The engineering and architectural firm Arup has been selected to lead the design work for renovations to Chicago’s historic Union Station.
The City of Chicago, railroad service company Amtrak, and a collection of Chicago transportation entities, including the commuter railroad service Metra, worked together on the decision.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Union Station handles more than 125,000 passengers each work day and is the third-busiest station in the country. It is one of four Metra hubs in Chicago, but it is the city's only Amtrak station.
Arup is tasked with expanding concourses and entrances, widening platforms and passageways, and improving ventilation, according to Crain's Chicago.
The idea is to keep the history in tact. Union Station’s features include Bedford limestone Beaux-Arts facades, Corinthian columns, marble floors and staircases, terracotta walls, and brass lamps. The 110-foot high Great Hall, with its barrel-vaulted skylights above, hosts elegant events like receptions and weddings.
Arup led has designed rail station projects in places like New York City, New Delhi, and Florence, Italy.
The first phase of the Union Station project is expected to take 18 months. Crain’s Chicago reports that the Union Station renovations could possibly be funded by $1 billion in low-interest federal loans, known as Railroad Rehabilitation and Infrastructure Financing.
Great Hall in Union Station. Photo: Don Harder/Creative Commons. Click to enlarge.
Related Stories
| Aug 26, 2013
What you missed last week: Architecture billings up again; record year for hotel renovations; nation's most expensive real estate markets
BD+C's roundup of the top construction market news for the week of August 18 includes the latest architecture billings index from AIA and a BOMA study on the nation's most and least expensive commercial real estate markets.
| Aug 22, 2013
Energy-efficient glazing technology [AIA Course]
This course discuses the latest technological advances in glazing, which make possible ever more efficient enclosures with ever greater glazed area.
| Aug 14, 2013
Green Building Report [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Building Design+Construction's rankings of the nation's largest green design and construction firms.
| Jul 29, 2013
2013 Giants 300 Report
The editors of Building Design+Construction magazine present the findings of the annual Giants 300 Report, which ranks the leading firms in the AEC industry.
| Jul 22, 2013
Transportation Facility Report [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Building Design+Construction's rankings of design and construction firms with the most revenue from airport terminals and other transportation-related facilities, as reported in the 2013 Giants 300 Report.
| Jul 19, 2013
Renovation, adaptive reuse stay strong, providing fertile ground for growth [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Increasingly, owners recognize that existing buildings represent a considerable resource in embodied energy, which can often be leveraged for lower front-end costs and a faster turnaround than new construction.
| Jul 18, 2013
Top Local Government Sector Construction Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Turner, Clark Group, PCL top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest local government sector contractor and construction management firms in the U.S.
| Jul 18, 2013
Top Local Government Sector Engineering Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
STV, URS, AECOM top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest local government sector engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.
| Jul 18, 2013
Top Local Government Sector Architecture Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Stantec, HOK, IBI Group top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest local government sector architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.
| Jul 18, 2013
Top State Government Sector Construction Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
PCL, Clark Group, Turner top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest state government sector contractor and construction management firms in the U.S.
