Getting to a subway platform from the street often involves navigating stairs as well as a labyrinth of corridors. Architect Candy Chan created remarkably detailed and accurate diagrams of New York City's noted subway entrances and exits, overlaid with transparent parks and buildings.
Curiously, with the overwhelming amount of information available to us today, a three-dimensional representation of the stations does not exist. I first challenged myself to document the stations simply because I thought it is something the city can use, but as the project develops, what set out to be a straightforward, mechanical exercise of surveying and drawing gradually turned into a journey of observation, discovery, and amusement.
I hope the drawings will make way-finding in this giant maze a little easier. On top of that, I hope this project as a whole will give you a new perspective, a new way of understanding, and perhaps a new found sentiment, for this mystifying world under one of the most dynamic cities in the world.
• X-Ray Area Maps (Project Subway NYC via CityLab)
