Penn Station is about to be a lot more pleasant

The architectural firm behind plans to remake New York City’s Penn Station unveiled its design on Monday, and renderings show a station that’s meant to be bigger, brighter, and more welcoming to the public. [Image: Penn Transformation Partners/Amtrak] The design, which leaked last month before its formal reveal, would encase the circular form of Madison Square Garden with a classical-style, square-shaped station that’s designed to let light in. Inside, narrow walkways would be expanded and low-slung ceilings raised. Architects estimate the redesigned platforms will reduce egress time by more than a minute. [Image: Penn Transformation Partners/Amtrak] More details about the plans reveal a design blends a modern classical look with retro-inspired art deco forms that architects looked to for inspiration. The ceiling in the main hall is decorated as a map of Manhattan streets with a clock hanging in the middle where Penn Station is located on the map, and as a callback to the clock that was once displayed in the main concourse of the old Penn Station. The New York City skyline is depicted in decorative reliefs in the main entry space, and four original eagle statues from the original Penn Station would be placed at the building’s corner entries. Architects are using the original station’s foundations as much as possible. [Image: Penn Transformation Partners/Amtrak] “This is geeky but it’s really important because building new foundations at Penn when a train’s coming in every three minutes during the day is incredibly complicated and costly,” Vishaan Chakrabarti, the lead design architect and founder of PAU, said during a press conference. “So we’re trying to reuse and recycle foundations wherever we can.” [Image: Penn Transformation Partners/Amtrak] One entrance features a large display showing President Donald Trump’s name and a presidential seal. Criticism over it, Chakrabarti said, is &#82