WTC Train Station

The Times has an Article about the design of the PATH station at the world trade center. While I have mixed feeling about the selection of Leibskind as the architect for the whole site design particularly after I keep hearing about all the issues he is having with the developer and the state, I am absolutely thrilled that Santiago Calatrava is designing the train station.

I am most familiar with Calatrava’s work from visiting the Milwaukee Art Museum which he designed new addition for. His architecture made an otherwise mediocre museum spectacular. It was incredible to explore and interesting in every corner. The museum is said to resemble a boat, although to me it was more like a spaceship. That sense of travel in architecture should be great for a transportation hub.

The PATH station will be the most important part of the complex for me, since that is how I will arrive from Jersey. It is also a key point of the site:

No matter how the design turns out, the terminal will be the architectural face that the new trade center presents to most New Yorkers, since it will be on Church Street, closer to the spine of Broadway and landmarks like the New York Stock Exchange. Freedom Tower and the memorial, by contrast, will be on the west side of the 16-acre site. And the office towers planned on Church Street may be many years distant.

More people will spend more time in this part of the complex than any other. I am glad they will get a good architect.