Two of New York City’s most overburdened transportation facilities— Pennsylvania Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal, which together serve nearly a million passengers a day —could be dramatically upgraded or replaced if proposals developed by architectsand recently made public are adopted.

Architects often find competitions — which require large amounts of work for little or no pay – exploitative. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey did little to improve that situation when, on March 11, it announced a competition to replace Manhattan’s 65-year old Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Modesty is rare amongst global architectural practices, yet Dutch firm Mecanoo is an exception. With major projects under way from New York to Taiwan, Mecanoo has recently completed a surprisingly understated railway station and municipal offices in its hometown of Delft that also helps repair a torn urban fabric.

A group of recent projects demonstrates that true universal design goes beyond mere accessibility.

The Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz station lies 60 feet under the inner city of Leipzig, yet architect Max Dudler, who is based in Zürich, Frankfurt, and Berlin, wanted to create the impression that this public space is flooded with daylight.

The revitalization of Downtown Los Angeles remains a work in progress, with the area still a patchwork of commercial and residential towers, government and cultural facilities, light manufacturing, and parking lots. Lately, its momentum has turned to its eastern fringe, a once-industrial area now dubbed the Arts District.