Moynihan Train Hall

This former postal facility, shrouded since WWII, now welcomes travelers into spacious daylit volumes; the conversion of McKim, Mead & White’s 1913 Beaux-Arts James A. Farley Post Office into the Moynihan Train Hall represents New York’s most ambitious infrastructure upgrade in decades.

DGA served as the lighting designer for the major public areas including the Train Hall, the skylit atrium, and entrances between 31st and 33rd Streets, ticketing, waiting areas, and circulation. Extensive coordination with multiple stakeholders resulted in a design that adapts automatically to the significant presence of natural light and celebrates the skylit spaces with subtle hues or vibrant colors at night. The richly layered design balances the functional requirements of an operating transportation center with the Architect’s realization of a “grand civic space ...melding old with new” all while remaining sensitive to existing historic fabric.