The 'Oculus': New York City's new $4bn transit hub

[angelburst29]

It's stated in the article, it was designed to evoke a bird in flight. I usually reserve my opinion on architectural structures, especially if they are categorized as monuments, free expression and all that taken into consideration but ..... this "structure" looks totally out of place. And ... What is an 'Oculus'?


Welcome to the 'Oculus': New York City's new $4bn transit hub finally opens at the World Trade Center (Photos)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3467132/World-Trade-Center-transit-hub-opens-cloud-4B-cost.html

A new transit hub designed to evoke a bird in flight will open next week at the World Trade Center in New York. Its architect called it a 'monument to life.'

'It is a monument of faith in this city and a monument dedicated to the people,' said Spanish-born architect Santiago Calatrava, 64, of the Oculus, a $4 billion structure that was built around, beneath and above an existing, still-operating subway line.

Steve Plate, the chief of major capital projects for the Port Authority, which funded the project, described how the building 'is aligned precisely to allow the sun to come in exactly in that opening on Sept. 11 at 10:28 [am], when the last tower fell, to capture that light and remember that moment.'

Plate's superior, however, blasted the structure as a 'symbol of excess' for wildly exceeding projected costs.

'The cost of projects, big and small, matters — a lot,' said Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

'Whether due to unforeseen conditions, errors or misconduct, cost overruns consume precious resources and undermine public confidence.'

Intended to serve partly as a monument to the victims of the September 11 attacks, the hub allows visitors to view adjacent skyscrapers through the bird's curved white ribs, which enclose a vaulted, cathedral-like space.

When Calatrava's design for the transportation hub was announced in 2004, it was budgeted at $2 billion, and then-New York Gov. George Pataki said it would be finished by 2009.

The Port Authority puts the current cost at $3.9 billion because of overruns and delays blamed on factors including the complexity of building the hub while the September 11 museum and new office towers were also under construction.

The total cost of the project rivals that of the nation's tallest skyscraper, next door—the 104-story One World Trade Center.

 

[Yupo]

'is aligned precisely to allow the sun to come in exactly in that opening on Sept. 11 at 10:28 [am], when the last tower fell, to capture that light and remember that moment.'

That is creepy. All hail the wonder of that day!

 

[sToRmR1dR]

It's stated in the article, it was designed to evoke a bird in flight. I usually reserve my opinion on architectural structures, especially if they are categorized as monuments, free expression and all that taken into consideration but ..... this "structure" looks totally out of place. And ... What is an 'Oculus'?


Welcome to the 'Oculus': New York City's new $4bn transit hub finally opens at the World Trade Center (Photos)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3467132/World-Trade-Center-transit-hub-opens-cloud-4B-cost.html

A new transit hub designed to evoke a bird in flight will open next week at the World Trade Center in New York. Its architect called it a 'monument to life.'

It looks like a serpent!

 

[Yupo]

Transit hub = subway station? The story was not clear about what kind of transit is hubbed here.

 

[bjorb]

[quote author=Angelburst29]Intended to serve partly as a monument to the victims of the September 11 attacks[/quote]

A monument build on a pack of lies ..

 

[angelburst29]

My first impression was "The Phoenix rising out of the ashes of the Dead" and Oculus had something to do with the Occult?

World Trade Center (PATH station)
https://www.google.com/search?q=oculus&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-Address&ie=&oe=&rlz=&gws_rd=ssl#q=oculus+world+trade+center

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, designer of the station, said the Oculus resembles a bird being released from a child's hand. The roof was originally designed to mechanically open to increase light and ventilation to the enclosed space. Herbert Muschamp, architecture critic of The New York Times, compared the design to the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain in Central Park, and wrote in 2004:

“Santiago Calatrava's design for the World Trade Center PATH station should satisfy those who believe that buildings planned for ground zero must aspire to a spiritual dimension. Over the years, many people have discerned a metaphysical element in Mr. Calatrava's work.

However, Calatrava's original soaring spike design was scaled back because of security issues. The New York Times observed in 2005:

“ In the name of security, Santiago Calatrava's bird has grown a beak. Its ribs have doubled in number and its wings have lost their interstices of glass.... . [T]he main transit hall, between Church and Greenwich Streets, will almost certainly lose some of its delicate quality, while gaining structural expressiveness. It may now evoke a slender stegosaurus more than it does a bird.[36]

In 2014 The Atlantic's CityLab criticized the emphasis placed on form over function, citing design flaws driven by aesthetic choices that detract from the station's usability as a transit hub:

...the Port Authority's new hub fails its customers, the PATH-riding public. One platform is already completed, and its design flaws are obvious. Staircases are too narrow to accommodate the morning crowds who come streaming out of the trains from Hoboken, Jersey City, and beyond, while the narrow platforms quickly fill with irate commuters. Anyone trying to catch a train back to the Garden State risks a stampede. The marble, bright and sterile, picks up any spill, and a drop of water creates dangerously slippery conditions until a Port Authority janitor scurries out of some unseen door, mop in hand. Passenger flow and comfort, two of the most important elements of terminal design, seem to be an afterthought. The PATH Hub is shaping up to be an example of design divorced from purpose.


