STATIONARY
For Upper East Side residents, the opening of the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway line this month is nothing short of a miracle. Decades in the works, it’s an improvement that East Siders have dreamt about, to alleviate crowding and delays on the 4, 5 and 6 platforms during rush hour.
What can one say about the design of the three new stations that were unveiled on New Years Day, at 72nd Street, 86th Street and 96th Street? All have a similar parti: entrances with escalators from street level, generous mezzanine levels that run the entire length of the platform, and platforms that are far wider and brighter (and, right now, cleaner) than existing stations. These stations were planned pragmatically, with more waiting room, improved circulation spaces, a greater number of entrances. And they seem to have been designed empirically, after studying new transit stations in Asia and Europe. All three have the same bland, vaguely futurist, late modern palette of soft grey granite, polished concrete and brushed metal. Their mezzanines have vaulted ceilings, expressed with curved concrete ribs and accented with linear LED light coves.
There are surprising moments of boldness. For example, at the mezzanine of the 86th Street station, the ceiling has been constructed with a triangulated grid of deep, dramatically-lit concrete coffers. But the stations, while intelligently planned, have no deep architectural character. They’ve been built in Inoffensive Public Works Modern.
And where is the subway tile? This simple, iconic white 3x6 ceramic tile, which would have tied the new stations indelibly to the older lines to which they’re connected, is nowhere to be seen. Instead, interior passages at all three stations have been finished in a 1′x2′ white porcelain tile with a dull, mottled finish that seems to absorb natural light. Rather then grout, these tiles have been installed with with plastic filler strips, about 1/8″ wide. And these strips have been installed so carelessly, out of plumb with the tiles and out of alignment with tile edges, that they feel as if they are going to pop out. This tile might have been a cost- and time- saving measure. But it’s a sloppy, dispiriting finish, that covers acres of the interiors at these three new stations. One can’t help feeling that, instead, for each one, constructing a simple, brightly-lit shed, finished in neatly-laid subway tile, and graced with original artwork, would have worked just fine.