ARTIC / HOK
HOK‘s Los Angeles office, with Parsons Brinckerhoff, was just announced the winner for the ARTIC (Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center) in Anaheim, California. This new transit center, featuring a high-speed rail network, will update Anaheim’s public transportation system and ignite further development in the city. “We’re getting the critical infrastructure in place where you can actually envision a day in the future where you can reliably get around without a car,” added Todd Osborne, vice-president at HOK.
More about the ARTIC transit center after the break.
Located in the Platinum Triangle, a high density portion of the city, the 66,000 sq foot station will initially provide Amtrak and Metrolink services for the users, as well as local and regional bus lines, shuttles and taxis. The transit center will host the high-speed rail, running from the north of California to the south, in later development phases. HOK will also design a master plan for the remainder of the site which will include retail, office, residential areas. The master plan, as HOK Design Director Cirangle noted, will be a “pedestrian oriented, vibrant place” complete with a promenade and riverfront park.
Inspired by the openness evident in stations such as Grand Central in New York, the transit center will incorporate a vaulted design allowing a column-free area to maximize space. Triangulated steel components and an ETFE membrane, which will include solar hot-water heating cells and photovoltaic cells in an effort to achieve a LEED Platinum rating, will provide the structural support for such vaulting. The long hall will feature train platforms and tracks on one end while the other end will include ticket areas and retail spaces. “We wanted to celebrate the new interest our country has in improving its rail transportation,” said Cirangle, HOK Design Director. “So we wanted the building to be noticeable from a long distance.”
Set to be opened in 2013, the $180 million project is receiving millions from government programs, such as the Renewed Measure M fund, to be a successful component in improving the overall transportation planning of the area.
Images courtesy of HOK. As seen on The Architect’s Newspaper.
That atrium is going to get HOT. It would also be nice to see some plans and sections and other important info.
I sense that since this was a competition they didn’t bother going into detail (sections, elevations, people flow, basics such as how this large atrium will produce a green house effect unless properly dealt with). Instead I assume they went with the wow factor as most architects do these days. I find it sad that common sense and intelligent design has taken a backseat to the flashy graphics and pixelized renderings of fictional buildings that will not turn out as they appear on your computer screen.
I must say I already disagree with the location of the ticket stand. For anyone who has traveled you know that there are those times (more often than none) where you are running late (along with 100 other people) and the last thing you are going to want to do is buy a ticket on one side of this large atrium and then run all the way to the other side to get on your train.
Is the glass curved or flat????
Tashio: What is even more sad is that even though this was a flashy design competition, HOK won over firms like Calatrava, OMA, and Morphosis. Goes to show the power of the OC political machine in action! For shame.
thermohaline response jaiku 1990