JANUARY 21ST, 2004
The design for the transit hub at the World Trade Center site will be unveiled Thursday.
The $2 billion project, which will connect several subway lines and the PATH train, is envisioned as a grand entry point to Lower Manhattan, similar to Grand Central Terminal.
The architect, Santiago Calatrava, a 53-year-old native of Spain, is known for his modern, airy buildings and bridges made of steel and glass. Among his more than 50 projects are an extension to the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Oriente train station in Lisbon, Portugal.
In an interview with NY1, Calatrava said his latest work has a lot of light, a lot of open space and even translucent pavement allowing sunlight to reach all the way down to the train platforms some 60 feet below ground.
“The lightness that you will experience in the building, the idea of rising up off the ground, the idea of the fly and the lightness and transparency bringing the light down below to the tracks, is a response of our culture to the tragedy,” said Calatrava. “It is a response of hope.”
The World Trade Center transit hub will replace the temporary PATH station that opened about two months ago, and it will include an underground concourse that connects a dozen subway lines. The concourse will also extend to the west, connecting to the World Financial Center and ferry terminals.
Construction on the terminal could begin late this year or early next year, to be completed between 2007 and 2009.
Some examples of Calatrava’s work-
01. Santiago Calatrava’s opera house at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands is dominated by a winglike canopy nearly 200 feet tall.
02. A detail of an auditorium in the new opera house. Mr. Calatrava has also been commissioned to design a transportation hub at the World Trade Center site.
03. The 1,600-seat main auditorium of his opera house at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
04. A rendering of his highrise apartment tower in Malmo.
05. The architect Santiago Calatrava, with one of his own sculptures, in his town house on Park Avenue.
06. The Tenerife opera house.
From NY1 news www.ny1.com
