Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Just a thought

Upon further thinking about Wynyard Station and its subterranean nature my mind seemes to have wandered from the exciting Japanese chikagais to the major Hong Kong MTR stations to the fabulous Parisian urban underground... then of course, to the mysterious Derinkuyu and Cappadocia...

Then I couldn't help to start thinking about this famous ant city with it branching subterranean structure that weave its way underground and eventually you see their impact, a little hole on the surface -- which is quite similar to transit environments in some instances.


Image from Think or Thwim

Subway entrances are natural urban nodes, they tend to "force" a large amount of people to use the spaces in the vicinity. While some entry points might have been poorly designed/developed, they are flow attractors nonetheless. And of course, entry points can become potential anchors for reactivation, which is something I trust all my colleagues who are also working on the Wynyard site has considered.

In response to the current conditions of Wynyard, my next agenda is going to be about: what would bring people to this area and how? The main entrance of the station is located slightly off the George Street spine and the area is highly monofunctional, so it is relatively unused.

So far I've done some diagrams on the possible accompanying programs and urban nodes to "open" Wynyard Park to the concrete jungle of Sydney... so we'll see how that goes.

I am not necessarily saying that railway stations should be such a complex entanglement, but it is interesting!

Monday, June 1, 2009

The site

So the site has been confirmed.



Wynyard Station.

I'm looking forward!