The AECOM/Parsons team enlisted L+AA to re-invigorate the design efforts for the public concourse and station. Engaged as the architectural design lead for the $6.3 billion train station extension to Grand Central, L+AA infused the project’s design with a cohesive aesthetic direction, pushed a new design through the client approval processes, and moved the public design piece of the project forward.

An extraordinary undertaking, East Side Access encompasses newly tunneled double-decker train caverns below Park Avenue that will connect with Grand Central Station at the lower level train shed, of which the northern portion from 48th street to GCT will be converted into the "Madison Concourse". This public space will include high-end retail with state-of-the art advertising and way-finding. The Ticketing Hall is envisioned as a cathedral-like space with floor to ceiling angled glass walls and LCD technology utilized for arrival and departure boards and interactive kiosks.

Entrances to the public space are inserted into existing Madison Avenue building lobbies from 44th Street to 48th Street. High-end public stairs and ADA elevators navigate existing foundations and building structures to connect street level to the public concourse 25 feet below.

The public concourse is further linked to the new train caverns by means of four high-speed, high-rise escalator banks along which moving image media is incorporated. The moving imaging is envisioned less as an advertising site than as a news feed and documentary information vehicle. The challenge of ‘integrating’ the Beaux-Arts language of GCT with the language of emerging technologies is a significant design challenge. These technological marriages have become a specialty of the firm’s work.

In addition to the design aspects, L+AA’s responsibilities included coordination with the engineering disciplines for the public spaces including the Concourse, Ticketing Hall and Circulation Nodes. The architectural and engineering coordination was highly complex due to the restrictions of the existing envelope and the need to have fully independent systems for the new station. The existing infrastructure for the GCT station will not be altered to accommodate new ESA infrastructure, nor is any interruption of LIRR train service during construction permitted. These aspects alone create significant challenges in coordination and design.