Gov. Deval Patrick today joined state and local officials and Somerville business owners at the opening ceremony of the new Assembly Orange Line Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) station.

Assembly is the first new MBTA station in 27 years and is a key element in the creation of a transit-oriented development at Assembly Row, providing a vital transit link between Assembly Row and Boston.

Assembly is the first new MBTA subway station to be opened since the southern portion of the Orange Line was moved from the Washington Street Elevated Line to the Southwest Corridor in 1987.

The station’s design includes a glass two-story entrance building at the corner of Foley and G Streets, with stairs, escalators, and elevators leading to a glazed glass bridge crossing G Street and the inbound track. The bridge connects to another glass two-story building between the inbound and outbound tracks, where transit riders will pass through the fare array and travel down to platform level on another stair, escalator or elevators.

The new station has integrated intuitive design and is fully accessible and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The daily projected ridership at the Assembly station is expected to be between 4,800 and 5,400 passengers by 2030.

“The first new MBTA station in 27 years is a testament to the key role that access to transportation plays in the growth and redevelopment of our cities and towns,” said MBTA GM Dr. Beverly Scott. “Assembly is a modern, fully accessible, environmentally-friendly Orange Line station that will serve this blossoming new neighborhood and the City of Somerville well for years to come.”

The station’s design also includes sustainable and environmentally-friendly elements, such as extensive daylighting, storm water retention, and energy-conserving electrical power controls and lighting fixtures. The station features passive solar power design, which allows the building windows, walls and floors to collect, store, and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer, without using electricity.

The development will include more than 2.8 million square feet of office space, 635,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment uses, and 1,813 homes. It will feature public benefits like a waterfront park, open space, and new bike and pedestrian paths connecting existing neighborhoods with the new development.

The new Assembly station is a public-private partnership, funded through a combination of federal, state and private investment. The total cost of the station is $56 million with the Executive Office of Housing & Economic Development contributing $25 million through a MassWorks grant, $16 million in federal funds and a $15 million investment from Federal Realty Investment Trust, the developers of the Assembly Row project.