One of the nicer aspects of the New York City subway stops are the way they blend into the city. The entrances are clearly marked with the tell-tale green/red light globes and a familiar-looking staircase. Whether you’re in Park Slope or near Central Park West, the subways look the same.
Now along comes this interloper. It’s a new fancy-shmancy subway line, and the MTA wants to make it look ostentatiously ridiculous. These new entrances, as shown above, really announce the subway. Instead of fitting in with the densely-populated residential neighborhoods on the East Side, that entrance — a sample mock-up of a planned Second Ave. subway entry — announce themselves in a loud and practically obnoxious way.
In fact, this entrance looks amazingly similar to the new entry canopies recently installed in Washington, D.C. (pictures opens in new window). When I lived in D.C. in 2005-2006, these canopies were just being installed, and they are, to put it kindly, hideous. They obscure the neighborhoods in which they are installed and are a huge eye-sore. While they are designed as weather protection for the escalators in the Metro, as visual components to a public works system, they simply do not work.
Meanwhile, some critics of the New York City subway system may appreciate these new entrances. After all, if you don’t know where the subway entrance is, it’s nearly impossible to find it in some neighborhoods. Ever try locating that Spring St. stop on the C or E? These entrances sure do announce themselves.
Not everyone is as opposed to these entry behemoths as I am. SUBWAYblogger seems to disagree, but he does raise some valid questions. Why is the MTA releasing these photos five to ten years before the stations actually open? Why would they spend so much on an aspect of the project that’s purely for show?
Personally, I do not endorse these preliminary designs, but the MTA works in mysterious ways sometimes. And hey, 2013 is a ways off. Maybe the designs can change for the better.
For more pictures of the planned designs, click the more link below or click here for a bigger view. (Opens in a new window.)
10 comments
Ohh I totally agree. They’re huge!! I think they look kinda cool. Reminds me of the World Trade Center station.
However, I am completely against them if they cost “extra” to build. All we need is a simple entry. When it comes to the subway, I think we should focus less on form, and more on function.
Pretty is nice, but trains that run on time are much nicer.
Eh? They’re not that bad. The natural light will be a big plus in the new stations. And there are plenty of old entrances that are equally ostentatious. The 72nd and Broadway station comes to mind.
The new Bowling Green entrances look similar. These entraces remind me more of the Boston T’s new entrances (like South Station) than D.C. although I think the MTA ones are classier looking. I like ’em. They also NEED canopies to help prevent flooding and keep the tempered air in.
Well, we all know how much Upper East Siders LOVE ostentatious glass structures. Just ask Norman Foster.
I don’t know that it’s necessarily desirable for every single subway entrance to look the same. Is homogeneity ever good? I’d rather have a few cool entranced — which isn’t to say this is necessarily cool-looking. But it doesn’t seem so bad. I wouldn’t use the word “hideous.”
When they mention how they’re way over budget in a year (and again in another year and again a year after that…) I’m going to remember this post. The MTA doesn’t need style, it needs to run effecient train service.
Todd: I can see your point. But it’s nice also having a system that doesn’t look completely bare-bones and budget, especially the first new line in, oh, 70 years. Plus the canopies do serve a purpose–first, the stations will be a bit deeper than the older lines so there will be escalators leading down to all of them. Canopies help protect the escalators from the elements. In addition, the stations will have A/C or a form of A/C called air tempering. There needs to be some sort of cover to slow the escape of chilled air, which requires a lot of energy to produce. So why not make the canopies look interesting or at least different. They’re building them anyway. And I can assure you that the cost of them will be a drop in the bucket compared to running a single day of train service or an inch of tunneling for the new line.
Two points on entrances. First, entrances with escalators need canopies to keep rain, sleet and snow off of the equipment. That’s why Bowling Green is getting a canopy and why WMATA has added canopies.
Second, if you don’t like the entrance designs, the place to make your objections known is Community Boards 8 and 11 on the East Side which will be reviewing the designs with NYC Transit.
Canopies that turn an entrance into a greenhouse aren’t exactly perfect for temperature controlled entrances. In all seriousness though, I don’t think they have the money to think about style at this point. Regardless of how much it will or won’t cost, it’s still going to cost. The simpler, the better.
I agree with the commenters who note that homogeneity isn’t necessarily a good thing, but I also think that the neighborhood aspects of these station designs need to be considered. We’re not talking about the entrances at, say, the Citicorp building on the East Side where it may make sense to draw attention the entry plaza below street level. We’re talking about entrances that are going up at 96th, 86th and 72nd Streets on 2nd Ave. This is a mixed commercial/residential street with fairly narrow sidewalks and a neighborhood-y feel to it. Sticking one of these monstrosities in the middle of a block seems ridiculous.