Oculus - World Trade Center Transportation Hub

Modern white architectural structure with wing-like design in urban cityscape.

Highlights

612,300 work hours

to complete the steel erection

10,000 tons

of reinforcing steel

operating cranes

2,255 welds

hold the structure together

Project information

The Oculus at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York City is an oval-shaped, winged structure framed with approximately 11,000 tons of structural steel, forming the main concourse and primary access to the PATH commuter rail system. Our scope included fabricating and erecting portals, arches and rafters for the 800,000-square-foot arrival hall, which rises 150 feet at its highest point and serves about 200,000 commuters per day.

Client:

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Service:

General Contractor

Market segment:

Railways, Structural Steel

Size:

Start date:

Completion date:

City:

New York

State:

New York

Country:

USA

Cost:

$204,200,000

A worker's perspective of building the Oculus and PATH Hall

Behind the scenes interviews with the Skanska team who built the Oculus World Trade Center Transportation Hub and PATH hall in downtown Manhattan.

Blueprint-style illustration of a modern urban skyline with a futuristic white structure.

The Blueprint: Building the Oculus

The Oculus is the signature steel structure that sits on top of the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub. The winged structure was designed to mimic a bird in flight.

Learn how this iconic structure soared

Building the Oculus

The steel for the Oculus is so specialized, only four firms in the world were able to make it. The steel, fabricated in Italy and shipped by boat to Red Hook, Brooklyn, was trucked over the Manhattan Bridge at night directly to the World Trade Center.