Pennsylvania Station Essay

Great architecture cannot exist in a vacuum. Buildings are designed by people and for people and are as much the study of humanity as they are of structure. Great architecture considers function and organizes human use of a space for that function in a compassionate and elegant way. Architects trying to accomplish this goal study human movement and flow and try to accommodate the needs of the present and anticipate the needs of the future. Great architecture belongs to a time and place while simultaneously employing a sense of timelessness. Spatial expression is powerful because it can evoke any kind of emotion and is completely at the discretion of the architect.

The original Pennsylvania Station in New York City was a work of great

The platforms themselves were designed to facilitate the movement of passengers by deviating from normal practice and meeting the train cars at the same level. This decision set a new precedent for traditional railway practice that had initially designed platforms to be nine inches above the tracks. Additionally, McKim considered future connections between the tracks and the waiting room and instructed engineers to build the tracks far enough below ground. Doing this allowed enough space for tunnels to be dug for a subway system that New York didn’t have

Madison Square Garden now occupies the space where the station used to reside. Eleven hundred support columns were installed to replace the structure and support this giant arena. The addition of Madison Square increased traffic to the station, while also making the station far more congested and far less safe. Rather than maintaining McKim’s vision of smooth flowing traffic and a pleasant travel experience the new Penn Station doesn’t seem to be designed for human occupancy of this magnitude. The layout of Penn Station is confusing to those who don’t know it well and forces large groups of people to smush together around a message board waiting to see when their trains arrive. There are many small restaurants and stores, but they are located adjacent to the track thereby creating adding congestion to an already crowded