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Liam Blank

Selected work

Greater New Yorker illustrations

A wider view of the region around Penn Station.

The Greater New Yorker illustrations place Manhattan within the larger geography its railroads connect: New Jersey to the west, and Queens, Long Island, Connecticut, and New England to the east.

ReThinkPennStationNYC / ReThinkNYC · Cartography and civic visualization · 2026

The Greater New Yorker West: illustrated view from Penn Station across the Hudson to New Jersey
West: Penn Station and Eighth Avenue in the foreground, with the Hudson River and New Jersey beyond. View full-size illustration.
The Greater New Yorker East: illustrated view from Manhattan toward Queens, Long Island and New England
East: Manhattan, Queens, Long Island, and the New England coast, with European regional rail references across the horizon. View full-size illustration.

Penn Station in a regional frame

A discussion about Penn Station can become a discussion about one building. These paired illustrations widen the view to the places a connected rail system could bring closer together. Familiar streets and landmarks provide an entry point; the wider geography carries the regional argument.

The east and west views give each side of Manhattan equal weight. Read together, they make the Hudson and East Rivers part of a continuous regional picture.

From illustration to the operating question

My collaboration with ReThinkPennStationNYC and ReThinkNYC includes comparative regional maps and visualizations of station-area and through-running platform layouts. The work supports public presentations and discussions of the choices facing Penn Station.

The Greater New Yorker plates are advocacy illustrations with an intentionally compressed perspective. They are not geographic surveys, operating plans, or evidence that a particular service pattern is feasible.

Train frequency, platform use, dwell time, and track connections must be tested in the operating analysis. The federal study and underlying records below provide that next step.