THE ANATOMY OF GROUND ZERO

Last week, on the 19th anniversary of the tragic 911 attack, I shared my new Ground Zero Series, which was a collection of drawings that show what the 16-acre piece of land, where the twin towers once stood, looks like today. Here is the story behind it:

The first set, the Ground Zero Collages, was generated by the same axonometric view of the site, with different programs highlighted in each image. Even though these programs fit together tightly like Tetris pieces, each space has its own distinct character and atmosphere. And so I mapped each piece with photographs that capture the touch and feel of the space: The memorial park with lush greenery, the waterfalls the calming moving streams and cold grey stones; the museum the exhibits and dark solemnity, the Oculus the white marble, and the train platforms the escalators, signage and utility:

The second set, the Ground Zero Sketches, was generated by exporting different perspective views for each of the elements highlighted in white against a brown paper texture. In both series are these few key elements:

  • OVERVIEW (above ground): Freedom Tower (1 WTC), the Performing Arts Center (under construction), 2 WTC (under construction), the Oculus, 3 WTC, 4 WTC, and the World Trade Center Memorial Park and Museum which consists of the two pools, the memorial park, the Museum Entry Pavilion, and the West Vent Structure

  • WATERFALLS: The two square-shaped negatives (North Pool and South Pool)

  • MUSEUM: Entered through the entry pavilion, with the ribbon that hugs the south edge of the North Pool descending into to the underground exhibition space with the double-height slurry wall

  • OCULUS: The skeleton-looking structure designed by Santiago Calatrava with an oval atrium. Through the grand curved steps it is connected to the PATH train concourse and the linear West Concourse, which runs on the north of the North Pool and underneath Fulton Street. It leads to Brookfield place on the other side of the West Side Highway. You can also enter the Freedom Tower here.

  • PATH TRAIN AND SUBWAY (1 TRAIN): The 1 Train (WTC Cortlandt station) is one level above the Oculus’ oval atrium (train runs under Greenwich Street), and the PATH train (World Train Center station) is one level below the PATH train concourse.

This site means a lot to me, because I actually worked on the museum when I worked for Davis Brody Bond when I first came to the US in 2007. I found this screen shot from that many years ago, on which a friend commented by saying “it really looks like a wound”:

“Wound” at Ground Zero, approx. from 2007

“Wound” at Ground Zero, approx. from 2007

And I was lucky enough to be able to visit the site. These were taken from the lower level, where the slurry wall was exposed and the PATH train was running on a temporary structure:

Slurry Wall at Ground Zero, NYC, 2007

Slurry Wall at Ground Zero, NYC, 2007

PATH train at Ground Zero, NYC, 2007

PATH train at Ground Zero, NYC, 2007

Here are two books about the site, one about the politics and another one about Daniel Libeskind, the architect behind the original site plan. I loved and still own both, and would love to read them again some day:

Twelve years later, with my background in making 3d subway drawings, folks at the New York Review of Architecture (NYRA) reached out to me about making a drawing for their Sept 2019 issue. The assignment was to make a simple section, which should only cut through a few things; but in order to understand how things fit together, I thought I might as well build a 3D model.

There are actually a good number of drawings about each specific piece out there- the original site plan, museum floor plans, Oculus floor plans, and even some schematic sections are all a google search away:

Architectural drawings of the Ground Zero site found online

Architectural drawings of the Ground Zero site found online

There just wasn’t one comprehensive drawing that shows everything at the same time, especially when it comes to things below ground. Here is my first attempt to sketch out the spatial relationships:

wtc sketch (1).jpg
wtc sketch (4).jpg

With a little detective and stitching work, I put together this 3D model in Sketchup:

2020-09-18 - Model.jpg

Cutting halfway through the North Pool in this study perspective with human scale, you can see there are two levels of shops with structural ribs in the West Concourse, the North Pool next door, and the Oculus lookg like a bird in the background:

2020-09-18 - Sketch.jpg

And from there and a little experimenting with Sketchup’s presentation styles, this was the final image that appeared on NYRA:

2019-08-21 - WTC Drawing darker v3.jpg

Since I already had the model, it was a waste not to have some fun and do more with it. Zooming back out to birds eye view, we get two sections like these:

Section through North Pool - Above Ground

Section through North Pool - Above Ground

Section through North Pool - Below Ground

Section through North Pool - Below Ground

I eventually decided to go with the more sketchy style with pencil strokes in the final drawings. You can find the drawings in higher resolution in the Ground Zero page.

I am glad I found time during this pandemic to put this together, which helped me feel that at least some things have come full circle. Through the act of objectively piecing the puzzle together and subjectively presenting it in my own way, I had an odd satisfaction of having some sort of clarity, followed by a sense of control and peacefulness.

I can’t wait for this pandemic to be over so we can get back in action. Until then, stay safe, and wear a mask!

