PRINCETON: Architect chosen for new Dinky station

By Staff Report
   An Arizona architect has been chosen to design the new Dinky train station building and Wawa and to renovate the existing station buildings for use as a restaurant and café as Princeton University prepares its $300 million arts and transit project for presentation to the Princeton Regional Planning Board later this year.
   University officials also released updated details about the project, which has caused controversy over the moving of the train line and traffic concerns.
   Architect Rick Joy has experience designing train stations and retail space, and in working in university settings. He will also collaborate with Steven Holl Architects, the firm that is designing the project’s academic buildings, on the design of the project’s public plaza spaces.
   In a Feb. 2 memo to the Planning Board, university Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee noted that while the university has had numerous opportunities to discuss the concepts behind the project with the Planning Board and other members of the community, it has continued to make adjustments “to accommodate specific requirements in the new zoning ordinances and to reflect both suggestions from members of the community and the more detailed design that can be done now that zoning is in place to allow us to proceed with the project.”
   ”As you will see,” he wrote, “all of the basic elements of the plan remain: the roadway improvements, including the roundabout at Alexander and University Place; the new train station incorporating the Wawa and the associated transit plaza and parking; the driveway into the Lot 7 garage; the conversion of the existing station buildings into a restaurant and café; extensive landscaping; and, of course, the first phase arts buildings and public plaza designed by Stephen Holl.”
   ”You will see that the location and orientation of the Stephen Holl buildings have been shifted a bit to the south and the buildings themselves have been repositioned on the site. These modifications allow us to meet zoning requirements, but they also respond to some community concerns about whether the site will be sufficiently open and accessible to members of the community. The relocation and reorientation also respond to community interest in making sure that the site can accommodate possible future mass transit options by introducing greater flexibility in the area near the roundabout north of the first-phase academic buildings.”
   The plans for construction of the new station and renovation of the existing station buildings will be included in the university’s submission to the Planning Board, which is expected to occur later this spring. Princeton Township and Princeton Borough adopted new zoning ordinances last fall to allow development in this area for the arts.
   ”The modified design also improves walking paths from Forbes College to the campus (increasing the likelihood that these paths will be utilized); provides a greater sense of connectedness between the first-phase arts buildings and the transit area (by increasing the orientation of the buildings toward the transit plaza and the station building); significantly improves traffic patterns and short-term parking options in the transit plaza; and reserves the possibility of a later-phase building at some point in the future on the site between the Stephen Holl buildings and University Place,” Mr. Durkee wrote.
   The proposed arts and transit project on the western edge of the university’s campus would form a public space that is a nexus of both campus and community life. New public plazas and improved traffic circulation would complement new facilities to support the arts and a new New Jersey Transit Dinky station 460 feet south of the current station.
   The proposed arts and transit area will be the home of the new Lewis Center for the Arts with the requisite new teaching, rehearsal, performance and administrative spaces for drama, music and dance. Future phases could include an experimental media studio and a performance hall.
   Combined with other facilities on the university campus and in the community, the neighborhood is expected to become a vibrant cultural destination for the region.