Page 69 - ArchitectureDC_Spring2015

Information pod, with the waiting room visible in the background.
Photo © Anice Hoachlander/Hoachlander Davis
The two projects reviewed in this article both use an insertion of
new design to improve an existing facility used by the public. But
whereas in one case the goal was to develop a design that would
draw attention away from the dreary, cavernous space in which
the project is located, in the other it was to design a facility that
would do the opposite by showcasing the ornate beauty of the
historic hall that houses it.
A New Bus Terminal
at Union Station
Intercity bus travel has made a comeback in Washington in recent
years, with several companies now offering economical service to
and from New York and other destinations. To help capitalize on
that development, Union Station in 2012 was designated as the city’s
new central hub for intercity buses. The new hub was placed in
the massive parking structure connected to the rear of the train
station, two levels up from the room where rail passengers wait
to board trains.
Bus terminals are often held up as examples of uninspired or
depressing design, and the initial bus hub at Union Station was a
case in point. Situated in a corner of the hulking, utilitarian parking
structure, the hub was squeezed into an awkwardly configured
spot dominated by escalators and bare concrete. To make the most
of this challenging site, Union Station Redevelopment Corporation
(USRC) selected Studio Twenty Seven Architecture.
“The bus terminal is removed from the facilities and amenities
of the majestic Beaux Arts masterpiece next door,” said Todd Ray
FAIA, the principal in charge of design for the project, referring to
Union Station itself. “We were asked to design a solution that
would provide amenities to the bus traveler without requiring
them to leave the bus deck.” The goal, the firm says, was to create
a sense of place in a situation of placelessness.
“The site was neither interior nor exterior,” said Beverley
Swaim-Staley, president and CEO of USRC. “Open to the air and the
Information and retail pods.
Photo © Anice Hoachlander/Hoachlander Davis
elements, the solution had to provide a welcoming, comfortable, and
enclosed—yet fully visible—environment within an aging structure
that was neither warm nor inviting.” The parking structure
“was built for machines, not people; it would need an injection
of humanity.”
Searching for an organizing concept for the project, the firm hit
on the metaphor of a Zen rock garden. “Travel, and particularly
bus travel, is a meditative experience, projecting the mind beyond
the current place,” Ray said. At the same time, “this type of
travel inherently comes with the tremendous visual accosting of
advertisements. We were seeking to create a place of mental
refuge.” The rock garden metaphor also responds to “the pure
physicality of the site—a grey parking deck striated by travel
lanes and dividing strips, in which we wished to strategically
place small, iconic pavilions.”
The project consists of three such pavilions. The first—a
linked pair of ovoid structures that houses an information stand
and a small retail store selling food, drinks, souvenirs, and traveler
supplies—represents the rocks in the garden. In keeping with the
meditative theme, the flat, yellow-painted sides of the pavilion are
textured with raised Morse Code dots and dashes that spell out
lyrics from “Soul Meets Body,” a song by the musical group
Death Cab for Cutie:
‘Cause in my head there’s a Greyhound station
Where I send my thoughts to far off destinations
So they may have a chance of finding a place
Where they’re far more suited than here.
The second pavilion is an enclosed, climate-controlled waiting
room with nicely detailed wood-slat walls, an outdoor terrace
extension with bamboo plants, and floor-to-ceiling windows on
three sides that provide views to the terrace extension and other
parts of the facility. The peaceful, 1,425-square-foot waiting room,
WAIT AND SEE 67