CENTRA is located off the Garden State Parkway in MetroPark Station. The station, which straddles the border between Edison and the Iselin portion of Woodbridge Township is the busiest New Jersey transit train station apart from the city terminals, with over 7,000 daily commuters. It also serves Amtrak.

“The impact that this building has on the Parkway has resulted in improvements of neighboring structures, proving that design can have a ripple effect in an otherwise mundane context,” said the design jury.

The existing building has been made over completely, except for the overall original shape, which has become the structural support for an extended fourth floor. The original floor slabs and steel structure were retained and enclosed within a new tinted class curtain wall. The new L-shaped fourth floor projects to create, in effect, an outside lobby that spans an area appearing to exceed the square footage of each of the interior levels.

“At center stage, the powerful iconic column lifts the new addition 35 feet into the air, creating a grand canopy over the entry plaza,” said Hugh Trumbull, a design principal at KPF.

The jury also recognized the building as “an excellent example of the value of creatively reusing existing buildings and their embodied energy in lieu of tearing down and building new.”

A desire to curb both cost and waste inspired the retrofit, says Trumbull. "It's a much less expensive option, and it's also the option that makes the most sense for a client who wants to create an environmentally responsible building."