Here's Our First Tour Of The Totally Bonkers WTC Transportation Hub
21 photos
Let's take our first trip inside this four billion dollar stegosaurus! This is looking east through the enormous main room, which is 350 feet long and 115 feet across.<br/>
Here we're looking west– that balcony sticking out on the right is the underside of an escalator and stairs that connects the main level to the upper concourse level, where there will be retail and access to the 1, R, and E subway lines, as well as the various WTC towers.<br/>
Looking west, from the other side. The floor here is actual sunk several dozen feet below street level. At the far end you can make your way to the PATH trains and eventually, through a long passage, to Brookfield Place (formerly the World Financial Center).<br/>
Once again, looking east. Those dinosaur ribs rise to a height of 168 feet, and are made of structural steel.<br/>
You see that strip of windows along the top of the image? They form a skylight that runs along the ceiling of the room, and which can be opened.<br/>
Looking directly up at the skylight. It will be opened on September 11th, and on "temperate spring and summer days."<br/>
A final shot of the roof. Quite striking!<br/>
The floor of the room is very polished marble, which is beautiful but also appears to be the kind of stone that becomes fatally slippery when wet. Do not open the skylight when it is raining.<br/>
The underside of the west balcony: at the center you can see a very fancy cylindrical elevator.<br/>
The oculus is slated to open next week, but there is still a lot of work going on around the site.<br/>
Escalators under construction.<br/>
A grand staircase.<br/>
One of the retail spaces, under construction.<br/>
One of the passageways on the upper concourse level; this one leads to 4 WTC.<br/>
Amid the dinosaur ribs on the upper concourse level. Off to the side are retail spaces.<br/>
Behind the far wall, cutting into the space at an angle, is the 1 train line. Imagine that! It passes through the space about halfway between the floor and roof.<br/>
Here you can see the underside of the 1 Train line, passing through the space. Notice it is entirely unsupported by columns– this is an impressive engineering feat, given the weight of the subway.<br/>
A few final shots: here we are at the top of the west balcony: these stairs lead to street level on the memorial plaza.<br/>
A final look back towards the east, with various journalists admiring the view from the concourse level balcony.<br/>
Really, admire these ribs– they did cost you almost four billion dollars!<br/>
This is what happens when you try to make a panorama of the entire space by stitching together 10 pictures in Photoshop. The program can't handle that level of Calatrava!<br/>