Fulton Center Installs Stunning Daylight-Amplifying Sky Reflector-Net Diamond Web

NYC subway stations don't exactly have the best rep when it comes to having access to daylight, but the upcoming <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/new-fulton-street-transit-center-will-be-daylit-by-a-soaring-conical-oculus/">Fulton Center</a> promises to be a different experience entirely. The station recently installed a $2.1 million, 79-foot-high <em>Sky Reflector-Net</em> on its dome in order to draw in natural light. The reflective aluminum diamond web is an artist/architect/engineer collaboration amongst <a href="http://www.jcdainc.com/">James Carpenter Design Associates (JCDA)</a>, <a href="http://grimshaw-architects.com/">Grimshaw Architects</a> and <a />Arup </a>that will flood the transit center with beams of ambient light extending into mezzanines, passageways and perhaps even onto platforms. The net-like structure is comprised of a series of glass blades, stainless steel lattices and slender cables that hang between two rings along the dome’s 8,500 square-foot surface. Click through our gallery to check out some striking shots of this show-stopping oculus.

The 952 perforated diamond-shaped and triangular aluminum panels that make up the structure individually reflect approximately 95 percent of the light that strikes it.

Installed by Grimshaw Architects, the net-like structure is comprised of a series of glass blades, stainless steel lattices and slender cables that hang between two rings along the dome’s 8,500 square-foot surface.

The geometry of the dome and its metal lining was analyzed and refined to optimize the orientation and reflection of daylight.

Sky Reflector-Net happens to be the largest individual artwork commissioned by the New York Metropolitan Authority’s Arts for Transit and Urban Design division.

The $2.1 million Sky Reflector-Net art piece, designed by James Carpenter Design Associates, will flood the transit center with beams of ambient light extending into mezzanines and passageways and perhaps pour onto the platforms throughout the transportation hub.

At night, the dome is lit from within through strategic interactive artificial lighting, transforming Fulton Street Transit Center into a glowing icon.