UNStudio have released images that they describe as a proposal for a scope of work to develop a Masterplan of L.A.'s Union Station. They suggest that the intent of the proposal, depicting how things might be in 2050, is to explore future possibilities for the station and its surroundings. Is that not the job of the masterplan?
Viewing these proposals as simply part of the interview process, would seem to fit, but even so, it gives us an exciting insight as to what is on the agenda. So just how ambitious is a visionary American public transport hub?
The first observation is that the proposal goes well beyond the notion of a simple railway station. It embodies an idea of sustainable urban living where at its core is a city park system they call a 'Green Loop'. It intersects with the proposed public transport interchange that is centred on the old Union Station.
The various facilities and programmes have been vertically layered in this study. Cycles, high-speed trains, regional transport, taxies and buses, as well as cars have all been considered. The open-air nature of the scheme plays on the Californian climate with the concourses themselves suggesting something of a mineral extension to the soft landscape of the Green Loop.
As a taster it wets the appetite!
