That’s a picture from the new west concourse at Penn Station, phase 0.01 of the plan to convert the Farley Post Office into a new headhouse for the station. I had a picture up a while back showing a newly-exposed column at an office building on Rector Street; the exposed columns above, which support the superstructure of the old post office, are seen by many more people.
The paint is either intumescent paint that serves as fireproofing or its decorative paint covering intumescent paint. The use of intumescent paint for fireproofing is nothing new and has, for example, played a part in exposed steel at a number of high-design air terminals. The difference is that the use of paint rather than thicker fireproofing materials in new buildings is an aid to allow form sleek and seemingly-weightless design, while here it’s exposing nearly 100-year-old steel that’s a bit clunky.
In some ways, the old built-up columns do a better job of showing off the new fireproofing technology than the tube space frames in airports: we rarely* get to see these old steel forms exposed, so it’s striking when we do.
* Except in the subways, where a lot of steel is exposed.
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