Key Dates
Image Credit :
Project Commissioner
Moynihan Station Development Corporation
Project Creator
Project Overview
Skyscape is a bespoke light art installation, spanning the length of the ceiling at the new west end concourse of Penn Station New York. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), this is the first phase of the redevelopment of the station and the Farley building. The new concourse provides access to 17 of the station’s 21 tracks and will link the future Moynihan Train Hall to Penn Station, for the 2 million passengers that pass through on a daily basis. Peter Fajak, Associate Designer at SOM, describes how their initial proposal was to “create a fully animated digital sky in a variety of different media with edge lit glass fins, back lit ceilings and digital media screens”. Effectively ‘bringing the sky’ and an “above ground quality” to the dark underground transit tunnel; “Filling an underground world with sky & light, to transform it into a habitable environment.”
Team
Lighting Design: The Light Lab, UK Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, USA Artist: miriamandtom, UK Main Lighting Suppliers: The Light Lab
Project Brief
The project contractor Skanska & and electrical contractor Welsbach, commissioned bespoke lighting manufacturers The Light Lab to work on the design and build of this ‘digital sky’, using their bespoke edge lit glass product Spectraglass. The Light Lab designed & manufactured an easy-fit support structure and LED glass fins to fill the expanse of the 15x300ft ceiling. The brief included making all the services above the fins easily accessible, so the design mounted the fins on easy slide carriages on precision rails. The 2,000 pixels of RGBW LED light, softened through the glass, gives a gentle, calming sense of space in an otherwise confined and overcrowded area and has been very well received by the harassed commuters, as they wait for the full redevelopment of the station. The Light Lab called on the services of Studio miriamandtom to create ‘Skyscape’, an animated and voluminous sky scene that drifts across the ceiling; whose deft touch gives the piece its true class. “Light is what sets our body clock and determines our daily existence”, says Tom Sloan from miriamandtom. “The sky is the symbol of the daily occurrence which lends itself to create an atmospheric contrast to routine and subterranean context of the station. It provides a tranquil space for escapism and daydreaming.” Skyscape brings a bright, fresh and futuristic atmosphere to the commuter experience in the new west end concourse.
Project Innovation/Need
SOM’s design of the new West End Concourse significantly increases the concourse space in the station complex, improves pedestrian access with new station entries on Eighth Avenue, relieves congestion by providing access to the western ends of existing platforms, and transforms the travel experience for hundreds of thousands of New Jersey Transit, Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road riders. The integration of digital lighting and way finding displays throughout the concourse make an informative and enjoyable environment. This state-of-the-art transportation facility creates a public space that offers a tangible link to New York’s grand history while adding much-needed capacity to the region’s rail system.
Lighting Design
This award celebrates creative and innovative lighting design or effects in indoor or outdoor spaces.
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