South Station Expansion Renderings

Lost in the constant threads dealing with stations in New York and Washington is our northern neighbor. Click on the link for additional articles and renderings.

Look: More South Station expansion renderings


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The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) today published a futuristic-looking view of a South Station interior in which the coffered ceiling of the historic Boston transportation hub has been replaced by high-arching glass panels. At the request of the Boston Business Journal, they put forward a few more images that show alternative visions for South Station.

A MassDOT spokesman hastened to note that these are conceptual drawings. The state is in the midst of a $43 million, construction-free preliminary planning phase with South Station. It's part of an $850 million expansion of the transit hub, budgeted in Gov. Deval Patrick's transportation spending package.

Impressive concept, but what about the big bus station that sits over part of the station tracks? That blocks a lot of light. Meanwhile, it makes for a pretty decent transportation center (it would be better if we didn't have to walk down one platform to the station, then over, then back up a platform to the bus station entrance).

I also thought I read that South Station was selling off more air rights next to the terminal. Unless they plan to use mirrors to bring in more light, it will get pretty dark around there.

Look at all those Acelas...I imagine that must be what heaven looks like!

God save us from more glass canopies!!

Matt Johnson wrote:Look at all those Acelas...I imagine that must be what heaven looks like!

Whaaaaa?? I thought heaven to you looked like a station full of turbo......? hehe

Not sure how I feel about these new renderings.

If they are going to go with some kind of glass ceiling can they at least make it look like the old Reading Terminal/Grand Central Depot/etc.? Ya know a throwback to the "golden age of rail travel"?

Station Aficionado wrote:God save us from more glass canopies!!

Don't these people have any sense for cartoonish anvils and pianos falling through the ceilings! The designers of years past had it right, nice hard roofs to protect those inside!

They'll need more escalators, because some of them
will always be out of order.

A few moving sidewalks might help too, from the looks
of those long platforms.

And be sure to have enuff elevators.

I don't think of myself as the ADA type, not yet, but my
hip will tell me that walking more than a block is not
how I want to travel, train or not.

I feel as though the expansion is not quite in character with the 1899 building that sits nextdoor.

Nothing's going to be fully in character. You can't build stone monuments like that any more - not on a public budget, for sure. The key is to find something that can complement and reflect - the Hancock Building to Trinity Church.

The EGE wrote:Nothing's going to be fully in character. You can't build stone monuments like that any more - not on a public budget, for sure. The key is to find something that can complement and reflect - the Hancock Building to Trinity Church.

I recognize that, but I still feel as though the structure is too different. Less glass and more brick and exposed steel.

I hope they think everything through...with the bus terminal you are gonna have a fraction of the light shining shown in the renderings.

Mcoov wrote:

The EGE wrote:Nothing's going to be fully in character. You can't build stone monuments like that any more - not on a public budget, for sure. The key is to find something that can complement and reflect - the Hancock Building to Trinity Church.

I recognize that, but I still feel as though the structure is too different. Less glass and more brick and exposed steel.

The MBTA and Boston Redevelopment Authority love glass. Big, honking glass headhouses...that get dirty and never get cleaned...and sometimes don't keep the weather out like they're supposed to. Subway headhouses. Terminal headhouses. Bus shelters. It's an obsession with them, and at this point practically its own internet meme at the MBTA's expense. This is not surprising at all...if you're from Boston you probably could've predicted these renderings would be glassglassglass 5 years ago and are collecting on a $20 bet right now.

Matt Johnson wrote:Look at all those Acelas...I imagine that must be what heaven looks like!

Not really amtrak related but where's all the MBTA commuter trains? Lol It's nice to see acelas lined up like that though.

Matt Johnson wrote:Look at all those Acelas...I imagine that must be what heaven looks like!

If there ever was theta many Acelas lined up in South Station like that, something would be wrong. Trains should be moving out on the tracks to be providing a service collecting revenues, not sitting stationary and parked at a station.