WTC Transit Hub - by Santiago Calatrava

[JMGarcia]

Spaniard To Design WTC Transit Hub

By Katia Hetter
Staff Writer

July 31, 2003, 12:54 PM EDT

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is expected to be chosen today to design the transit center at the World Trade Center site, according to sources familiar with the selection process.

The action is expected to be approved by the Port Authority board of directors at a meeting this afternoon, the sources said.

Calatrava, who is known for his designs of public buildings and bridges, would work together with architect Daniel Libeskind, who has designed the master plan for the World Trade Center site, the sources said.

According to Calatrava's biography on his Web site, among the big public projects he has worked on in the 1980s and 1990s are the Lyon Airport Station, a cultural complex in Valencia, Spain and the Oriente railway station in Lisbon.

Calatrava also designed the winning proposal in a 1991 design competition to complete the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, a project that has not been realized. Another of his projects in the United States was the Milwaukee Museum of Art.

The engineering firm, DMJM+Harris, is expected to be named to assist in the transportation hub project, the sources said.

Copyright © Newsday, Inc.

[Freedom Tower]

Im just wondering... is Libeskind going to design anything on his own? Every part of his plan is going to be different. The Freedom Tower will be designed with Childs, the memorial will be someone elses, and now the transit center. I wonder how much influence Libeskind is going to have anywhere. It seems like he's really get pushed out of the process.

[JMGarcia]

Here's some pics of Orient Station in Lisbon by Calatrava















It is not uncommon for architects to work together on major projects. I would think that Calatrava and Libeskind could be compatible.

[Jasonik]

Calatrava has a gothic approach to structure, in a word- skeletal. *Libeskind seems to think mainly in terms of skin and folded planes to contain volume. *It would be interesting to see the skeleton Calatrava envisions for Libeskind's angularly gestural asymmetrical forms. *

Symmetry is a characteristic Childs will look to integrate as well. Should be interesting.

[dbhstockton]

This is good news.

[JMGarcia]

I think Calatrava's style works well with Libeskind's vision for the transit station which is already somewhat skeletal. It's just combined with his more assymetrical style as mentioned.

Libeskind


Calatrava

[billyblancoNYC]

Are there any other pics of things he's done. *This station looks great, but will he create a virtual copy of this?

[billyblancoNYC]

http://www.calatrava.com/

[Jasonik]

Fabulous sun-dappled images JM.

Calatrava seems to employ an organic scale- natural, friendly. *I wonder if he'll go monumental sublime as Libeskind has intimated should be done.


Alameda Station *Valencia Spain 1991-1996







Interesting sructural language in the City of Arts an Sciences, Valencia Spain 1991-2004 below

[NoyokA]

Understandably the Port Authority like Silverstein requests expierence, Libeskind will be contributing in each-case. *It just goes to show that things never work out as had been planned, the political machine is just too powerful.

[TomAuch]

Choosing Calatrava garuantees that at least the transit hub will be good. I hope he incorporates the Gothic arches into the WTC hub, since it would be a homage to the Twin Towers lobby.

[Evan]

I like Calatrava's open, airy, curvy, and glassy style. *I hope his design for the transit station is as imprssive as the Orient Station is Lisbon.

[Kris]

High-speed rail airport station in Lyon, France:















http://www.calatrava.com

[Chicagoan]

Calatrava



[/quote]

These two pictures are not of the train station. They are of the Galleria at BCE Place in Toronto. Both pictures are taken at its portion known as Heritage Square.

It is Calatrava's first project in North America. You never hear about it, but I bet that would be different had it been built in the States. ( No complaint mean there.)

[NoyokA]

I had no idea, BCE Place is among the great public spaces in Toronto.