Motion
Preserving collective memories by creating a cultural center based on the idea of melting point.
Program
Cultural Complex
Location
New Jersey
Year
2020
Team
With Hao Zhong, Peicong Zhang
Award
Uni 'Liberty Today' Winner 2020
The site originally served as a melting point for commuters, travelers, and immigrants beginning their journeys in America. The railway shed has remained vacant since train traffic ceased in 1964, a silent monument to a transformative era in American history.
The design preserves the historic railway shed's architectural character while inserting new programmatic volumes that activate the space for contemporary use. The majority of the shed structure is maintained, with selective demolition of the western bays to create a new public plaza that welcomes visitors from the city.
New exhibition boxes are inserted within the shed's steel frame, creating a dialogue between old and new. These colorful volumes house galleries, theaters, and educational spaces, their bold presence announcing the building's new cultural mission while the surrounding shed structure provides context and continuity with the past.
The gallery spaces within the shed employ a flexible system of movable exhibition cabins mounted on the original rail tracks. These cabins can be reconfigured to accommodate different exhibition types and scales, maintaining a connection to the site's transportation heritage while enabling contemporary curatorial practices.
The cultural center serves the local community by providing spaces of gathering and leisure, while also functioning as an icon embracing the values of unity and liberty—not only for the city but for the nation. It transforms a forgotten infrastructure into a vibrant destination that honors the past while creating space for new stories to unfold.