View allAll Photos Tagged oculus
I'm back from New York, and although it wasn't a photography trip, I still managed to sneak in a couple of minutes to snag a few photos.
This is the Oculus, a $4 billion, (yes billion) transportation hub in Lower Manhattan, which takes the place of the old PATH train station that was destroyed back on 9/11.
I wanted to show off the wonderful architecture while trying to convey just how many people pass through this space each day. It was pretty neat to take a minute and watch so many people just doing their daily thing. Thinking about if they're catching a train to work, or just getting off work and heading home or going to meet up with friends. Of the places I've been, New York is easily my favorite place to people watch.
Because there is a strict no tripod policy, I had to handhold this shot which proved a bit challenging to hold still while keeping everything symmetrical especially with people continuingly passing by, and an accidental bump here and there.
One World Trade Center (1WTC), now completed soars 1776 feet above Lower Manhattan.
A massive, fantastical construction is nearing completion, shown at the bottom of this picture. This is the "Oculus" of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. Designed by acclaimed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, this multi-billion dollar project will accommodate 200,000 commuters each day on 11 subway lines 60 feet below the surface. A massive, two story retail mall of fine shopping and restaurants will lie beneath the 150 foot high Oculus.
Calatrava's inspiration for this structure is the "freedom of a bird taking flight," the outward structure reminiscent of a bird's spread wings. However, it looked like the fossil spine of a dinosaur to me.
Pantheon building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft).
Rome, Italy '13
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Oculus transportation hub at the World Trade Center. Stunning train station designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
Originating in antiquity the 'oculus' is a circular opening resembling an eye in the center of a dome, cupola, or window. A feature of Byzantine and Neoclassical architecture, it is also known as an 'oeil-de-boeuf' or simply a "bull's-eye". The oculus was used by the Romans in the dome of the Pantheon and widely used in the architecture of the Byzantine Empire.
Standing in the lobby at the main entrance to the newly transformed and expanded San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, one only has to look up to see this impressive sky-lighted dome.
Leica M10-R in New York in Prairial
Voigtlander 40mm f2.8 Heliar.
From my blog: rangefinderchronicles.blogspot.com/2023/11/prairial-part-...