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CONSTRUCTING THE EXPERIENCE OF MOVEMENT
by Michael Brady Peters
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture (First Professional)
at Dalhousie Univenty Halifax, Nova Scotia
July 200 1
O Copyright by Michael Brady Peters. 200 I
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Abstraa
Introduction
Thesis Question
Area of Study
Historical and Theoretical Background
Design Strategies
Videa: Capturing Experience
Experiences: Translation to Architectural Form
Design
Site
Program
Building Design
Conclusions
References
ABSTRACT
This thesis focuses on the dynamic relation of people to buildings
and how this relationship can be used to generate architecture. The
study of historical prececient, current architectural projects and
discourse in this area. the production of architectural studies relating
architecture and movement. and building design have been used to
develop architectural strategies that have integrated building form
and structure with the physical realities and the experience of
moving through and passing by buildings. The thesis is situated at
the site of the Transbay Terminal in downtown San Francisco.
California. Certain aspects of the experience of moving through
buildings and within the landscape of the crty (such as parallax, sense
of space. relative velocity, and rhythm) have been studied in relation
to the architectural conditions o f approach, entry. path. and room.
These building exercises culminate in the design of a new transit
terminal building at the former Transbay Terminal site that formally
and programmatically relate to the levels of movement that occur at
and around that site and relate to the experiences that occur due to
the intersection of perception, movement, and architecture.
The conternporary city (Marecki)
"Proceeding through space in the
city we move within a network of
overlapping perspectives in
motion." (Holl 1 996: 1 2)
For a building to be motionless is the exception: our pleasure
cornes from moving about so as to make the building move in turn,
while we enjoy al1 these combinztions of its parts. As they Vary the
colurnn turns, depths recede, galleries glide: a thousand visions
escape. (Paul Valery quoted in Holl 2000: 22)
The movement of people and vehicles in today's world is often
discussed in purely numerical terms: capacity, persons per hour,
volumetric flows, statistical analysis. This is done in order to predict
and optimize these various movements. What seerns to have been
forgotten is that these movements, movements through our cities
and through our buildings, can be enjoyable. pleasurable, and
perhaps even informative or enlightening. Much of the time spent
moving through our cities is when commuting. which is seen as a
chore and an inconvenience. However. this does not have to be
the case. The expedation of the quality of the experience of
commuting could be elevated to a higher standard. This attitude has
had a major influence on the way that our urban structures have
developed. This following body of work attempts to develop
strategies and an architectural Ianguage that recognizes the experi-
ence of moving as an active part of the design process. Urban
structures that promote a positive mobile experience will enrich our
cities.
We experience architecture and Our cities primarily while moving
through them; additionally. we belong to an increasingly mobile
society. Our urban structures should reflect this reality. Steven Holl
has written that it is the "movement of the body as it crosses
through overlapping perspectives fomed within spaces [that is] the
elemental connection between ourselves and architecture" (HoIl
2000: 26). "Traditional modes of design have been dependent on a
single fixed point perspective - a belief that a building is seen and
experienced from a stationary point, thus removing any aspect of
motion. This mode1 fails to address the moving body as the primary
way by which spatial qualities are perceived" (Chow:3).
The question of representation is one that quickly surfaces when
discussing architecture and motion. Architectural spaces are most
commonly represented in the static orthographie drawings of plan.
section, and elevation. While these drawings can contain ideas and
architectural strategies that focus on the experiential nature of the
spaces, it is difficult to use these drawings to either explain effects
experienced while in motion or investigate as of yet unknown
architectural str-ategies experienced in motion. The medium of
video was explored in this project as a rneans to capture the experi-
ence of architecture while in motion. Michael Sorkin states that
the invention of the movies was transformative for architecture.
paralleling and informing the idea of space. A medium that allows a
continuous depiction of space. the movies graded architecture hto
a new sense of flow, creating an idea of palpability - the physics - of
the space. Space was no longer just a ~yproduct of the order of
events. Animated, the rush of space could be expected to have an
effect on the material conditions through which it passed. film was
able. for the first time. to capture the blur of speed much the way
we - slow to process our own environment - perceive it. (Sorkin:
3 0)
In this way, the medium of video was used to capture and represent
the fleeting and continuous nature of the intersection of the experi-
ence of movement and architecture.
This thesis is not about buildings that move. Although architectural
form in this tt-iesis is informed and defined by motion and designed
to anticipate it, there is no expectation of the literal movement on
the part of the building itself.
Whiie the determination of the area of study for this project may
hint at broad implications and the establishment of a set of universal
principles relating architecture and movement. this is not the inten-
tion of this thesis. This project is intended to set up strategies for
designing a transit terminal for downtown San Francisco. It is
possible that the results of these nudies could be applied to different
programs and different sites; however, the resufts are not intended
to study al1 aspects of movement in general, nor al1 the aspects of
movement that relate to this building. This topic very expansive and
influences many areas of design; it seems virtually endless in its
possibilities for the development of architectural strategies. The
project was therefore limited to a certain methodology of study
(video-to-strategy-to-building), the study of certain aspects of
movement (parallax. rhythm, relative velocrty, relational space, sense
of space), and their relation to architectural design.
T h e s i s Q u e s t i o n
How c m a study of the experience of movement be used as a
generator of architectural form?
Area of Study
The fundamental sensation of movement is through our visual
sense; however, our tactile, auditory, and kinesthetic senses ar? also
ways we experience movement. This study focuses on the chang-
ing nature of the building users' perception of their own movement
and their environment as they move through a built environment on
different trajectories, at different velocities and accelerations, and
using different modes of transportation (pedestrian, automobile. bus.
train). The thesis is a study of architectural strategies that can react
to these different perceptions. not the study of the nature of percep-
tion itself. The work focuses on: building form, structural systems,
the use of light, the city and building as landscape, and the creation
of program that critically responds to the results of the completed
architectural studies. This thesis deals with the aesthetics of build-
ings: the way buildings look to their occupants as they move through
thern, and what this intersection between movement, architecture,
and perception means to the design of a building.
HISTORtCAL AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Space. it seems, has become one of the most important ideas in
architectural theory and praaice over the last IO0 years or so. The
idea of space gradually replaced the late nineteenth-century notions
of time and historical narrztive and by the firn world war. the notion
of space had become the idea that characterized most modernin,
avant-garde architecture throughout Europe and the United States
(Vidler 1 998: 1 O 1 ).
