Tai Soo Kim Partners Awarded Intermodal Design Contract

Hartford, CT - Tai Soo Kim Partners has for the second time in its history been selected to design modifications to the Hartford’s historic Union Station, which happens to be the location of the firm’s first architectural offices in the early 70’s. This current project is one piece of a larger initiative closely tied to the Hartford iQuilt Plan, a visionary, long-term transformation of Hartford’s downtown. The larger initiative is a series of enhancements to traffic patterns, pedestrian environments and streetscapes within the Hartford Intermodal Triangle, a conceptual overlay defined in the iQuilt Plan. Tai Soo Kim Partners will collaborate with other teams designing improvements to traffic patterns and street realignments to incorporate the CTfastrak buses and to improve the routing of both local and commuter buses which now operate in the Intermodal Triangle. The firm’s work will enhance the northeast end of Union Station, creating a dedicated public transit waiting area for CTTransit passengers and a more rider-friendly transit oriented environment. It will also relocate the offices of Greater Hartford Transit District within the 20th century building. This first phase of work is primarily funded by a Federal TIGER grant (Transportation Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery ) and is intended to “strengthen the Capitol Region’s economic and employment core by improving pedestrian and vehicular connections within the Union Station-to-Main Street triangle”, according to Mayor Segarra in his March 2012 State-of-the-City address. Design work will be complete for a Spring 2014 construction start. Background on Union Station: The Richardsonian/Romanesque building originally designed by George Keller and built in 1889, was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the early 1900’s. In 1970 Tai Soo Kim founded his architectural offices (first named the Hartford Design Group) in the underutilized building. In 1987, the firm moved from Union Station as it designed and oversaw the renovation and expansion of the facility into an intermodal transportation center. Click here to see the firm’s early work on Union Station.
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