHT GLASS: Seele
MARBLE FOR ESCALATOR FACINGS, FLOORS AND WALLS OF AMTRAK AND LIRR SPACES: Covelano Silver Marble from Covelano Marmi SRL
DIGITAL DISPLAYS OPTIC CABLING: TiniFiber
PUBLIC ART, “PENN STATION’S HALF CENTURY”: Stan Douglas, artist
PUBLIC ART PRINTING: Alice Direct-to-Glass Printing on 12MM Low-Iron Tempered Glass by GGI