The new preoccupation with space was founded on the unaer-
standing that the relationship between a viewer and a work of art
wâs based on a shifting "point of view" detemined by a moving
body. a theory worked out in late nineteenth century psycbological
aesthetics by Robert Vischer and Theodor Lipps. and popularized in
art criticism by Adolf Hildebrand: the spatial dimension rapidly
became a central preoccupation for those interested in undernand-
ing the special conditions of architecture. an art that. while per-
ceived visually. was experienced in space. (Vidler 1 998: 103)
Sigfried Giedion canonized the idea of space and "Space-Tme" in his
book Space, Tirne and Architecture. Giedion states that in order to
appreciate a Space-Time structure one must move through it;
however, he also states that one can appreciate both the inside and
outside from a single stationary point. a seemingly contradictory
statement. The first part of this statement makes sense as Giedion
explains that Space-Time buildings are four-dimensional, and as the
fourth dimension is presumed to be time, and since buildings don?
literally move (for the most part). the four-dimensional component
must be contributed by the obsewer, an observer moving through
space (Collins: 289).
Giedion, in Mechanizution Takes Cornmand. traces research on
movement back to the work of Etienne-Jules Marey. The work of
E.-J. Marey had an incalculable impact on the understanding, meas-
urement. and realization of movement. He rendered the true form
of a movement as it is described in space. As a scientist and a
physiologist he did not trust his senses for scientific measurement
and so was not interested in what came through sensation. Marey
was interested in scientifically analyzing the motion of living creatures
in an unbiased way. He wanted to render visible movements that
the human eye cannot perceive, to bring something out of the
shadows, and to shed light on what has been repressed.
The work of Eadweard Muybridge was influential on the work of E.-
J. Marey and, similar to Marey's work, has continued to be influential
on those studying the movements of humans and other animals.
Muybridge captured the movernents of these various creatures by
setting up 30 cameras side by side at 12-inch intervals. The shutters
were released electromagnetically as wires were tripped. Each
camera then captured an isolated moment of the creature in mo-
tion. This technique allows for a careful analysis of each stage of
movement. In order to use this technique to represerit the experi-
ence of movement, one had to assemble the separate images in
one's mind, the exact relationships between movements not always
obvious.
E.-1. Marey wanted to capture movement on a single plate and from
a single point of view which would therefore capture an undisguised
record of continuous motion. The motion captured is, of course,
not continuous but segmental: however, one can see the different
positions of a body at various points in time and from those infer the
continuous path of motion. This is therefore not only a better way
- -
Eadweard Muybridge. woman with one hand at her mouth. descending an inclined plane (Dagonet)
Etienne-Jules Marey. Chronophotograph of a jump from a standing still position (Dagonet)
to represent the experience of watching a body move through
space but, in a sense. a literal mapping of a body as it carves its
trajeaory through three-dimensional space over time. Marey's
work had a great influence on art and culture and his images con-
tinue to be powerful representations of movement even today.
Frank 0. Gilbreth. with his wife, the psychologist Lillian M. Gilbreth.
elaborated the visual representation of work processes using pho-
tography. They devetoped the chronocyclograph in orcjer to trace
the path of a movement, from which a three-dimensional model
was constructed. These representations were then calibrated with
time. "Such early time and motion studies, of course. form the first
point of contact with architectural functionalism" (Vidler i 998: 1 12).
These studies influenced architecture in many ways. They influ-
enced the design of equipment. furniture, and factories for the
optimization of the efficiency of movement to reduce fatigue and to
improve safety. "If we add to this concern for time and motion, the
potential of the mass-production assembly line for the standardiza-
tion of furniture, and, of course, the elements of construction, if not
entire units dry-fabricated and transported for erection on site. then
we have more o r iess summarized the notion 'Tayiorism/Fordism'
signified most directly for archite- in the first quarter of the cen-
tury" (Vidler 1998: 1 I I ). While al1 of these people (Muybridge.
Mârey, Gilbreth) contributed greatly to the study of movements and
their representation and optimization. their work did not deal
directly with architecture.
Paraliax, Peter Collins notes, has "been an important element of
architectural composition. and has been manifest in architecture
ever since the first hypostyle hall was constructed. ft occurs in every
large space containing rows of free-standing columns. and mus have
produced particularly nriking eifeccs in the great medieval churcnes
2nd halls wnen these were also subdivided by low screens. or
spanned Sy deep hammer-beam roofs" (Collins: 292). 00th
Giedion and Vidler recognize the primacy of space in architecture
ana its importance in the .modern architecture of the twentieth
century. Collins. nowever: sees the new interen in parallax. begin-
ning in the middle of the eighteenth century, as one of the prime
sources for the establishment of modern architectural space (Collins:
290). People were firn interested rn the illustionistic effects of
parallax. hence the proliferation of iarge mi r ron in Rococo salons.
t.,m .,J*,, . Su. . and later in architectural effects themselves: these efiects did not
occur frequently in existing architecture ("Before the mid-eighteenth
century. the interior of a building was essentially a kind of box-like
enclosure." Collins notes (Collins: 26)). but ' lhey were invariably
2000) seen in ruins. and this may be one of the reasons why ruins became
so popular in thar period." (Collins: 27).
In 1764 Julien David Leroy presented to the king a small pamphlet
which "is probably the first architectural treatise that relies on an
experimental knowledge of movement in space - 'that metaphysicai
part of architecture.' as Leroy callc it in his letters" (Bois: 45). Leroy
had already addressed the question to some degree in his previous
book on ruins.
If you walk in a garden. at sorne distance frorn and along a r o w of
regularly planted trees. al1 of whose trunks touch a wall pierced with
arcades will only seem to you fo change ver7 imperceptibly. and
your sou1 will experience no new sensation ... But if this row of
trees stands away frorn the wall (Iike a peristyle). while you walk in
ihe sanîe vtcy as Defore. you will e n p y B n e w soecracle. 5eczclse
~ h e different spaces in î,he wall vdl seem successively :O ~e blockec
a by the frees w r h ever-y srep vou ïake. !Bois: 25)
Yve-Alcin Bots sees it cs e necessity thct a builaing. unlike Gieaion's
Soace-Time srruaure. ccnnot j e uncernood from a single point.
