The hall itself continues the siloed fiefdoms of Penn Station. It pretends to be a Penn Station replacement but without Penn’s greatest asset, and when the world returns to regular commuting, those heading into the city may find the convenience of Penn and the shorter walk to the subway outweighs a nicer glimpse passing through Moynihan. The entrance to Moynihan is west of every single one of the subway lines, and the Hall itself, with escalators down to the Penn Station platforms, is even further west. ![]() Penn, situated between 7th and 8th Avenues and one block away from Herald Square, is amidst 14 different subway lines. What Penn Station enjoys in location, location, location, the Moynihan Train Hall does not. Steve Cuozzo thinks it’s a great example of adoptive reuse but says it can’t hold a candle to the original Penn Station.Īs nice as the new hall is, it isn’t all days of wine and roses. (I love the clock, even if it is very much A Clock A Train Station Should Have According To Andrew Cuomo.) Justin Davidson likes it and took exception to my characterization of lipstick on a pig while Aaron Gordon found it mediocre. You can read a review of SOM’s work at Dezeen and an interview with Peter Pennoyer, design of the Hall’s snazzy Art Deco clock, at Architectural Digest. It makes going to Manhattan to catch an Amtrak or Long Island Rail Road train a pleasant experience.Īn Art Deco clock looms over the middle of the train hall. Ultimately, the space looks like the renderings, and after decades of a cramped, crowded Penn Station, the new Hall is a significant visual and environmental upgrade. Without capacity upgrades or service improvements, I still can’t shake the feeling it’s the infrastructure equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig. Moynihan Train Hall, a glorified and expensive waiting room, plays the role of a state-of-the-art train station quite well, and considering how much of the problems with Penn Station are aesthetic, that may not ultimately be a bad thing. Still, it has high ceilings and clear sight lines and bathrooms with three faucets and feels very much a modern train station should feel. Andrew Cuomo insisted on opening Moynihan Hall “on time” - whatever that means during the middle of a pandemic when few people are traveling - the building is still a work in progress. None of the shops or restaurants that will make it feel more like London’s St Pancras Station are open yet, and they won’t be until later in 2021. ![]() ![]() New Yorkers are so beaten down by the grunginess of Penn Station and the general mediocrity of the design of newer transit infrastructure that something nice is too good to be true. It’s so nice that I overheard someone say to his companion, “This place is too nice.” I couldn’t tell if it was a compliment or if he felt truly out of place to be in a clean, light, airy, modern train station in the middle of Manhattan. Transit Center, but all we got was a big waiting room/mall with nowhere to sit.Īre you sensing a trend yet? Why is New York spending so much money on giant waiting room/malls that all have nowhere to sit? And what does this say about how we’ve chosen to treat our public spaces and transit infrastructure? Must we make every public space so inhospitable to the people using it or can we find a better way? I’ve thought a lot about these questions since visiting the brand-new Moynihan Train Hall on Saturday, and while we have a chance, as a city, to design friendlier public spaces, the opportunity is slipping away.īefore I dig into this philosophical discussion on urban policy, let’s talk about Moynihan Hall. New York spent $1.4 billion on the Fulton St. ![]() New York spent $4 billion on Santiago Calatrava’s Oculus, but all we got was a big waiting room/mall with nowhere to sit. New York spent $1.6 billion on the Moynihan Train Hall, but all we got was a big waiting room/mall with nowhere to sit. A panorama of Moynihan Train Hall, New York State’s attempt at righting the wrongs at Penn Station.
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