Practice unveils early proposals for redevelopment of world’s busiest bus station
Foster & Partners has been appointed to design four new towers rising above New York’s Times Square as part of a major redevelopment of the world’s busiest bus terminal.
The practice is working with US-based design firm Epstein on the latest plans to replace the 72-year-old Midtown Bus Terminal in Manhattan for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The overcrowded site, located one block away from Times Square, has seen several redevelopment proposals come and go including a 40-storey tower designed by RSHP in 2008 which wasscrapped three years later.
The new masterplan will see the existing 1950 building replaced by a much larger complex spanning three New York blocks and with a length of more than 800m.
Early graphics released by Fosters show a building extending from the terminal’s current site across 9th and 10th Avenue on land currently occupied by vehicle storage areas and ramps leading into the terminal.
The images also show four blocks of currently unknown use rising from the complex. Their heights have not been revealed but the graphics appear to show that the tallest, rising from the eastern edge of the complex, is significantly taller than Renzo Piano’s neighbouring 52-storey New York Times building.
The current bus terminal, which is the main gateway for buses travelling to and from New York, is operating beyond capacity and requires buses to park on surrounding roads during layovers and while picking up and dropping off passengers.
The new plans aim to expand capacity to accommodate bus growth beyond 2050, including off-street space for storing buses.
Port Authority chairman Kevin O’Toole said the appointment of a design team demonstrates “real momentum” for the project.
Foster & Partners partner Juan Vieira-Pardo added that the practice would develop a “unified vision” for the site.
“Already the world’s busiest bus terminal, the project also has the potential to become the most desirable destination in Midtown.
他说:“我们相信，与港务局、爱泼斯坦、周围社区的代表、利益相关者和乘客一起，我们可以帮助提供一个创新的、最先进的、净零运输设施，适合21世纪。”
爱泼斯坦纽约办公室主任保罗·桑德森说，该计划是一个“历史性”的项目，对通勤者和住在航站楼附近的人具有变革的潜力。
“The greatest city in the world deserves the best facility in the world, and we aim for no less than that,” he said.
Epstein and Fosters & Partners will work on the project throughout the design phase and an environmental review, the Port Authority said.
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