He. like Collins. believes rhct "it is cecessary :O Dreak the assurance
of [ne organ of vision. to eliminate rhe cresumption of gendt." This
is the great innovation contained ir! ernbrjo in the picturesque
garden (Bois: 46). The piauresque developeu in 18th cenrury
Englacd. "cker the critlque of the relation of causality formuloted Dy
Hume. that forefaher of phenomenology" (Bois: 4 1 ). "The pictur-
esque park is not the transcription on the land of a compositional
peaern previously fixed in the mind, that its effects cannot be
determineti 'a priori'" (Bois: 4 1 ). This notion woula seem ro
conrrmict the pictoral origin of the picturesque. While "the Classical
norion of design. whether ir, gardens or buildings, regarded the
totaliry of such scnemes as forming a single unified ana immeaiately
intelligible composition, of which the elements were subdivisions
consrituring smaller bur nill harmon!ously related pans. [the pictur-
esque garden was.] on the contrzry. designed in dccordance with e
diamerrically opposite intention, for here rhe overall concept wzs
carefully hidden" (Collins: 53).
Memory and anticipation are vehicles of perception 2nd are pan of
the experience of moving through space. They are both dialectically
opposed in order to prevent "good form." a "gestalt" image. or à
pattern of identity from taking over (Bois: 49). The term "gestalt"
refers to a form or configuration having properties that cannot be
derived by the summation of its component parts. A gestalt image
must therefore must be stuciec as a wnole in order t c undenrand
its propenies. It is unaerstood that it was PÏranesi. in his Carcerr.
who ikst cast m a e the iaea of gestalt ''in kvour of corn~lejc spatial
wanuering. in wnich the objectives of the journey were not revealed
2nd therefore could not be known" (Bois: -76).
"AFter Leroy, the only theoreticim who conceives architecture mew
in terms of the effea it will produce on the r n o m g s?eaator is
Boullee." "Following Boullee. but a centur-y later. the higorian
Auguste Cnoisy was to ~e the first to reexami~e this question of the
peripatetic view. H e diti so in connection with a discovery very
much his own. ... that of 'Greek piauresque'." "For the first tirne
srnce Boullee, an ar-chitea speaks of the play of parallax for his
architecture. if necessary borrowing from other cultures. as the
cubists aid from primitive oyt" (BOIS: 5 1 ).
One of the few modern architects of the tv~entieth century not only
ro write about the experience of architectural space whilst moving.
Sut to design buildings around this idea. was Le Corbusier. The Villa
Savoye. built in 1928-3 1 in Poissy. France. is 2 building with the
experrential nature of architecture at the core o f its design.
The Villa Savoye can be experienced only as a sumrnation o f its
parts: one cannot get a sense of the building from any one view-
point: in this sense. it is not a gestalt composition. However, this
does not imply that rhe building does not have an overall composi-
tion and that this overall composition was not considered o r is
meaningless.
The buildine stands alone in a field and is amroached bv car. The
main volume of the building is supported on pilotis. The approach-
ing car drives underneath one side of the building. The car then
turns and deposits the passenger around the Sack of the approach
facade. The car must then continue on around the building. still
underneath the main volume of the house. to park on the fourth
and final side of the house. The dimensions of the house are relate
Villa Savoye to the turning radius of the car. Entering the ground floor of the
Le Corbusier nouse. one is greeted by a ramp straight ahead and a circular stair off
l 928-3 . France to the left. The house is designed around a ceremonial route that
ritualizes the procession of the observer through the house. A';
Corb wrote in the Oeuvre Complete series:
Arab architecture provides us with a precious lesson. It is appreci-
ated on the move. on foot: it is in walking, in moving about, rhat
one sees the ordering devices of architecture develop. It is a
principle contrary to Baroque architecture which is conceived on
paper. around a fixed. theoretical point ...
In this house t h e r ~ is a true architectural promenade. offenng ever-
changing views. sorne of them unexpected, some of them astonish-
mg. It is inreresting to obtain so much diversity when one has, for
instance. admitted a constructive system based on an absolutely
rigorous scherna of bearns and columns. (Curtis: 28 1 )
The pattern of posts 1s not exactly rigorous in the house. The plan
has been disturbed by the vertical breach of the ramp and further
cornplicated by the addition of the staircase. Though a central nair
would have been easier from a planning point of view, Corb kept
the central ramp for several reasons. The very subject of the Villa
Savoye is the penetration of a vertical section into a horizontal grid.
Many of his other designs have the staircase external to the house,
for example. the Do-mi-no House. It is this vertical penetration by
the ramp into the arrangement of the plan. this disturbance of the
plan by the rnovement of the occupant, that creates the richness and
intricacy o f the Villa Savoye (and in a certain way one could Say rhat
the aim of the free plan corresponds in Le Corbusier, despite what
he says about it. to a wish t o free his architecture from the generat-
ing tyranny of the plan) (Bois: 5 1 ). Corb hzs written that in fact
while "a staircase separates one floor from another, a ramp connects
thern" (Bois: 5 1 ) .
Villa Savoye The Villa Savoye clearly exploits the ideas of variable view-points and
Le Cohusier simultaneous perceptions of multiple layers and levels. It has care-
l 928-3 . France fully framed views of trees and gras and the surroundings. much like
a collage. or perhaps a modern picturesque garden. The central
ramp makes the assertion of a symmetrical armature. The square is
contrasted with an asymmetrical countertheme; curved walls play off
the rectilinearity and symmetry of the plan and contain implied
rotational movement.
In 1964, Donald Appleyard, Kevin Lynch, and John Myer published
A View From the Roud, a short book on the topic o f the visual effects
obtained by an observer when driving on the highways surrounding
and passing through niost American cities. This book contains many
of the iaeas that were discovered through the course of the first
phase of this projea. While it does not discuss parallax by name it
does discuss it (the motion of the field) as well as other effects such
as rhythm. the sense of space. trajectory (road alignment), and the
extension o f self.
The Manhattan Transcripts by Bernard Tschumi, first published in
198 1 . is structured in the tripartite mode of notation of events,
Image from
Manhottan Fmscnpts
movements and spaces. The Transcripts question the modes of
representation generally used in architecture.
