As bicycles become a more viable and sustainable mode of transportation in Manhattan, the need for urban transit centers pose design challenges in dense urban areas. This Madison Square transit center addressed the many complexities of urban living as seen through commuting. The project questioned the safety of existing traffic patterns, capitalized on NYC’s underground real estate, and aimed to play into the existing urban theatre and notion of surface as choreographer. The new traffic arrangement decreased the number of crosswalks, gained vehicular efficiency, took advantage of park real estate, produced safer pedestrian gathering spaces, and allowed for the ability to excavate due to the location of the subway directly below. Sensitivity to the Flatiron building was addressed by the re-organization of traffic at Broadway and 5th Ave. The reinforcing of the diagonal created space and allowed for the intervention to sink below grade.

*Marc Tsurumaki's NYC studio