Excited admirers of world-class architecture and others paying tribute to Sept. 11, 2001, cheered Thursday afternoon as they entered glass revolving doors of the new $4 billion Port Authority Oculus Hub terminal.
The Ground Zero transit facility — a mass of gleaming marble and steel designed to symbolize life triumphing over death — is a “gift to New Yorkers,” said the terminal’s Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava, “a public space that I give thanks to God that we were able to build.”
The Oculus design of white wings echoes the Greek Phoenix myth of rebirth from the ashes.
The structure, which will eventually connect 11 subway lines and a shopping mall, shelters the hallowed ground of Ground Zero where nearly 3,000 people died after terrorists crashed passenger jets into the World Trade Center.