Rather than merely indicating directicnal arrows on a neutral
surface. the logic of movement notation uItimately suggest real
corridors of space. as if the dancer had been carving space out of
pliable substance: or the reverse. shaping continuous volumes. as if
a whole movement had been literally solidified. "frozen" into a
permanent and massive vector. (ischurni: XXll )
Also: the inevitable intrusion of bodies into the controlled order of
architecture. Entering a building: an act that violates the balance of
a precisely ordered geometry (do architectural photographs ever
include runners. fighters. lovers?) bodies that carve unexpected
spaces through their fluid or erratic motions. Architecture. then. is
only an organism passively engaged in constant intercourse with
users, whose bodies rush against the carefully established rules of
architectural thought. flschumi: XXI)
Similar to rnany of the studies undertaken in this project "the ternpo-
rality of the Transcripts inevitably suggests the analogy of film"
(ischurni: XXVII). Both the Transcripts and the cinema have a
frame-by-frame technique, isolating bits o f action. Tschurni suggests
in The Manhattan Fanscripts that architectural spaces are not just
composed static images, but that the design of these spaces should
be developed, like the cinema, in a shot-to-shot manner. In this
way the final meaning of each shot will depend on its context, the
shots that corne before and after it. Tschumi also suggests in Tran-
scripts that "[blesides some extraordinary relations between spaces
and events, the history of the cinema also suggests a rich and
inventive catalogue of new narrative and editing devices" flschumi:
Steven Holl is probably the most well known architect currently
writing about the nature of architecture experienced in movement.
He writes that "the movement of the body os it crosses through
overlâpping perspectives formed within spaces is the elemental
connection between ouneives and architecture" (Holl 2000: 26).
"Seauential experiences of space in parallax. with its luminous flux,
c m only be played out in per-sonal perception. There iç no more
important meaure of the force and potential of architecture" (Holl
2000: 26). Holl believes that the core of the spatial score of archi-
tecture is composed of elements such as the twist and turn of the
body, long then short perspectives, vertical and oblique movement.
rhythms of open-and-closed and dark-and-light spaces, and the
rhythm of geometries.
The historical research into the effects of parallax and the elimination
of the gestalt image of the buildings are important concepts that are
central to this thesis. The work of E.-1. Marey is tangentially related
to this project in that it realized in three dimensions the trajectory of
a person or vehicle. However. much of the current architectural
avant-garde does seem to be developing architectural strategies
based on a dynamic paradigm: they are developing designs that
mimic and recall frozen motion. This desire to make buildings move
instead of recognizing the movement of their occupants surely
informs a "myriad of fantasies of tipping facades and rotating masses.
a simulation of instability that has been the hallrnark o f so much
recent work" (Sorkin: 3 2).
DESIGN STRATECIES
Video: Capturing Experience
The film concept is useid to architecrure boch for in abiliry :O
capture The effects of space and for rts slore of techniques. I'm
thinking of the basic rechnology of 5lm-making. the decomposition
of a continuous kineric activiry into a series of static frames. the stills
thar: undergird the motion. This is an uncanny metaphor for
architecrure. for something that is connnicted via a sequence of
preciçely measured stabilities to ~roduce something rhat finds i ts
ulrimate legibiliry in motion. (Sorkin: 3 1 )
The representation of an observer's relation to arcniteaure white in
motion is problematic. One's visual perception of Our environment
viewer frame by frame: what is outside that frame is of no concern
to the filmmaker. Sergei Eisenstein distinguishes cinema from
architecture by t ~ e "spaial eye's" path. In cinema the eye follows
. and imaginary route through a series of objects, "through sight as
well as mind" revealing diverse positions passing in front of an
immobile spectator. In architecture. the spectator moves "through a
series of carefully disposed phenomena which are obsewed with 'his
visual sense"' (Vidfer 2000: 19).
A film shot. like an architectural drawing. is a carefully composed
image. Film and video ciin be seen as a rapid succession of carefully
constructed s~dl images that. when assembled. capture some of the
visual experience of moving through the ouilt environment. The
T h e vide0 n ik creation of a sense of motion from nill images. especially when they
are shown as a collection of images on a pages. centres on the
differences between the images. The viewer- interpolates the
differences between similar images as a shifting point of view and 2s
an analogue for an experience of rnovement.
The project narted with the shooting of more than four hourç of
video footage around San Francisco in general 2nd around the
Transbay Terminal site more specifically. The dual intent of this initial
video study was not only to document the physical attributes of the
site and levels of movement around the site. but to capture the
essence of an observer's visual perception of movement while
travelling through the bu ilt environment. Because the program and
site were known before the video was shot, the video was intended
to capture experiences of movement that would be specific to the
design of a transit terminai on this particular site. The experience of
movement was captured in relation to cars, buses, trains. and
pedestrians, while moving. wnile nationary, and in relation to both
nationary and rnoving objects.
In this project, video was used as the rnethod by which the experi-
ence of movement was first docurnented then analyzed. The firn
level of abstraction of the actual visceral experience of movement
was the framing and filtering inherent in the use of the video camera.
Once the video footage was shot a short movie was made. By the
nature of editing. certain aspects about movement and the experi-
ence of movement were isolated. These separate perceptual
incidents were extracted from the footrige and reduced to a mini-
mum of key frames. These different experiences of rnovement are
shown in Videos O I through 08. The ideas about the experience of
movement isolated in the videos were then translated to architec-
tural form through the use of study models (Experiences O I through
1 2). Most of the study rnodels came cut of the video and tnese
ideas about the experience of inovement. The architectural princi-
ples developed in the study models were then zpplied to the
building design of the new terminal building. By using this process. it
is ther! possible to produce. or at least influence, experiential mc-
men& in the new building akin to those experienced originally. In
this way the experiment wciuld corne full circle. The editing.
curting. 2nd filtering o f those architecturzl studies 2nd strategies c m
be seen as somewhat analagous to the process of filmmaking and
film editing.
Video O I : Parallax - City in Motion
Parallax is defined as the change in the arrangement of surfaces that
define space as a result of the change in the position of the observer
The apparent motion of objects in the landscape in relation to each
other is evidence of one's motility, yet this dynamic geometric dance
is also a spectacle in itself. Objects in the foreground move against a
more slowly moving rniddle ground and against a relatively stable
background. Objects can become hidden and then revealed again
or caught in a sudden and shifting frame. Objects appear to rotate in
relation to the observer. Ail of these apparent movements can
create a dynamic architectural composition that creates delight and
uitimately can be carefully planned and crafted.
