PHOTOS: WTC transportation hub to be “a light-radiating work of art”

The WTC transportation hub will feature two wing-like sections that will open on September 11 each year to let light shine through a skylight. (Photo: Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and STV Incorporated, via LowerManhattan.info)The WTC transportation hub will feature two wing-like sections that will open on September 11 each year to let light shine through a skylight. (Photo: Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and STV Incorporated, via LowerManhattan.info)

The World Trade Center (WTC) transportation hub in New York City is well on track for its opening in 2015, according to a report from the Houston Chronicle.

The $3.9 billion project will reach three levels underground, linking the already-operating 11 city subway lines and the PATH trains with Hudson River ferries.

And the 800-square-foot complex will serve as more than just a transportation hub: Santiago Calatrava, the Spanish architect who designed the structure, said it will be “a light-radiating work of art” that will serve as a remembrance to the nearly 3,000 people who died at the site on September 11, 2001.

That “light-radiating work of art” will be on display once a year. The complex will feature two wing-like sections that can open to reveal a skylight. Each year on September 11 at 10:28 a.m.–when the second tower collapsed in 2001–the wings will open, allowing light to shine through the glass.

The complex will sit on the rebuilt 16-acre WTC site, which is also home to the 104-story 1 World Trade Center and the 9/11 Memorial plaza with reflecting pools.

According to the Houston Chronicle report, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, and the Federal Transit Administration have included the cost of the complex in their budgets.

The transportation hub is expected to serve approximately 250,000 commuters daily.

Check out the photo gallery below to see what the complex will look like. More photos are available at lowermanhattan.info.