Your Transit Station: A Place to Fall in Love? AICP CM 1.5 There may be more than transit and riders connecting at your 21st-century station. Nowadays, being an efficient transit access point is not the only design challenge. Stations anchor place making and build communities. Your station has to create value and be a good neighbor. It has to be a place where someone could fall in love. Hear three transit romance stories: Minneapolis’s new Target Field Station features great public spaces and integrated development. Reconstruction of two rapid transit stations in Cleveland’s University Circle is turning “scary places” into vibrant urban spaces. The transformation of Pittsburgh's East Liberty BRT station anchors an impressive strategy to bring back a blighted former urban renewal district that's attracted Google and Whole Foods. Moderator: Val J. Menotti, Planning Department Manager, San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, Oakland, California Peter David Cavaluzzi, FAIA, Principal, Perkins Eastman, New York, New York Alan Hart, AIA, Founding Principal, VIA Architecture, Vancouver, British Colombia Rebecca Schenck, Senior Project Development Specialist, Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1. Rail~Volu)on
2014
Minneapolis/St.
Paul,
Minnesota
Vancouver’s
Millennium
Line:
A
Love
Story
Alan
Hart,
AIA
Founding
Principal,
VIA
Architecture
Sea@le,
San
Francisco,
Vancouver
Footer

2. Why
do
we
design
transit
systems?
For
communiDes
For
people
For
real
lives
For
lovers

3. Vancouver
perspecDve
The best
freakin’ p l a c e !

4. Rethinking
transit:
Expo
Line

5. Rethinking
transit:
Millennium
Line

6. Rethinking
transit:
Millennium
Line

7. Rethinking
transit
Expo
Line
Millennium
Line

8. Rethinking
transit
Expo
Line
Millennium
Line

9. Rethinking
transit
• As
designers,
how
can
we
make
transit
part
of
a
community?
• How
can
we
make
transit
an
extension
of
place?
This
goes
beyond
TOD,
rezoning,
and
density
discussions.
It
goes
to
the
heart
of
a
place.

10. How
do
you
create
a
place
to
fall
in
love?

11. We
recognized
that
the
Grandview
cut
once
divided
Vancouver.

12. We
asked
the
quesDon
of
how
we
could
use
it
to
unite
Vancouver
instead.

13. We
spent
months
We
heard:
listening
hard
to
the
• a
communiDes.
We
asked
them
what
these
places
wanted
to
be.
marketplace
• open
and
transparent
• safe
and
welcoming
• a
lookout
• an
extension
of
our
homes
• the
heart
of
our
neighborhood

14. We
kept
the
best
of
the
Expo
Line:

15. We
asked:
Do
all
staDons
need
to
look
the
same?
Elements
of
conDnuity
to
support
wayfinding
and
system
idenDty
Elements
of
disDncDon
to
support
placemaking
and
staDon
idenDty

16. We
engaged
arDsts
to
provide
delight.
We
engaged
young
designers
to
challenge
design
assumpDons.
And
children
to
imagine
how
the
fish
would
feel.

17. We
chose
materials
that
were
fresh
and
unexpected:
Wood
to
make
the
staDons
expressive
of
the
region,
and
to
provide
warmth
Glass
to
make
the
staDons
open,
safe,
transparent,
and
beacons
of
light

18. Because
of
our
depth
of
community
engagement
and
consistency
of
vision,
we
completed
the
line
from
design
to
operaDon
in
less
than
four
years.
And
under
budget.
A
frugal
romance.

19. And
then
we
let
go.
Because
these
places
belong
to
the
community.

20. How
do
we
measure
success?
1.
People
get
married
at
our
transit
staDons.

21. How
do
we
measure
success?
2.
People
think
of
the
SkyTrain
in
Super
Mario
style.

22. How
do
we
measure
success?
3.
People
hold
skateboard
contests
in
our
transit
plazas.

23. How
do
we
measure
success?
4.
People
find
beauty
in
our
transit
staDons.

24. How
do
we
measure
success?
5.
So
much
so
that
they
create
art
about
them.

25. How
do
we
measure
success?
6.
And
create
birthday
cakes
shaped
like
trains.

26. In
the
end,
it’s
about
everyday
life.
And
love.

27. Thank
you.
Alan
Hart,
VIA
Architecture
ahart@via-­‐architecture.com
27