Futuristic Bridge Plan Linking Penn St, Hudson Yards Wins Contest

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A futuristic bridge that would connect the soon-to-open mega-development Hudson Yards with Penn Station's Moynihan Train Hall has won a design contest for an NYC architect.

DXA Studio's "The Midtown Viaduct" proposes transporting the 100,000 people who will walk from Penn Station to offices at Hudson Yards per day via an elevated walkway that borrows design concepts from the nearby High Line and the interiors of the original 1910 Penn Station, the firm announced in a press release.

The design was declared the winner of Metals in Construction Magazine's 2019 design challenge. The magazine challenged architects, engineers and students to design a pathway that would safely transport pedestrians with minimum interruptions to the area's existing congestion.

"This design competition offered DXA Studio the opportunity to push the boundaries of contemporary steel construction to create a passage way between the historic repurposed Moynihan Train Hall and Hudson Yards," DXA Studio Partner Jordan Rogove said in a statement.

"Every year our studio picks a competition with a challenging program, something we think will help us collectively grow as architects and designers, and this one had it all!"

The proposed pedestrian bridge would employ a curved, latticed steel frame that would allow architects to employ a number of different landscape elements along the pathway while letting light reach the street below. Two levels, one for commuters and one for "urban explorers," are incorporated in the bridge's design.

"The proposed structure consists of transverse ribs shaped according to the cross-section of the pedestrian pathway and spaced approximately every 10 feet at the longer linear paths. The resulting formation makes an interlaced and dynamic public space for this rapidly emerging area of the city" DXA Studio Partner Wayne Norbeck said in a statement.

DXA Studio won the design competition's $15,000 grand prize, but its project is far from becoming a reality. The project would need to secure a plethora of city — and possibly state due to its connection to Penn Station — approvals if it were to be put in place.