TRAIN STATION

2014, Massachusetts College of Art & Design

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A train station design for the Fenway T stop of the MBTA greenline. The concept was to more efficiently connect the upper level street to the lower level train station, while still addressing the lower entrance from the Landmark parking area (and turning it into a more pedestrian park layout).

To properly design this, first it was necessary to analyze the existing station and site, from foot and vehicular traffic and seasonal effects on station use to major organizational and hierarchy problems on the site. The Fenway stop was originally completely above ground, and when it was redesigned to go underground going inbound, it led to some major organizational flaws on the site, dangerous for passing pedestrians and those headed to the train. After analyzing, it was apparent that the little organization thought out to separate train from pedestrian from vehicular traffic wasn't even followed, as pedestrians pass the street nowhere near designated crosswalks, and don't use the sidewalk as the quicker route is directly through the parking lot.

This analysis led to a building design with two entrances, one on the bridge and one bringing a train entrance out from under the bridge into a new pedestrian park where the parking lot was. As there is still parking in the Landmark garage, this does not affect a vehicle's ability to park. The building's program has a balcony cafe on the upper level, and a large open station space below, to separate visitors from the trains while still allowing them to keep an eye out for upcoming trains. The pedestrian park area used the main traffic patterns the pedestrians preferred over the existing sidewalks and created a multi-path arrangement of walkway and lawn, allowing pedestrians with all destinations to make their own preferred route, making for a more community oriented space and pleasant view from the station.