Oculus (film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus_(film)

Oculus is a 2013 American supernatural psychological horror film written and directed by Mike Flanagan.[4] The film had its world premiere on September 5, 2013, and received a wide theatrical release on April 11, 2014.[5] Karen Gillan stars as a young woman who is convinced that an antique mirror is responsible for the death and misfortune that her family suffered.

The film takes place in two different times: the present and 11 years earlier. The two plotlines are told in parallel through flashbacks.

The film is based on an earlier 2005 short horror film, also called Oculus. The short contained only one setting, a single actor, and a mirror.

 

[mkrnhr]

"oculus" is "eye" from the latin _http://latindictionary.wikidot.com/noun:oculus
Also, it's the opening at the apex of a dome: _http://global.britannica.com/technology/oculus

 

[Chad]

"oculus" is "eye" from the latin _http://latindictionary.wikidot.com/noun:oculus
Also, it's the opening at the apex of a dome: _http://global.britannica.com/technology/oculus

It could look like an open eye with eyelashes if viewed from above:

My first impression was "The Phoenix rising out of the ashes of the Dead" and Oculus had something to do with the Occult?
[...]
However, Calatrava's original soaring spike design was scaled back because of security issues. The New York Times observed in 2005:

“ In the name of security, Santiago Calatrava's bird has grown a beak. Its ribs have doubled in number and its wings have lost their interstices of glass.... . [T]he main transit hall, between Church and Greenwich Streets, will almost certainly lose some of its delicate quality, while gaining structural expressiveness. It may now evoke a slender stegosaurus more than it does a bird.[36]

In 2014 The Atlantic's CityLab criticized the emphasis placed on form over function, citing design flaws driven by aesthetic choices that detract from the station's usability as a transit hub:

...the Port Authority's new hub fails its customers, the PATH-riding public. One platform is already completed, and its design flaws are obvious. Staircases are too narrow to accommodate the morning crowds who come streaming out of the trains from Hoboken, Jersey City, and beyond, while the narrow platforms quickly fill with irate commuters. Anyone trying to catch a train back to the Garden State risks a stampede. The marble, bright and sterile, picks up any spill, and a drop of water creates dangerously slippery conditions until a Port Authority janitor scurries out of some unseen door, mop in hand. Passenger flow and comfort, two of the most important elements of terminal design, seem to be an afterthought. The PATH Hub is shaping up to be an example of design divorced from purpose.

[...]

This lack of consideration could be due to the usual fraud and embezzlement or perhaps it could be that they feel it must be erected asap, or maybe they're pathological and designed it to create negative energy. It reminds me of the 2 different bus designs London had in the space of 10 years - 1 was a bendy bus and not made for the city's narrow streets, subsequently many burst into flames. Then there's the new Routemaster - complaints from the 'lucky' riders of the first journey: too hot, no air,no window space to see out, cramped. And so on. So it could be greed or...

'is aligned precisely to allow the sun to come in exactly in that opening on Sept. 11 at 10:28 [am], when the last tower fell, to capture that light and remember that moment.'

That is creepy. All hail the wonder of that day!

This, and the design, just make me think of Egypt and how buildings are designed to over power and confuse, and reiterate who's running things. Fwiw.

 

[angelburst29]

Now with "Oculus" transit hub in New York opening up for service - consider what is being planned in London as a Drill?

29 February 2016 - Exercise Unified Response (EUR), co-ordinated by the London Fire Brigade, has been over a year in the planning.

To create the most realistic environment possible, Waterloo Underground station has been built and then 'crushed' at the disused Littlebrook power station in Dartford, Kent. A video taken from the scene captures actors pretending to be victims screaming in the aftermath of the building collapse.

Those who are well enough to stand are seen milling around on the platform, waiting for instruction, while the more severely injured wait to be rescued.

With more than 1,000 casualties, thousands of tonnes of rubble, seven Tube carriages and hundreds of emergency service responders.

It is the largest-ever training exercise in the 150 year history of the Brigade.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3469066/Dead-bodies-strewn-tube-trains-tower-block-collapses-station-emergency-services-carry-drill-Europe-s-biggest-disaster-response.html

(Note - Some of the photos of fake injuries are disturbing.)

 

[Chad]

Now with "Oculus" transit hub in New York opening up for service - consider what is being planned in London as a Drill?

29 February 2016 - Exercise Unified Response (EUR), co-ordinated by the London Fire Brigade, has been over a year in the planning.

To create the most realistic environment possible, Waterloo Underground station has been built and then 'crushed' at the disused Littlebrook power station in Dartford, Kent. A video taken from the scene captures actors pretending to be victims screaming in the aftermath of the building collapse.

