New building technologies might make it cheaper and faster, too.

Anyone who has been to Penn Station in New York City knows it to be a horrible place. In 1963 they basically lopped off everything above grade and left the basement. Comparing it to what was lost, historian Vincent Scully wrote: “One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat.” Critic Michael Kimmelman wrote:

The National Civic Art Society is doing a major push with a new ad campaign, and have released glorious new renderings by Jeff Stikeman.

It’s an exciting effort, but it’s worth noting that architects will have a number of challenges to face when working with an old building like this Mead & White structure. For instance, there is a lot of steel and glass in that concourse roof. Are there still people who can do this kind of work?

© MX3D

Perhaps this project could be a great demonstration of how to use the latest technologies to replicate the oldest technologies. The complex details could be 3D printed; look at the complexity of the MX3D bridge designed by Joris Laarman Lab, being printed in Amsterdam. The Penn Station steelwork might be a modern interpretation, rather than a strictly literal rebuild.

They might also consider building it out of wood;

Computer driven wood carving/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0

There are computer-driven tools that can shape it into anything. The entire main hall could be a wood replica. The team working on the project gets this, that technologies and materials have changed:

Even though I am a big supporter of historic preservation, I am usually not a fan of historic reconstruction. But this might be a special case; it was a very special building and its demolition was a huge mistake. When asked why we should rebuild an old design instead of hiring the best of today’s architects to do a new one, the Rebuild Penn Station people note:

And when you think that a little reconstructed and restored Leonardo da Vinci painting just sold for $430 million, then $3.5 billion to reconstruct and restore the entire Penn Station sounds positively cheap. Learn more and support the Rebuild Penn Station campaign.