Penn Station Analysis
Designed by the architectural firm McKim, Mead and White, Pennsylvania Station itself stands out in high contrast from it’s predecessors. The train station sheer size is noteworthy. Standing taller than most of it’s neighbors, Penn Station was also a block and a half long facing Seventh Ave. In the lower left hand corner of Figure 1, the viewer can see that the train tracks enter under the train station and post office adjacent. The placement of the tracks under the buildings, logically makes the most sense in the city. There was no way that at the time of construction could five plus train tracks fit on the street level. If that wasn’t enough the noise level would have ruined the surrounding areas. Having the train tracks oriented near the
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It was a rational design because it is a symmetrical building.The entrance to the vestibule had two entrances to the station’s restaurants. Mckim achieved a sense of orderly flow by creating an orchestrated sequence of three distinctive spaces that compelled the traveler to move forward and down to tracks below the street level without suffering any strain from the considerable descent. The powerful architectural forms transmuted an activity that was normally hectic, disorderly and crowded into a controlled, ceremonial procession. This process is interesting because the plan is similar in buildings like Greece’s Parthenon, Temple of Hera and even later Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe. When the building was entered, with the help of naves and columns, movement was directed into one direction towards the nave. The experience of walking through the building was full of surprises. From one space to another, architectural effects contrasted: sculptural and flat, dim and flat. The colonnade on Seventh Ave bounds the entrances to the station: the center port was for pedestrians while the side ports for vehicles. Travelers arriving by car were able to enter the waiting hall because the driveways were ramped down making use of the side entrances under the bridges. The waiting hall seems off however. There are no seats which is odd seeing as it was a room to wait for the train. In 1910, men and women were valued differently than in today’s society. Off the concourse, men and women had separate waiting rooms where seats were
It was a rational design because it is a symmetrical building.The entrance to the vestibule had two entrances to the station’s restaurants. Mckim achieved a sense of orderly flow by creating an orchestrated sequence of three distinctive spaces that compelled the traveler to move forward and down to tracks below the street level without suffering any strain from the considerable descent. The powerful architectural forms transmuted an activity that was normally hectic, disorderly and crowded into a controlled, ceremonial procession. This process is interesting because the plan is similar in buildings like Greece’s Parthenon, Temple of Hera and even later Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe. When the building was entered, with the help of naves and columns, movement was directed into one direction towards the nave. The experience of walking through the building was full of surprises. From one space to another, architectural effects contrasted: sculptural and flat, dim and flat. The colonnade on Seventh Ave bounds the entrances to the station: the center port was for pedestrians while the side ports for vehicles. Travelers arriving by car were able to enter the waiting hall because the driveways were ramped down making use of the side entrances under the bridges. The waiting hall seems off however. There are no seats which is odd seeing as it was a room to wait for the train. In 1910, men and women were valued differently than in today’s society. Off the concourse, men and women had separate waiting rooms where seats were