NEW: X-RAY CLUSTER SERIES!!

Hello world!! It's been a while!

I am so excited to announce that our new drawing series is finally here - X-Ray Station Clusters!

This time around, instead of one station per drawing with colored platforms, we have multiple stations per drawing and colored tracks that connect them all. See how complicated and crazy this intertwining network is! We focused on two main areas - Downtown Brooklyn and Downtown Manhattan, both with stations very close to each other, hence, the clusters.

How to get to the Oculus without setting foot above ground

How to get to the Oculus without setting foot above ground

A lot going on under Borough Hall in Brooklyn!

A lot going on under Borough Hall in Brooklyn!

 

Check them out, and also check out this feature on Wired!

We are super thrilled to be featured on Wired!!

We are super thrilled to be featured on Wired!!

HOBOKEN PATH STATION

As January has passed I am recharged and ready to get out and start drawing again.

I started this project two and a half years ago and named it with "NYC" because that's all I set out to do, to draw the NYC subway stations. Little did I know the high rent, tiny apartments and a series of life events would eventually urged me to look for an alternative down the road - I now live in Hoboken New Jersey. I still work in the city though so I commute every day by taking the PATH train. Which brings me to my point - I am going to try to draw the PATH stations. Starting with Hoboken where I live, and also the 33rd Street station because I already drew the 34th Street subway station and I have been promising people I would complete it by adding the PATH portion one day. I think it would be helpful to illustrate how the PATH stations in Manhattan intertwine with the subway stations!

2018-02-07 - Hoboken Sketch.jpg

IT'S HERE: THE ATLANTIC AVENUE - BARCLAYS CENTER PRINT!

By popular demand, the Atlantic Avenue - Barclays Center print is finally ready! After four visits and God knows how many sketches. Check it out in our gallery and shop!

This is Project Subway NYC's second attempt to look into stations in Brooklyn, hope to do more soon. Let me know in the comment which stations you want to see, and don't forget to follow us on facebook and instagram (@projectsubwaynyc) for updates!

Atlantic Avenue - Barclays Center Poster

Atlantic Avenue - Barclays Center Poster

sketch - cad - print - sketch again

sketch - cad - print - sketch again

47th-50th street rockefeller center (B/D/F/M)

So even just looking at the name of the station you know this is another hard one... it spans 4 blocks right off the bat! Although, the reason this is a tricky one has more to do with the fact that it's a combination of a large complex that is the Rockefeller Center and the subway station itself. It's hard to draw the line between which is part of the station and which isn't, since there are a few spots underground where the station mezzanine connects directly to the buildings above ground, and some of them connect to concourses. I'll take more pictures next time!

47-50th Street Rockefeller Center sketch

47-50th Street Rockefeller Center sketch

Atlantic Avenue - Barclays Center

By popular demand, I have started to document the Atlantic Avenue - Barclays Center station. This station is no joke! This is my second trip, and we will keep counting...

Curved stair case following the shape of the corner building on Hanson Pl x Flatbush

Curved stair case following the shape of the corner building on Hanson Pl x Flatbush

Parallel to 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 platforms, connections to LIRR

Parallel to 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 platforms, connections to LIRR

Second draft (pencil x hand) on first draft (computer x cad)

Second draft (pencil x hand) on first draft (computer x cad)

BEHIND THE SCENES - CREATING THE X-RAY SERIES

Last week was an exciting week for Project Subway! I released my new x-ray series and was thrilled to get some generally positive feedback. Thank you all for your love and support! Check out the coverage by CityLab and Gothamist if you haven't already :)

Since a few people have asked, I would like to share with you a little bit about my process. For the first part where I survey and sketch the stations, you can read about it here

For the new series, I first download a 3D model of the city from cadmapper. Let me use the Union Square drawing as an example:

3D model from cadmapper.com (you can download up to 1 square km for free)

3D model from cadmapper.com (you can download up to 1 square km for free)

Then I find an angle that could work:

And I import the station model I made from before:

Then I go to Google Maps and get a general feel of the area, including trees, the configuration of the park, and the buildings:

Then I do some research on specific landmarks and transfer that detail into my drawing, for example, this clock thing (it's called the metronome) that always keeps people wondering:

metronome (source: wikipedia)

metronome (source: wikipedia)

Then I export the lines into illustrator and edit the line weights:

x ray process 08.jpg

Then I layer texture, streets, platform colors, people, and street names:

Textured underlay

Textured underlay

Translucent white indication of streets

Translucent white indication of streets

Colored platforms according to train lines

Colored platforms according to train lines

Added little people for scale

Added little people for scale

And finally street names and business names

And finally street names and business names

And that was it! I repeated this process for all five images I made, took a few months!