Video O I Space of rnovernent
Video 02: Parallax - Tower in Rotation
As opposed to the previous example. where buildings appear to
slide past each other, the apparent "motion o f the field" occun here
as the bridge tower appears to be rotating about a horizontal rather
than a vertical a i s . In most of the video sequences studying the
effects of parallax in this projea. the observer is moving while the
object under obsewation is stationary. The careful viewirig of the
object requires the turning of the observer's head or body to
continue to see the object or it would soon disappear out of one's
peripheral vision.
Video 02 Space of movement
Video 03: Relative Velocity - Exterior
1 The total visual field rnay appear to be stable. with near objects
removed, one has the 'floating' sensation. (Appleyard et al.: 1 7)
There reaily is no velocity without a point of reference. If an ob-
I server cannot see any change in the surroundings then velocrty
cannot really be sensed (except perhaps by tactile or kinesthetic
means). As distant objects begin to appear, movement becomes
visible, but until nearby objects are visible, one's true velocity is not
Video 03 Space of rnovement
Video 04: Reiative Velocity - lnterior
The fit and movements of our bodies within and around buildings
are also significantly affected by our haptic sense. by the tactile
qualities of the surfaces and edges we encounter. Smooth surfaces
invite close contact. while rough materials such as hammered
concrete generate movement in wide radii around corners and
more careful, tentative movement through corridors. Changes of
texture often signal a slowing or quickening of one's pace. It would
be possible to generate a whole choreography of movernent
through the composition of textural changes alone. (Moore: 7
Smooth materials, when used on the surfaces of the surrounding
walls, ceilings, o r floors do not give a good sense of movement
through space. The ablility to sense motion is decreased when an
observer is moving in the same direction and at the same speed as
other objects, such as moving along an escalator with fellow escala-
tor passengers. One's (non)sense of motion is disturbed, however,
when people use an escalator o r moving sidewalk travelling in the
opposite direction. Then motion, which is normally sensed as going
very slowly, is sudaenly doubled practically, and possibly more
perceptually.
Video 04 Space of movement
Video 05: Rhythm - Structure
Tempo and rhythm are the primitive essence of any sequence. As
the tempo increases in a particular rhythm, attention becomes
directed nraight ahead; however. as the tempo slows, obseruers
become less attentive and begin to glance further off to the sides
and begin to notice more distant objects. The rapid tempo was
also accornpanied by a heightened tension. (Appleyard et al.: 17)
The tempo of the rhythm. the beats pe r minute. depend not only
on the interval of the beat [metres] but the velocity of the observer
[metres/second].
Video 05
- -- -. p.
Space of movement
Video 06: Rhythm - Tempo
The vertical structure of the bridge creates a rapid tempo as the
obsewer passes by: this rapid rhythm is contrasted by the slow, yet
still regular, rhythm of the bridge towers passing overtiead. Another
effect that is noticeable is the contrast of the rapid tempo of the
bridge structure with the cuwilinear form of the suspension cables.
Video 06 Space of movement
Video 07: Sense of Space - Barrier
Even in penods of wide scanning, attention regularly returns to the
road itself. The only exceptions to this nile occur in those brief
periods where the obsewer passes some important barrier and
being anxious to reonent himself, surveys a new landscape. This is
the movement for visual revelations, when one is sure of an
audience attentive to large effects. (Appleyard et al.: 6)
The visual field is interpreted not only as a series of remote views.
or a collection of objects in motion, but also as a space, a void
within which the obsewer can move. (Appleyard et al.: 1 2)
Barrier Diagram.
(Appleyard et al.)
Video 07 Space of movement
Video 08: Carving Space
Video 08
In the previous seven examples, the experience of movement has
been from the viewpoint of a moving observer looking at stationary
objects; however, there are three other ways in which the relation-
ship between observer and observed can occur. The four condi-
tions are that of stationary observer looking at either a stationary
object or a moving object and a moving observer looking at either a
stationary object o r another moving object. Most architectural
representations, photos and drawings. capture the first condition,
that of a stationary observer and a stationary object. However,
architecture is experienced primarily through the third condition: a
moving observer viewing a stationary object. This video captures an
experience of a stationary observer viewing a moving object, a
condition that would certainly occur many times in a transit terminal
building.
In the first sequence of images, the movement of a bus is captured
as it passes before an observer. Each image individually does not
contain the representation of motion. The graphic representation of
motion cornes in the comparison of the images. By combining the
images into a single image a graphic representation of the space
occupied by the moving bus is produced. This image, similar to
those produced by E.-J. Marey, maps out the space "carved out" by
the bus as it moves along a trajectory.
Carving space
Experiences: Translation to Architectural Form
The experiences of movement isolated in the videos were then
translated into architectural form through the use of study models
(Experiences O I through 1 2). The majority of the study models
came from the ideas about the experience of movement extraaed
from the video: however, the translation of these ideas did generate
new ideas as well. so there is not always a direct parallel between
video and study model.
In this project. models were used almon ~xclusively as the medium
to develop architectural strategies related to the experience of
movement. Unlike drawings, which are most often drawn from a
single point of view. models easily allow for changing point of view
simply by moving the model or rnoving the observer, This allows
the designer to quickly and easily imagine and visualize the experien-
tial qualities of moving through the scaled architectural space.
While none of the study models corresponds to an idea about the
new terminal building in its entirety. and each of the studies should
be considered as a generic study into the experience of movement.
the site and program for the project were known from the start so
the study models were always, directly or indirectly, trying to
explore the relationship between the experience of the movements
existing on the site and the particulars of the site and progran?.
Three nudy models
Experience O I : Paraliax - City in Motion
This was one of the first architectural studies done and is a very
literal translation of the visual experience of watching a city as one
passes by it or through it in a vehicle. This sequence of images
shows a possible trajectory of an observer into the city. Several
different effects are visible. The streetlight-posts, closer to the
observer. become a close-range field which appears to be rnoving
much faster than the mid-range and fx-range buildings which appe
to be moving much slower. The light-posts create a rhythm and a
fast tempo against which the background objects play a slower
tempo. The curvilinear and continuous form of the hjghway (a
physical manifestation of carved space) plays off the structural
tectonic rhythm of the light-posts. The tall buildings slowly rotate
before the observer coming into and out of alignment and framing
different views of the city.
