New York City is obviously the most well-known city on the planet… for many it’s the center of the world.  8.4 million people live there, 2 million travel in everyday to work and almost 70 million visit it every year from all corners of the Earth.  For many, one of the most famous sights--symbolic of the majesty and leadership of New York--are the bright lights of Times Square that still seem otherworldly on the sunniest of days, let alone at night when Times Square seems as bright as midday.  Lit billboards on each side of the irregular square tower in multiple layers over some of the most famous branded retail outlets in the world.  A huge pedestrian walkway in the middle of the city, there are hordes of tourists watching some of the most interesting characters from Disney to Star Wars to homemade heroes like the Naked Cowboy roaming around interacting with people and creating ]a huge party every day and night with brightness that could only be rivaled by the Ginza in Tokyo.

Underneath this playground sits one of the most storied and travelled subway stations in the world: the Times Square–42nd Street station bringing together the North/South Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue lines with the East/West Shuttle and number Seven trains as well as other subway train lines that stop at Times Square. 

The station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway. Today the Times Square–42nd Street complex, including the Eighth Avenue Line, is the busiest station complex in the system, serving 65,020,294 passengers in 2019.

Over time because of its heavy usage and its role as a central fulcrum for much of the city’s mass transit, the station has been renovated and expanded many times.  In addition to repairs, new entrances were added, better lighting deployed and arcades were linked via underground levels.  Soon a NYC Visitor Center was added as the city recognized the importance of the station from a symbolic and utility aspect.

During the 1970’s when the entire city was undergoing a financial crisis and crime rates were at an all-time high, Times Square developed a seedy persona with many strip clubs, peeps shows and disenfranchised citizens occupying the area.  Much of the crime happened underground in the subways and due to the huge nature of the Times Square station order was difficult to maintain.

As the city got on a better footing (from which it would never sink again), the infrastructure of the city reflected this new optimism and growth. The Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), an agency of the New York state government, had proposed redeveloping the area around a portion of West 42nd Street in 1981, spending $125 million, not an insignificant amount in those days. This was augmented with several other phases in 1995 through 1998 at a cost of $91 million and 2004-2006, with a cost of $86 million.

The latest renovation over the last decade and a half was designed to uptick the station cosmetically and make it more consistent with the incredible sensory aspects of the above ground Times Square, and at the same time create mitigation measures to allow for the dramatic increase in usage and traffic that the entire Times Square area generated.

Since lighting was central to the identity of Times Square, truly acting as the foundation for its grandeur, it was critical that the lighting in the subway station have the utility aspect of handling the underground crowds, yet reflect the aesthetic that defines modern Times Square.

Working with the New York City Transit Authority in partnership with Lighting Designer DGA and General Contractor Smalls Electric, Apogee Lighting’s goal was to replace the transit flagship GC36 fixtures that were situated all over the Times Square station with our new GC46.  The GC46 was as much of a solution from a lighting standpoint as GC36 however, the new design allowed for the Hybrid EM box to be housed inside the fixture as opposed to its previous Sidecar positioning. Now continuous runs of light could be deployed without breaks while still providing the necessary back up requirements of the NYCTA.  The architectural concept was consistent and intact, an extremely critical aspect considering the high-profile lighting of any kind occupied both above and underground at what could be the most lit city block in the world…Times Square.