Architects, citizens and New Yorkers rejoiced several weeks ago when Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to revamp the perpetually infuriating confusion that is Penn Station…. However, the public railway station at the heart of a city does not have to be a dehumanizing experience for all those involved, as other prime examples of this critically essential urban form can attest. In fact, they can often be some of the most affecting and important structures in a city’s fabric.?
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Denver Union Station by Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM), Denver, Colo., United States
This swooping layered steel-and-fabric canopy spans 180 feet across multiple railway platforms with an open-air oculus at its center. The structural system of arch trusses has both practical load-bearing characteristics as well as an expressive language of dynamic transparency.?