NY Bus Terminal

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JimboJones

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Turning the Bus Terminal Into a Skyscraper
By David W. Dunlap, The New York Times

The on-again, off-again plans to build an office tower over the Port Authority Bus Terminal took at least a conceptual step forward on Thursday afternoon with the unveiling of three possible designs by three leading architectural firms.

Easily the most striking of the three is a constructivist assemblage by the London firm Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, which is also designing Tower 3 at the World Trade Center site. It takes the form of four discrete boxes stacked atop one another and bound together by open diagonal trusswork that echoes the bold X-shaped steel braces girdling the main terminal below.

In complete contrast, for its suavity and lucidity, is a proposal by the Manhattan firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects. The central element of this plan is a sheer, glass-clad tower whose surface has an almost icy gleam. In this plan, the X braces would recede in importance behind a screen.

Somewhere between these two is the proposal by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects of New Haven, whose overall form is monolithic but accentuated with a curtain wall on the north and south sides in a kind of monumental basketweave pattern.

The 40-story, 1.3-million-square-foot office tower is to be developed by a joint venture of Vornado Realty Trust and the Lawrence Ruben Company, which is leasing the air rights over the terminal for 99 years.
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Will this involve any redesign or expansion to the bus terminal itself?
 
In addition to the office tower, the redevelopment will include:

1. better pedestrian circulation with new escalators from gates to the ground floor;

2. the renovation and creation of approximately 60,000 square feet of bus terminal retail;

3. 18 new bus gates and upgraded existing gates, enabling an additional 70 buses containing approximately 3,000 bus passengers to be accommodated during each peak hour at the bus terminal, increasing the capacity by 18 percent; and

4. an improved and modernized appearance throughout the terminal.

5. In addition, the Port Authority is planning to build a new bus-parking garage near the bus terminal that will reduce traffic congestion and noise.
 
Oh yeah?!? Well Boston is getting this:

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**cries**
 
Haha - but the more apt comparison is to South Station Tower, which will similarly add gates and capacity to our bus terminal.
 
^ God, that thing is awful.

Completely anti-urban, it channels space to abrogate the "Square." It's exhibtionistic, pretentious and too complex by a factor of ten. Did I mention ugly?

No amount of scorn is excessive when heaped on this stupid abomination.
 
Is the new PA Bus Terminal improving the traffic flow coming out of the Lincoln Tunnel?
 
ablarc said:
^ God, that thing is awful.

Completely anti-urban, it channels space to abrogate the "Square." It's exhibtionistic, pretentious and too complex by a factor of ten. Did I mention ugly?

No amount of scorn is excessive when heaped on this stupid abomination.
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Oh sweet jesus I just had a bad thought... what if the thing rusts?
 
^^ It's made of metal and owned by the MBTA. The forecast calls for rust.
 
Beton Brut said:
^^ It's made of metal and owned by the MBTA. The forecast calls for rust.
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It isn't rust. It is patina.

(I was scrutinizing 100 Summer St. the other day (aka "The Lollipop Building") It looks much better with surface oxidation than when it was new and shiny. I wish they'd bring the lollys back from Siberia.)
 
Does the NYC bus terminal plan to have intercity buses?

I dont mind taking a bus from Boston to NYC because there are chairs, a roof, and screens showing arrival time, but I really dont want to stand on a corner in NYC hoping my long distance bus shows up.
 
Port Authority already has lots and lots of inter-city buses. All of the Greyhound and Peter Pan buses from Boston go there, for instance. It's the Chinese bus lines and the newer discount competitors (BoltBus, MegaBus) that pick up on NYC street corners.
 
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