Experience O I
Experience 02: Parallax - Towers in Rotation
[Parallax]'~ most striking development today is in the use of high
towers which change their apparent relationship as one moves
round the building.. (Collins: 293)
This study model was partially inspired by video O I and partially by
video 02. Video O I was inspired by how the office towers in a city
appear to rotate and how certain views are made visible, frarned
and then hidden at different instances as an observer moves around
them. Video 02 was inspired the dramatic view an observer gets of
a building (or bridge in the case of video 02) as they pass under-
neath. This model. while not to scale, was a study of the possible
building massing of this projea. Three towers are placed at different
locations along the axis of a long. horizontal building. Programmati-
cally the towers could be office, hotel, or housing that would be
situated over the long, horizontal transit terminal building. The
organization of the tower buildings provides interesting views as one
passes through and undemeath them and as one moves by them on
adjacent streets and highways. The placement of buildings allows for
views to appear, to be framed in a particular way, and then to be
hidden as an observer moves around this cornplex.
Experience 03 : Parallax - Regular Columns
The effects of parallax, the apparent displacement of objects caused
by an aau4 change in the point of observation, become visible to
an observer when passing through or past a colonnade or a field of
columns. The columns not only appear to change position relative
to one another, but also appear to change position relative to
whatever is behind them and create interesting effects as they
corne into and out of alignment. A particularly striking example of
this phenomenon is visible when driving past orchards and being
able t o see diagonally and perpendicularly deep into the orchard
because of the alignment of the trees. The phenomenon of
parallax as an architectural device has been used in architecture
ever since the first hypostyle hall was constructed and is one of the
most fundamental architectural devices (Collins: 292). In this
model, the effects of parallax in a field of columns are multiplied by
the fact that there are also beams running horizoritally in two
directions and on multiple levels, thus creating, in effect, columns
that now nin in three directions instead of just one. The effects of
these columns coming into and out of alignment as an obsewer
moves around the objed in both the horizontal and vertical direc-
tion are striking. This study of the effect of parallax in a field of free-
standing columns is perhaps more relevant today because of recent
developrnents in steel and reinforced concrete construction that
have made every large buikfing essentially a field of free-standing
columns (Collins: 27).
Experience 03
Experience 04: Parallax - lrregular Columns
This architectural study investigates the use of an irregularly spaced
field of columns combined with columns that are not perpendicular
to the ground. The building form and colurnn spacing was based on
Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye at Poissy. France. The columns extend
up beyond the roof of the structure. connecting the building to the
sky. The wall structure on the roof terrace is an abstraction of Le
Corbusier's roof structure at Villa Savoye and contains a similar
viewing window. A field of irregular columns creates a different
effect than a field of regular columns. In a field of regular columns
the point at which the columns corne into alignment is expected,
while in a field of irregular columns the points at which the columns
come into alignment are less regular and therefore more surprising
to the observer. However, in a field of irregularly spaced columns,
the columns may or may not come into alignment, depending on
how the spacing is designed. Columns that were not perpendicular
to the ground also aad something of a vertical element to the effects
of parallax as an observer moves around the building. The apparent
point of contact between the skewed column and a column in front
or behind it will appear to rise or sink depending on the direction of
travel and geometry of the column configuration.
Experience 04
Experience 05: Parallax - Directional Blades
This model studies the changing aspects of a facade as an observer
moves past it. The wall of the building is broken up into an outer
screen of vertical blades, a corridor of horizontal and vertical move-
ment along the plan of the wall, and a wall panel system filled with a
combination of solid panels, translucent glass. transparent glass.
horizontal louvres, and voids. Due to the distance between the
outer screen and inner wall, these two building elements appear to
move against each other as one moves past the building. The
vertical blades provide the most initially striking visual impact. When
looking at the building on an angle an image is visible on the vertical
blades: however, as an observer views the building straight on. the
vertical blades become invisible, or nearly so; and, when viewing the
facade from the opposite angle another image is made visible. On
an angle, the activities going on within the wall system and within the
building are hidden. These activities are slowly revealed as an
obsewer moves past the building and is able to take the time to look
straight into it. This facade system would also provide a dynamic
visual experience for an observer travelling within the facade system
and able to view activities taking place outside the building, within
the building and on other levels within the facade itself.
Experience 05
Experience 06: Relative Velocity - Material
This architectural study was directly inspired by vitieo 03. One's
own velocrty is dificult to comprehend without a point of reference.
If no change in the surroundings can be visually interpreted then,
unless one can sense motion tactilely or kinesthetically. no velocrty
(or any velocity) can be interpreted. As distant objects begin to
appear. one's own movement becomes comprehended; however,
until nearby objects are visible, one's aaual velocity is not perceived.
In this architectural study, the approach to a train or bus platforrn is
studied. As one travels along the approach trajectory, the smooth
material of the surroundings does not allow for a reading of the
actual velocity of the observer in relation to the surroundings. thus
creating a "floating" sensation (Appleyard et al.: 8). When the
observer enters into a region where the roof plane no longer covers
the space of the movement, distant objects become visible, thereby
informing the observer that they are moving, though an exact speed
is hard to determine. As the materiality of the surrounding walls
shifts to a panel system, the speed can be determined. As the
observer moves over a region where the materiality of the floor
changes to that of a rhythmic nature, the exact speed becomes
much more explicit as kinesthetic sensations are introduced into the
movement experience.
Expenence 06
Experience 07: Relative Velocity - Activity
The concept behind this architectural study is similar to the previous
study except that the visible activity of other people and objects is
substituted for materialrty. When travelling along corridors of
prescribed movement where there is ambiguous materiality and al1
others (if any) are moving in the same direction, one's velocrty is
more difficult to determine, or may not seem to be as quick. When
entering into a zone of free movement where the movements of
ExPeience 07 many other people and objects are visible at different velocities and
trajectories. one's sense of one's own rnovement changes. This
zone of movement creates a space of movement akin to the draw-
ings of Piranesi where the axes of rnovement are always multiple
and either run parallel or mutually exclude each other (Bois: 46).
Experience 07
Experience 08
Experience 08: Rhythm - Structure
Tempo and rbythm are the primitive essence cf any sequence.
(Appleyard et al.: 17)
The video footage from which video 05 was extracted was one of
the most powerful sequences in the movie. This w a because of
the effects of moving within a space with an expressed regular
structural systern. Movement within this space creates a rhythm of
structure that one passes by. This rhythm of structure can be made
explicit by complementary rhythms of light. material, or other
structural elements. There is a strong sense of journey and progres
sion within a space such as this. The common rh-ythm of the
structure of a building could provide the device to bring cohesive-
ness to a design.
