Is This America's Next Great Train Station?

Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan looks at new renderings of the Transbay Transit Center, "the 'Grand Central Station' of San Francisco." The renderings and videos provide a glimpse into Pelli Clarke Pelli's vision for the 1.5-million-square-foot transit hub. 

"The Transbay renderings are designed to seduce--they show us an oasis of shimmering glass louvers, a 5.4-acre rooftop park, and plentiful cycling and pedestrian passageways," says Campbell-Dollaghan. "In the words of one academic, it 'drips with sex appeal, featuring gorgeous architecture with sinuous curves, enriched paving, lush landscaping, and seductive water displays.' Inside, though, the building is a well-engineered machine: three city blocks of bus depots, rail tracks, and other transit infrastructure. The whole development will be grounded by a massive 1,000-foot office tower, which will be the city’s tallest building and fund the construction of the transit hub."

"The crowning design element of Transbay, though, is its 5.4-acre roof park designed by Berkeley-based PWP Landscape Architecture."