ABOUT THE PROJECT

Like most New Yorkers I am constantly amazed and annoyed by the city's subway system, and Project Subway NYC is a product of this love-hate relationship. It is a collection of sketches, photographs, and architectural drawings.

There is a lot to love and to hate about the subway, but I am specifically interested in the STATIONS themselves - signs, stairs, turnstiles, tunnels, platforms, escalators, and the space... in other words, anything between the streets and the trains.

Curiously, with the overwhelming amount of information available to us today, a three-dimensional representation of the stations does not exist. I first challenged myself to document the stations simply because I thought it is something the city can use, but as the project develops, what set out to be a straightforward, mechanical exercise of surveying and drawing gradually turned into a journey of observation, discovery, and amusement.

I hope the drawings will make way-finding in this giant maze a little easier. On top of that, I hope this project as a whole will give you a new perspective, a new way of understanding, and perhaps a new found sentiment, for this mystifying world under one of the most dynamic cities in the world. (Written in August 2015)

PRESS

presentations

  • “Visible City: Reading Transportation and Infrastructure Systems”, AIA Center for Architecture, July 2019

  • “Catch Them All!”, TransitSlam 2018, Transit Center, December 2018

  • “Project Subway NYC”, Transit Techies NYC #4, October 2018

  • “Where the F*ck is My Train?”, Caveat NYC, September 2018

  • "From Subway Stations to Urban Landscapes: Understanding the World in 3D", Chu Hai College of Higher Education, April 2018

  • "Demystifying Subway Stations", Society for News Design NYC 2018, February 2018

  • "Understanding NYC's Subway Stations in 3D", TransitSlam 2017, Transit Center, December 2017

  • "Project Subway NYC", OCR Friday, Office for Creative Research, June 2016

  • "Mall City, Subway City", Parsons New School, April 2016

ABOUT ME

Hi!  I am Candy Chan, an architect and urban designer, originally from Hong Kong and now living in Hoboken, New Jersey. I design buildings for a living, but I am also passionate about photography, graphic design and data visualization. 

Ever since I became a mom in 2020, I have been exploring different modes of public transportation in the city with my daughter, scoping out all the accessible routes.

I am a licensed architect in the state of New York and I hold a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Check out my “Services” page for opportunities to collaborate!

inspiration and referenceS

< EXIT STRATEGY NYC >

An app that helps you get around in the stations faster. Check it out here.

< NY TRAIN PROJECT >

by sametomorrow.com, check it out here. Illustrations of the signs in the stations.

< PENN STATION ATLAS >

Similar concept with Exit Strategy NYC, but for Penn Station only. Not available for purchase yet though. Check it out here.