The long-awaited Fulton Street Transit Center will open sometime next year, connecting eleven subway lines (A/C/E/J/R/Z/1/2/3/4/5), more than any other station in the city. Until then, let's enjoy this video of its "Sky-Reflector Net" being installed:
The netting was installed in April and May, inside the oculus that is centerpiece of the new $1.4 billion transportation hub. The hub will serve 300,000 passengers every day. The video explains, "This union of art, architecture and engineering will reflect the sky deep into the Fulton Center."
The building was designed by Grimshaw Architects, which worked with James Carpenter Design Associates on the netting. JCDA said they got the job through a competition to "articulate light throughout their design."
The Fulton Street Transit Center represents the establishment of a new identity for the transit system in which light and daylight are a signatory element. Carpenter's team proposed a metal lining that would float off the inside surface of the dome above the station. The team devised a perforated metal panel system inside the dome on its northern side to reflect light into the tunnels below and to capture the passage of the sun projected through the dome's oculus, thereby fulfilling the architect's emphasis on the vertical connection between the street level and the subterranean pedestrian tunnels. Established through a series of tests, the interior dome surfaces combine diffused and mirrored metal in a pattern that suggests the rotation of the earth. These fragment of specular material project shafts of light down to the lowest depths of the station. The geometry of the dome and its metal lining was analyzed and refined to optimize the orientation and reflection of daylight. At night, the dome is lit from within through strategic interactive artificial lighting, transforming the Fulton Street Transit Center into a glowing icon.
Let there be light!