Experience 09: Rhythm - Tempo
This architectural study model expands on the idea of rhythm and
movement through architecture by introducing the idea of the
superimposition of different rhythms within a sequence. Rhythms
can be in phase with one another or can be out of phase with each
other, corresponding only once in a while. or never. Different
rhythms can create different tempos within a building that could
correspond to different sequences, different users, different veloci-
Experience 09 ties. different programs. or simply to add variety to an architectural
sequence. Rhythms can exist only on their own within a building or
they can overlap with other rhythms, creating new tempos and
rhythms in the process.
Experience 09
Experience 09
Experience I O: Sense of Space
The visual field interpreted is not only as a series of remote views,
or a collection of objects within motion. but also as a space, a void
within which the observer can move. visually or physically. The
basic sensation of space is one of confinement and of the dimen-
sions of that confinement. (Appleyard et al.: 12)
Spatial sequence is inherent in any architectural work and has many
typological variants. This is a critical device to consider when
designing a building based on the expen'ence of movement. The
dimensions of the space in which an observer moves are important,
as well as the effects when an observer moves from one space to
one of different dimensions. This architectural study proposes a
sequence of tall, open spaces separated by much more compressed
spaces in between. The compressed spaces would be zones of
prescribed movement with expressed structural rhythm. The open
spaces would be zones of free movement and places of gathering.
Experience 1 0
Experience I I : Carved Space
In this architectural study, the movements of objects in a landscape
literally carve space out of a solid and leave a physical mark of their
trajectory. These carved spaces are similar to the highway systems,
overpasses. and interchanges in the conternporary city. However, in
, \ ---. this study, the lefiover space in between trajectories that is not used - by other trajectories can be filled with architectural prognm. Thus a
hierarchy of spaces is established: those of movement, and those
Experience 1 I created by that movement. Architectural spaces like this would exist
in a transit terminal building, such as this one, in â couple of in-
stances. The cornmuter rail lines literally tunnel their way into the
underground station of the terminal. the tunnels being physical
evidence of the train's trajectories. The form of the infrastructural
system of roads necessary to accommodate the incoming buses and
ease their transition from highway system to terminal would. like the
rail tunnel, reflea the realkies of the movements of these vehicles.
Experience 1 2: Relationai Space
This study was developed from the experience 07 study model and
from the experience of highway driving. As rnentioned previously,
the basic sensation of space is o f confinement and the dimensions of
that confinement: however, when travelling in a space or landscape
in which other moving objects are visible the observer is aware of
the dimensions of the space between them and the moving objects.
This relation was studied previously in two dimensions (Chow: i 8-
Experience 1 2 2 I ): this stuciy. however, expands this into three dimentions. The
most dynamic spatial relation within this space is probably not
between the observer and the building, but between the observer
and the other moving objects within the space. If an observer is
travelling along a similar trajectory to another visible object, then the
space between them does not change too much. If the object is
coming towards the observer o r is travelling along another trajectory
on the same plane, this relational space becornes much more
dynamic. The most dynamic and interesting space. however, is
created between the observer and an objea travelling along a
diflerent trajectory on a different plane. The relational space defined
between the two over time (shown by the wires in the study
model) forms a complex three-dimensional form.
DESIGN
Site
The Transbay Terminal is a major node for the cornmuter bus
network that serves the San Francisco Bay area. While the city of
San Francisco. the city in which it is situated, has a population of only
780,390. the bay area, the area which the terminal serves. has a
population of over seven million people. The terminal's location at
the centre of so many other transportation nodes makes it even
more important as 3 transition point between different modes of
transportation.
The Transbay Terminal area is located in a transitional zone between
the high density office area to the north and the districts to the south
which are more industrial, residential and mixed-use in character.
The removai of the Embarcadero Freeway and the reconfiguration
of the Terminal Separator Structure have provided considerable
vacant land with potential for accommodating both transportation
functions and other new development around the Tmnsbay Termi-
nal. Office is the predominant land use in the Transbay area. both in
terms of coverage and building square footage. Office uses cover
about one-third of all land area and occupy about 86 percent of al1
building space in the area (San Francisco Planning Department: 7).
The Transbay Terminal is within a ten minute walk from several
districts and important destinations. The Financial District,
Chinatown, Nob Hill and Union Square are to the north. The
historic Ferry Building sits at the foot of Market Street. The cultural
and entertainment facilities of Yerba Buena Cultural Center, including
the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Sony Metreon, and
Moscone Convention Center, are to the west of the Terminal area.
To the south of the Transbay Terminal are several other distinct Site photos
areas: "Multimedia Gulch" is centred around South Park, featuring
many San Francisco "dot corn" companies, the new PacBell ballpark,
San Francisco Bay Area tnnsportation network (base map from Pacific Gas & Elearic and United States GeologicaI Suwey)
home to the San Francisco Giants, and Rincon Hill, which is pre-
dominantly occupied by many new livehork spaces.
The opportunities afforded by the construction of a new Terminal
that meets the regional and local transit service needs well into the
twenty-first century, combined with large parcels of land freed up by
the removal of the Terminal Separator Structure, offer significant
opportunities for improvements in the area. However. the built
form of the Transbay area is affeaed by a number of features,
including the existing Transbay Terminal and ramp structures. the
empty land in the former freeway rights-of-way, the mix of block
sizes, the proximity to the downtown office area and adjacent
redevelopment areas. and the remnants of the historic warehousing
and small industrial uses. The old freeway ramps and Transbay
Terminal have aaed as blockades holding back development. As a
result, downtown development ends abruptly, foming a cliff-like
edge (San Francisco Planning Department: 29).
An extensive network of transit services exists in the Transbay area:
surface bus (both diesel and electnc), regional bus, subway and
surface light rail, rapid rail (BART), ferry service, commuter rail
(CalTrain) and cable car al1 operate within a three-quarter-mile
radius of the Terminal. The Transbay Terminal currently serves local
bus routes and a streetcar route (MUNI), commuter bus lines (AC
Transit, Golden Gate Transit, and others), a long distance bus line
(Greyhound), and bus services for handicapped penons
(ParaTransit).
