Location: Las Vegas, NV

Use: Multimodal Transportation Center

Concept: Expression

Techniques: Vertically Separated Program

Write Up:  This was the final project of my undergraduate studies.  I enjoyed this project because it addressed the current and future needs of Las Vegas mass transportation and was a little more expressive compared to my previous work.

The program for this project came from a master plan the studio developed to address the needs of a rotted-out downtown core along Fremont Street in Las Vegas. The studio felt the area needed a transportation hub to replace the existing hub and integrate new systems into the mix. I have always been interested in transportation systems, so the studio handed this project to me. The program and site would also integrate adjacent projects such as the modern art museum and apartment tower, similar to the City Center Project on Las Vegas Boulevard.

A raw parti of the comings and going of transportation became a formal translation. The primary objective was to sort out the separate systems in a logical and convenient way for the users. The ground rule was to make this more pedestrian friendly than most Las Vegas landscapes, so I decided to make the ground plane for pedestrian only. I diverted vehicular and light rail traffic below and bus traffic above the ground. The user would simply move up or down one floor to access the entire network. To make the system easier to use for bicyclist the ground level includes bicycle lockers and shower rooms. A color code establishes the five modes of transportation and architecturally signified where to find each mode.

The review for this project went well and ended in a debate between reviewers over disturbing the visual connection of a street. I sided with my project to terminate, visually, a point in the street to create an interesting node. Unfortunately, the government official at the jury, who would be responsible for such a project in Downtown, sided with a continuous site line.

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