Those who are well enough to stand are seen milling around on the platform, waiting for instruction, while the more severely injured wait to be rescued.

With more than 1,000 casualties, thousands of tonnes of rubble, seven Tube carriages and hundreds of emergency service responders.

It is the largest-ever training exercise in the 150 year history of the Brigade.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3469066/Dead-bodies-strewn-tube-trains-tower-block-collapses-station-emergency-services-carry-drill-Europe-s-biggest-disaster-response.html

(Note - Some of the photos of fake injuries are disturbing.)

WOW.

(the least gory but most descriptive image)

 

[Xico]

This Oculus, reminds me of a scene in the avengers movie where this ship comes into our density from another one, and it looks very similar, very symbolic in a sense, my two cents...

 

[Renaissance]

Creepy indeed. Looks like the skeleton carcass of some reptilian creature with wings. Reminds me of the sandworm from Dune too. Pretty repulsive particularly given it's location.

Here's the inside:

 

[angelburst29]

I think, what bothered me the most about it's design is the wings or spikes or whatever. The whole thing looks like "a weak" structure - another "death trap"? Consider the ramifications, if peak winds, like that of a Tornado hit that structure? Much like the severe weather
advisory issued last Wednesday by Mayor Bill de Blasio:

Strong Winds Knock Down Trees, Cut Power; De Blasio Issues Travel Advisory
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/02/24/high-winds-tornado-watch/

February 24, 2016 - NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — High winds brought down trees, caused accidents, knocked out power and even caused buildings to collapse around the Tri-State Area late Wednesday.

The severe weather prompted Mayor Bill de Blasio to issue a travel advisory through early Thursday morning for New York City.

A tornado watch was finally called off just after midnight for Hunterdon, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties in northern New Jersey, according to the National Weather Service. The watch had been in place since the early evening hours.

The tornado watch was in effect for much of the evening for central and southern New Jersey, as well as the Philadelphia area, CBS2’s Lonnie Quinn reported.

A tornado watch means that the conditions are right to produce a tornado, while a warning means a tornado has been sighted.

A watch means while no tornado has been sighted, the puzzle pieces are all in place for a tornado to happen.

A severe thunderstorm warning was also in place until 12:30 a.m. for the five boroughs of New York City; Westchester County; and Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union counties in New Jersey.

A wind advisory was issued until 4 a.m. Thursday for most shoreline communities – including the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester County, Long Island, the entire state of Connecticut, and central and southern New Jersey.

Mayor de Blasio announced late Wednesday that a travel advisory would be in effect for New York City from Wednesday evening through early Thursday morning.

“We’re expecting strong winds and some thunderstorms this evening,” the mayor said in a statement. “New Yorkers should be very careful driving and walking tonight.”

And of course, the whipping winds only intensified as the night continued.

The winds were so strong that a tree snapped and came down on wires at Route 27 and Omaha Road in North Brunswick. Traffic was shut down as crews worked.

The wind was also blamed for an accident in which a semi-trailer truck flipped over on the George Washington Bridge.

A source told CBS2’s Tony Aiello the truck was headed east toward New York City and flipped over – and into the westbound lanes – due to high winds.

And with the high winds in the forecast, the New York City Department of Buildings also issued an order to secure all cranes by 6 p.m.

New restrictions went into effect earlier this month after a crawler crane collapsed on Worth Street in Tribeca, leaving a pedestrian dead.

Cranes are now required to go into safety mode when winds are forecast to hit 20 mph. Crane engineers who fail to comply face citations and fines of up to $10,000.

 

[Chad]

Now with "Oculus" transit hub in New York opening up for service - consider what is being planned in London as a Drill?

29 February 2016 - Exercise Unified Response (EUR), co-ordinated by the London Fire Brigade, has been over a year in the planning.

To create the most realistic environment possible, Waterloo Underground station has been built and then 'crushed' at the disused Littlebrook power station in Dartford, Kent. A video taken from the scene captures actors pretending to be victims screaming in the aftermath of the building collapse.

Those who are well enough to stand are seen milling around on the platform, waiting for instruction, while the more severely injured wait to be rescued.

With more than 1,000 casualties, thousands of tonnes of rubble, seven Tube carriages and hundreds of emergency service responders.

It is the largest-ever training exercise in the 150 year history of the Brigade.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3469066/Dead-bodies-strewn-tube-trains-tower-block-collapses-station-emergency-services-carry-drill-Europe-s-biggest-disaster-response.html

(Note - Some of the photos of fake injuries are disturbing.)

Video is essentially shots of the re-enactment:

Published on 1 Mar 2016

About 2,000 volunteers took part in train crash simulation in Dartford, UK, to train rescue workers, ambulance and police to respond to emergency situations. The drill is reported to be the largest of its kind in Europe. The whole exercise is meant to last over four days.

Emergency Simulation: UK holds largest 'train crash' drill, 2k people involved

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