Transitional Atmospheres

I intend to execute the design of a transitional space -- a locomotive station in which a phenomenal interplay of motion and time, populated with both being and machine, exist on a central stage. People are either in animated motion or situated in temporary detention. As crowds arrive they bring with them unique and indeterminate levels of earnest. In this central station there exists a heightened sense of self-awareness present in moments of haste and stagnancy; on this stage the opportunity for atmospheric intervention and temporal awareness is revealed.

The clients, comprised of individuals of varying backgrounds and equally diverse social roles, are primarily a heterogeneous audience. However, due to an interaction with the space, in both active and passive roles, they define the atmosphere and spatial tone as a collective, thus simultaneously becoming equal contributors. The threshold, the space which separates interior and exterior, embodies the most active and hastened ambient qualities. As the procession through the space unfolds the audience is brought to various platforms of agency; many will lead to everywhere and still others nowhere, instead their departure contingent on an arrival. Caught in limbo, subject to time and circumstance, they wait for their moment in frozen anticipation.

Through explorative installations, I will continue to expand on the notion of interactive design, its ability to sync with existing architectural techniques, to create hybridized environments that enhance atmospheric conditions and temporal awareness. Through this technocratic approach I hope to garner new understanding of the implications of building as such, and further speculate as to the possibility and manner or integration.

The train station will encompass a critical threshold, where the exterior elicits subtle interior intrigue, spilling outward onto the streets of a digitally drowned surrounding. Once this threshold is breached, an interactive and dynamic condition is revealed — layering of spaces and the movement of people that ultimately find themselves in the central hub. Here time seems to slow; a moment for some, speculative eternity for others. Here the space becomes observable, a performance through flurries of people moving between connections and platforms, near and seemingly at a distance from those waiting patiently.

With special attention to the integration of the locomotive into the building program I hope to capitalize on the opportunity of time and procession. Common spaces will exist, with the observers set to the side, left to appreciate the movements of the entire stage; each platform as an individual act of the whole show.