Honor Award
Temporary WTC Path Station
Location
World Trade Center Site, New York, NY
Design
Pentagram Design, New York, NY
Design Team
Michael Gericke (Principal in Charge), Don Bilodeau
Fabrication
Duggal, VGS
Client Design Team
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Robert Davidson (Chief Architect), Robert Eisenstat, Russell Kriegel, Robert Parsekian
Consultants
Domingo Gonzalez (lighting)
Photos
John Bartelstone
Pentagram created a comprehensive program of wayfinding and environmental graphics for the temporary PATH station at the former site of the World Trade Center. The station is designed as a stopgap until the new transportation center is completed in 2008. Because the station was deliberately designed to be temporary, the architecture is expeditious, open-air, and impermanent. The building is not air conditioned or heated, and looks directly into the Ground Zero site. Memorable quotes about the city have been enlarged and run on white scrims around the station perimeter, while interior walls have been covered with maps and overhead views of lower Manhattan. The graphics deftly acknowledge the city's resilience, encouraging a sense of civic pride by showcasing the city that is like no other in the world.
Jury Comment
"This environmental graphics program uses simple, inexpensive materials and bold graphics to complement the temporary nature of the station itself. The wayfinding signage is simple and bold, easily accommodating the thousands of commuters and tourists using the station each day. The bold graphics acknowledge the patriotism of the time while providing a lesson in the history of lower Manhattan, its relationship to the sea, and its unique position in rebuilding the spirit of the city and the nation in the wake of one of our greatest tragedies. The strength of this design is that it acknowledges the pain without ever being maudlin. It is heroic in its use of images and color and reflects the heroism of the city and its people. Lastly, the transparency of the word screen reflects the transparency of vision and memory that are so important to understanding what happened here and what the future may bring."