Design
Grand Central Could Get a Giant, Elevating Observation Hoop
Architects honor New York's revered train station with a proposal that might make you want to dunk.
Never has an architectural proposal made me want to dunk so badly.
This historic reimagining of the Manhattan skyline, which sets my brain Jell-O all a-jiggle with excitement, is Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's plan for improving the looks and functionality of Grand Central Station. How did this incredible concept come into being? Earlier this year, the Municipal Art Society of New York asked architects to celebrate the building's 100th anniversary by submitting visionary schemes for its next hundred years. SOM partners Roger Duffy and T.J. Gottesdiener, who must've been racking triple-doubles all night long, looked at the revered station and thought: Give it a hoop.