Calatrava's Bird Suffering from Shrinkage

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By now it's well known that Spanish starchitect Santiago Calatrava's soaring design for a new World Trade Center PATH terminal is being value-engineered to shit, but according to Port Authority officials, the big bird will still take flight. David Dunlap reports in the Times today that the plan is still to have the train station "completed and functioning" in 2011, and the above-ground aesthetic (the wings!) will not be clipped. But in order to maintain that $2.5 billion budget—and really, it must be hard to build a train stop for Jerseyites for only a couple billion dollars—some design compromises are now coming to light. These changes include a street-level perimeter that will shrink by 10-15 percent, and the use of standard concrete in the ceiling of the mezzanine rather than the stylish and smooth architectural concrete. Of course, more changes are on the way, and a contractor has yet to be found that can deliver this project according to the budget, but said Calatrava: "I believe that we have made the design better in many, many ways, through this exercise." And maybe in many, many years, he'll actually believe that.
· At Rail Hub, Bird Will Still Soar, but With a Bit Less Polish [NYT]
· Calatrava's PATH Station: Now This is Getting Awkward [Curbed]
· Port Authority May Clip Calatrava Again [Curbed]

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