The one-acre, 92-ft-high glass canopy roof and skylight atop New York City’s Moynihan Train Hall was always going to be a centerpiece of the $1.6-billion transit center that expands capacity for the bustling Pennsylvania Station across the street in midtown Manhattan. But among many feats in transforming the 108-year-old James A. Farley Post Office into a 255,000-sq-ft passenger hub, the soaring glass structure arguably also served as the project’s design and construction highlight.
Turning the old mail sorting area of the classic McKim, Mead & White-designed structure into a sky-lit hall for rail passengers epitomized the project’s central tension—carving an innovative and functional facility out of a landmarked building built for an entirely different purpose, while balancing historic preservation with modern design.