NEW YORK CITY-Four architecture firms on Wednesday unveiled their visions for a new Penn Station and Madison Square Garden in the culmination of a design challenge issued by the Municipal Art Society of New York. The four designs were presented by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Josh Sirefman, H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, SHoP Architects and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Each firm reimagined the cramped and tired Penn Station as an urban gateway, including relocating Madison Square Garden, which now sits atop the station and prevents needed expansion. Possible sites suggested for an MSG complex range from immediately adjacent to Penn Station to a 16-acre site on the west side waterfront.
“These four firms were selected because of their outstanding design talent and wide-ranging experience on complex urban sites—including the Highline in Chelsea, a new arena linked to a subway station in downtown Brooklyn, the planned conversion of the Farley Post Office, and other significant infrastructure projects around the world,” says Vin Cipolla, president of MAS, in the announcement of the four proposals. “They have demonstrated that there are a range of practical and liberating possibilities for an expanded, world-class Penn Station and a great new Madison Square Garden."
Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Josh Sirefman offers Penn Station 3.0, which it says will be a city within a city. The station will be designed to be a destination in itself, according to MAS, “with fast, transit-oriented programs layered with slower destinations. The building will host transient and resident populations, including commuters, office workers, fabricators, shoppers, foodies, culture seekers and urban explorers. In this plan, MSG will be located to the west end of the Farley building on Ninth Avenue, with access to Eighth Avenue.
In pursuit of making rail the “mode of choice”, H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture says that a new Penn Station/MSG must offer a cross between public space, entertainment, the environment, transportation, education and economic development. The plan suggests a relocation of Madison Square Garden to a 16-acre site on the west side waterfront, giving the venue its own identity and allowing for expanded tourist, hospitality, and entertainment opportunities.
Under this plan, the new Penn Station would include an eight track high-speed rail expansion, public park, retail complex, and roof garden. Redevelopment of the Farley Post Office would create a centrally located center for education, the announcement states, while 24 million square feet of surrounding private development would serve as an economic engine for improvement and a revived, world-class commercial district.
SHoP Architects' plan imagines an expanded main hall of Penn Station as a bright, airy and easily navigable space that defines a center of a new destination district, Gotham Gateway. The project proposes new development, as well as new parks and amenities around the station to help defray the required public investment, including an extension of the High Line that connects the new station to Madison Square Garden.
Lastly, SOM proposes to grow the footprint of Penn Station by two additional blocks to accommodate high speed rail lines for the northeast corridor, expanded commuter rail service for the tri-state area, and direct rail connections to all three area airports. MAS describes this proposed structure as “intuitive,” with a ticketing hall in the center and, below, two concourses running North and South below. Retail would surround the space while the lowest levels would feature expanded platforms, where visitors arriving from an overnight flight from Hong Kong would “rub elbows with a commuter on her way to Morristown.”
Last week the City Planning Commission decided to grant Madison Square Garden a 15-year permit to continue occupying its current location. Owners of the venue had hoped to hold onto the site in perpetuity. The move, says MAS in the announcement, “opens the way for the eventual creation of both a world-class Penn Station and a world-class sports and entertainment arena.”
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
