Fulton Center

Fulton St. New York, New York
Architect: Grimshaw and James Carpenter Design Assoc.
Contractor: Plaza-Schiavone Joint Venture

Project Overview:

Located in the heart of Manhattan, this rehabilitated Subway station and retail complex improves the connections and accessibility for New York City subway services, including its connections to the World Trade Center. The three story building features a glass-clad oculus, designed by Grimshaw and James Carpenter Design Associates, which draws in natural light to the lower levels and is the first intentional skylight in the NY Subway System since 1945.

ELEMENT supplied key design components throughout the project, including reflector brackets for the Skylight Reflector Net. These reflecting mirrors change the direction of incoming daylight to create a dynamic daylight patterns. Additionally, we contributed custom stainless steel handrails and provided cladding for all 5 elevators throughout the Center.

The high profile of the location, the high expectations of the design team and the constraints on schedule, scope, and budget required a fanatical attention to detail, from design through fabrication in order to ensure successful installation, first time round. Significant constraints on space and the interfacing with other trades dictated modular components, supplied in sequence, which had to fit together perfectly. The sequential installation sequence did not provide time to remake parts that did not fit and the conditions on site required a great deal of flexibility in the way components were fabricated and assembled in order to accommodate very generous field tolerances.

LEED Certification:
  • LEED Silver
  • First Subway station in New York to receive LEED certification
Key Contribution by ELEMENT:
  • Materials: Stainless steel, aluminum, structural steel, galvanized steel sheet.
ELEMENT Services:
  • Preliminary materials, manufacturing, engineering, scheduling and budget estimation
  • Presentation of options and solutions, including schedule, scope and budgeting aspects of various options
  • Engineering analysis, calculations and submittals
  • Scheduling and sequencing planning
  • Prototyping and Samples
  • Fabrication
  • Staging and Delivery
Awards:
  • Project of the Year, Best Project in Airport/Transit Category and an Award of Merit for Safety, 2015, Engineering News-Record New York’s Best Projects Competition
  • International Project of the Year, 2015, British Construction Industry Awards
  • Best New Building, 2015, MASterworks Awards, The Municipal Art Society
  • Nominated for Inaugural RIBA International Prize, 2016, Royal Institute of British Architects
  • Building of the Year, 2015, AJ120 Awards
  • Award of Excellence: Special-Use Structures, 2015, Structural Engineers Associates of California
  • Best of Design Awards: Facade, 2015, The Architect’s Newspaper
  • Diamond Award, 2014, American Council of Engineering Companies of New York
  • Project of the Year, 2014, New York State Society of Professional Engineers
  • Construction Achievement Project of the Year Award, 2015, the American Society of Civil Engineers-Metropolitan Section
  • Excellence Award, 2015, Center for Active Design
  • MIPIM Architectural Review Future Project Awards, 2006
Select Publications:
  • “Out of Dust and Debris, a New Jewel Rises”, 9 Nov. 2014, New York Times
  • “Fulton Center”, 16 Jan. 2015, Architectural Record
  • “Fulton Center Named ENR New York Project of the Year”, 10 Nov. 2015, Engineering News-Record
  • “Fulton Center is first subway station to receive special rating for environmental friendliness”, 16 March 2016, Metro
  • “Fulton Center / Grimshaw”, 14 Jan. 2016, ArchDaily
  • “Welcome to the New Fulton Center”, 10 Nov. 2014, Metropolitan Transportation Authority
  • “Fulton Center by Grimshaw”, 12 June 2015, The Architect’s Journal