Architecture firms’ plans for Penn Station include moving transit hub, building housing and offices

Four prominent architectural firms will present their proposals for a reimagined Penn Station today, as part of a Municipal Arts Society initiative launched last month to incorporate the designs into discussion of Madison Square Garden’s “perpetual” permit to occupy its current space.

H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture’s submission calls for moving the train station to the 34th Street waterfront, as well as creating creating an elevated bike and pedestrian path and converting Pier 76 into a 16-acre greenspace.

Diller Scofidio & Renfro’s design moves the station across Eighth Avenue and adjacent to the 34th Street post office. The complex would include a multi-level public space with a spa and theater.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill would take the station to the next level. This off-site, four-block hub would include a park that’s four times the size of Midtown’s Bryant Park, more offices than Rockefeller Center, and twice the amount of housing at Tudor City.

Lastly, SHoP Architects gives a throwback to the former Penn Station with a concrete expansion of the existing property. The aim is to make the station a meeting place.

“When’s the last time you heard someone say, ‘Let’s meet for a drink at Penn Station?’ SHoP principal Vishaan Chakrabati, told the Times. “People say that about Grand Central all the time.” [NYT] —Zachary Kussin