Evening bird's-eye view of the Moynihan Train Hall in New York with a free-form roof with four segments and a skylight with structural steelwork

structural steelwork for a historic building

moynihan train hall: infrastructure project gets new gridshell skylights

To transform New York’s historic general post office into a modern train station, seele installed five domed skylights consisting of structural steelwork and glass. This ambitious revitalisation involved careful handling of the existing building structures to successfully incorporate the 5,116 sqm free-form roof.
 

seele’s expertise in structural steelwork 

seele used nearly 3,400 insulating glass panels in four barrel-shaped free-form skylights over the main concourse, each 16 m wide, and for an additional skylight. In keeping with the building’s adaptive reuse objectives, the original structural steelwork of the post office was preserved. The new, cable braced gridshell roof structures connect seamlessly with the historic steel trusses of the former postal building.

Façade type
Steel-and-glass design
Client
Empire State Development
Contractor
Skanska USA Civil Northeast, Inc.
Engineer
Schlaich Bergermann Partner
Architect
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Surrounded by the existing Moynihan Train Hall building, seele's vaulted free-form roof with structural steelwork and square glass panels covers the station concourse
The interior of the Moynihan Train Hall with the free-form roof on the historic steel girders and escalators to the platforms
The vaulted free-form roof of the Moynihan Train Hall consists of square glass panels and structural steel work, beneath the roof of seele is the station concourse

steel-and-glass skylights bring new use to historic building

The converted building benefits from over 5,000 sqm of glazing that fills the station with natural light, beautifully highlighting the historic steelwork. A system of heating cables are installed between the aluminium-framed solar control glass panels, along with ventilation and condensate drainage systems. These are all discreetly concealed behind the silicone joints to maintain the elegant, mosaic-like design of the skylights, demonstrating how structural steelwork can preserve historic architecture while transforming it into a modern, light-filled station.
 

Awards for the infrastructure project

ENR New York Awards: Best Project, Airport/Transit & Award of Merit, Sustainability  2021
Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award 2021
Prix Versailles Award for Passenger Stations 2021
Empire State Development (ESD) Building the Future 2019
Excelsior Honor Award for Renovation/Addition AIA – New York State 2018
MASterworks Awards: Best New Infrastructure Municipal Art Society of New York 2018

#madebyseele

Design, detailed planning and installation of free-form structural steel roofs with gridshell system and cable tensioning — design, detailed planning and installation of custom-shaped insulating glass units, some with solar control coating

5,116 sqm
free-form roof structure
3,384
insulating glass units
670 t
structural steelwork
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