NEW PENN STATION

AND MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

We have been working on the idea of rebuilding Penn Station, based on the original McKim, Mead & White design, for over 30 years, starting with the cover illustration for the very first issue of The Classicist in 1994.

In collaboration with ReThink Penn Station NYC we are now presenting three different variations on McKim’s original design authored by Richard Cameron/RWC Atelier & Co:

1) COMPLETE RECONSTRUCTION

2) PARTIAL RECONSTRUCTION MINUS MSG THAT LEAVES 2 PENN PLAZA

3) LEAVES MSG AND 2 PENN PLAZA

With this third version we are able to offer New York City a design concept for Penn Station and Madison Square Garden that aligns with the current situation on the ground and puts us on the same footing as the other top contenders.

These three variations allow for great design whether MSG ultimately moves or stays, as well as enabling a through-running transit solution. These designs demonstrate the versatility of McKim’s original design as a template for a great contemporary rail hub.

New Penn Station & Madison Square Garden

Design by Richard Cameron/RWC Atelier

Renderings by Jeff Stikeman

“THE mckim variations”

version #1

Here the entire site is returned to its original use as a transit facility and that a modernized version of McKim’s station be built on it. Here is a rendering of what it would look like, showing a revivified Eighth Avenue presence reflecting the new dynamism of Midtown West.

version #2

In this scenario, 70% or more of a modernized version of the original Penn Station would be built. This proposal enables the return of McKim’s Main Waiting Room and the venerated Eighth Avenue Train Concourse but sacrifices much of the Seventh Avenue end of the station, including the Arcade and the great Bernini-influenced Seventh Avenue entrance façade to accommodate Two Penn Plaza.

VERsion #3

In this variation, Cameron extends the original station’s perimeter wall over 70% of the site with some adjustments for differing points of egress and ingress. Madison Square Garden’s drum-like arena is re-clad in the style of McKim, Mead, and White using the appropriate materials. Architectural quotations from Stanford White’s original MSG are also part of the design, including some of his Islamic Andalusian influences. It does not include the Main Waiting Room or the Eighth Avenue train concourse. The proposal includes a spherical roof which would be retractable so that concerts and games could have an outdoor element and view of the surrounding city.