3D TRACK MAP TRAIL #2

Work in Progress - 

NYC Subway 3D Track Map - Downtown

NYC Subway 3D Track Map - Downtown

NYC Subway 3D Track Map - Midtown and Midtown West

NYC Subway 3D Track Map - Midtown and Midtown West

I tried to model the entire area of Manhattan below Central Park in 3D but turns out the lines are too thin and the changes in elevations look to subtle when you zoom out in a bird's-eye view. So I had to exaggerate the width of the tracks. But after rebuilding the 2D lines in Rhino the lines look so wiggly, so it looks a little weird now. I will try to make a cleaner and neater version! 

PUTTING IT TOGEHTER

So far I have been trying to study NYC's subway system one station at a time. Now that I have collected some twenty plus stations, I figure it's time I zoom out and look at how the stations relate to one another. When I put all the individual stations where they belong on the map, it looks like this:

Lower Half of Manhattan in Aerial View

Lower Half of Manhattan in Aerial View

It gets tricky when I try to connect the dots - the tracks are really a vast network that gets interwoven together with a lot of ups and downs. Tracks that are parallel in one station sometimes get stacked on top of each other in another. They also split and merge, from local to express, and from inner to outer tracks. Here is my first attempt at figuring out the Columbus Circle area:

First Attempt at Sketching Tracks between Stations

First Attempt at Sketching Tracks between Stations

Luckily nycsubway.org has a wealth of information to help me out. It has track maps that show which track is above which, like this:

Source: http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.pl?/img/trackmap/detail-cityhall.png

Source: http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.pl?/img/trackmap/detail-cityhall.png

NEW PRINTS ARE HERE!!

I am excited and proud to share that the new batch of four prints are finally here! This batch includes four stations from downtown: Delancey Street - Essex Street (F / M / J / Z), Chambers Street - Park Place - World Trade Center (A / C / E / 2 / 3), Chambers Street - Brooklyn Bridge - City Hall (J / Z / 4 / 5 / 6), and Bleecker Street - Broadway - Lafayette Street (B / D / F / M / 6). I have to say, once the stations are not on numbered streets and avenues, I found it way harder to wrap my head around things - but I did it!

Check them out in our gallery and shop page! Apply promo code DOWNTOWN to get 10% off all orders.

 
Delancey - Essex

Delancey - Essex

Brooklyn Bridge - City Hall

Brooklyn Bridge - City Hall

Broadway - Lafayette

Broadway - Lafayette

World Trade Ceter

World Trade Ceter

OCR JOURNAL #002

Back in June last year I did a presentation at the Office for Creative Research (OCR) about Project Subway NYC. After that they kindly invited me to be a guest contributor for their annual publication called the "OCR Journal", and I wrote a piece called "The Missing In-betweens".

The OCR Journal is a collection of essays, visualizations and data ephemera from the last eighteen months, and contributors include their own staff as well as several guest writers. This issue's theme is "feedback". I know how hard the folks at their office have worked on it and today I am very proud and excited to share that it's released and available for sale! 

If you are interested, check it out at
http://ocrjournal.bigcartel.com/product/ocr-journal-002

OCR Journal #002 - Unique blue cover for my copy

OCR Journal #002 - Unique blue cover for my copy

"The Missing In-betweens" - an essay on the subway system, data, and feedback

"The Missing In-betweens" - an essay on the subway system, data, and feedback

Stations, Escalators, and High Fives

Like other stations on 53rd street, the 53rd Street - Lexington Avenue station is a really deep one. Look at the sketch and the numbers I wrote down, there are 5+ sections of stairs of 15 steps each that lead you to the E/M tracks - that's more than 3 stories in one run of escalator (and that only brings you to the mezzanine! You'll have to go up one more to reach ground). 

Giant Escalator in 53rd Street - Lexington Avenue Station

Giant Escalator in 53rd Street - Lexington Avenue Station

Sketch of Stair and  Escalator in 53rd Street - Lexington Avenue Station

Sketch of Stair and  Escalator in 53rd Street - Lexington Avenue Station

And then I suddenly thought to myself, that looks familiar - that's where the "imrpov everywhere" people did the "high five escalator"! 

This is another example of how understanding these circulation spaces in the stations can offer so many interesting opportunities.

And when you reach the top of it, there is a really beautiful, yellow mural on a curvy wall:

Mural at 53rd Street - Lexington Avenue Station

Mural at 53rd Street - Lexington Avenue Station

Mural at 53rd Street - Lexington Avenue Station

Mural at 53rd Street - Lexington Avenue Station

Sketch of Mezzanine Level at 53rd Street - Lexington Avenue Station

Sketch of Mezzanine Level at 53rd Street - Lexington Avenue Station

W TRAIN!

The W train has been back in service since November this year and I finally found the time to update my graphics accordingly. R and W run local on the outside while N and Q run express on the inside. Check them out in our Shop page! 

Times Square N / Q / R / W lines

Times Square N / Q / R / W lines

Apply discount code BYE2016 for 15% off on all orders.