PLACES AND SPACES: The Oculus

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's vast ribbed structure known as the Oculus soars over the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York. The structure sits at the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers. The Oculus is the aesthetic and retail centerpiece of the $3.9 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub. The building is designed to bring light down into the subterranean rail station and shopping center. Escalators take visitors from the street level subway train platforms, and concourses that connect the surrounding buildings, to the mall and retail spaces at the lower levels. Two rows of white steel ribs that curve around each side bring copious amounts of light into the space, which has an open floor plan.
The Oculus

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's vast ribbed structure known as the Oculus soars over the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York. The structure sits at the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers. The Oculus is the aesthetic and retail centerpiece of the $3.9 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub. The building is designed to bring light down into the subterranean rail station and shopping center. Escalators take visitors from the street level subway train platforms, and concourses that connect the surrounding buildings, to the mall and retail spaces at the lower levels. Two rows of white steel ribs that curve around each side bring copious amounts of light into the space, which has an open floor plan.