The site has much potential to improve its livability, increase use, and
accommodate future development. The site has great exposure,
Downtown San Francisco. Transbay Terminal. and surrounding areas (base map from United States Geological Survey)
both to automobile trafic and to pedestrian traffic. Cornmuters
coming off the Bay Bridge heading into downtown pass right
through the building on F i n t Street and traffic leaving downtown for
the Bay Bridge also pass right through the building on Second
Street. Market Street, the transit. pedestrian, tounst, financial. and
shopping heart (or spine) of San Francisco is located one block away.
and Mission Street. thougt-i not as busy as Market Street, is one of
the major downtown arteries for vehicular and transit trafic. Two
pedestrian alleys connect the Yerba Buena Cultural Center and the
Second Street Historic District to the Terminal building. The Termi-
nal building has close proxirnity to offices. shopping, cultural centers.
conference centen. the waterfront, housing, and sport venues. The
new Terminal structure could provide identity and a landmark for the
ai-ea as well as providing rnuch needed public green space to the
area.
Transbay Terminal existing building
Program
ln the coming deczdes a new type of building will go up every-
where: a roofed-over amalgam of tnins. buses, offices. parking
garages and shops. situated on large plots in o r very near historic
town centres. This is 2 totzlly new typology for the disciplines of
architecture. urbanism and infrastructure. The new building for the
urban transportation area zddresses ail three of these fields and
requires an integral approach. This is no time for laissez-faire
urbanisrn: design a big. neutral space and within a few year;. or
even months. it will be going out of control with unplanned
additional shops. pavilions and street furniture. (Bos and Van Berkel:
101)
There are several problems that currently plague the Transbay
Terminal and the transportation networks that centre in downtown
San Francisco. The current Transbay Terminal is a visual and physical
barrier to pedestrians and to the further development of the
Transbay Area. It does not meet current and growing needs of the
local. regional, and iong distance bus lines that operate out of the
terminal. Additionally, the location of the CalTrain terminal at Fourth
and King is too far from downtown to allow pedestrian access to the
Financial Area. Rail commuters mua take local transit to get to
work, often having to transfer to another route at a transit hub such
as the Transbay Terminai or Market Street.
The new Transbay Terminal would bring the CalTrain cornmuter rail
into downtown San Francisco at a six track underground station
beneath the new terminal. The construction of a bus terminal with
a minimum of 5 1 bus bays that can accommodate articulated buses
would be suficient to meet the current and projected requirements
of the current bus operators. A new and expanded ground level
transit stop for the local MUNI buses and streetcan is also neces-
sary. The underground rail station provides the opportunrty to bring
not only the CalTrain comrnuter rail into downtown San Francisco
but the proposed California High Speed Rail. This would link
downtown San Francisco to downtown Los Angeles and the
downtowns of other larger California urban areas. At the present
time the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) is running at capacrty
for under-bay nins to Oakland and Berkeley. The rail lines and the
new Transbay Terminal coutd also function as a stop for a new trans-
bay subway route. As the hub of so many modes of transportation
with such far reaching transit lines, the terminal's influence -would
extend far beyond its physical site in San Francisco. "Territory is no
longer defined by its boundaries but by the network and the con-
nections inside it" (Decq: 1 14).
Stations have contemporary relevance because they represent the
post-industrial phenornenon of buildings with fiuid functions and
complex meanings. They are part of the transportation web, but
they serve equally well as places to shop for leisure items, meet
people and buy food. Stations are also bridges that connea
neighbourhoods. thereby enhancing their social and cultural value.
In addition, nations serve as urban gateways and help to define
town centres. (Edwards: 180)
In addition to accommodating the necessary bus and train facilities,
the Terminal building will enhance the qualrty of the surrounding
neighbourhood by providing other services such shopping, dining
facilities, and places o f gathering. The Terminal building will serve as
a landmark for the area and as a gateway to San Francisco.
Layers of transportation in Transbay Terminal area.
The types and tqectories of different transportation movements are modelled in this site study.
Building Design
Site model: detail
The design of the new terminal building prirnarily addresses the
issues of the experience of movement as developed through the
video and study models. Urban strategies and programmatic issues
that did not originate in those principles derived from the experience
of movement were considered secondary; however. this does not
mean they were not considered in the overall urban strategy or
building strategy for the design of the new terminal. The primary
urban strategy was thus the consideration of enhancing the experi-
ence of the building oç one moves through it. Other urban strate-
gies were as follows:
I . To create a mixer zone of movement which would then become
the heart of the site. There are so many different types and aspects
of movement that exist on o r near the site. that it would be great to
make them visible and an expression of the nature of the building
and the site.
2. To create a porous building. The current terminal building is an
incredible barrier to pedestrians and vehicles and the current bus
bridges connecting the building to the freeway act as a barrier to
development in the area.
Site model: overall view
3. To develop an open space for public use. Currently, there is n o
public open space in the Transbay Terminal area. The closest open
spaces are the gardens at the Yerba Buena Cultural Center, the
square at South Park, and Union Square. AII of these open spaces
are beyond convenient walking distance for the residents of the
Tmnsbay Terminal area.
4. To create a landmark and a focus for the Transbay Terminal area.
This would help forge an identity for the area , encourage develop-
ment and create a sense o f belonging for the people who live and
work in the area
The design of the new terminai building incorporated many of the
ideas from the video sequences and from the study models. The
design used these architectural devices to form and order the
project. An architectural language was developed for the building,
consisting of spaces carved by movement, different and comple-
mentary rhythms of structure corresponding to different program-
matic areas. the use of architectural devices exploiting the phenom-
enon of parallax, landscapes of free movement and corridors of
prescribed movement, and areas that use the ideas of relative
velocity and relational space. It is hoped that the new terminal
building will be an exciting place spatially, where the movements of
the various vehicles and people are brought alive and made evident.
Site model: plan view
Levet one plan - cornmuter rail station 1 :2000 Trains enter and leave the station through tunnels that are srnooth. Velocity 1s diffïcult to determine. As the train eiiters he station the walls of the tunnel slowly drop away to reveal a space filled with a field of v-shaped concrete columns.
. I I . . - l - L - . - . - .- - - - -- - -- -- - -- - - - -.
Level five plan - bus level one 1 :2000 The trajectory of buses entering the terminal building creates an area of cawed space defined by the velocity and turning capbilities of those vehicles. In the terminal building itself the structure changes from the curvilinear concrete forms of the caived space to an open steelstructure on a regular grid. The pedestrian areas again have a finer grain of structure and material corresponding to the change in velocity and scale,
final model: overall view
Sectional model: overall view
Cornmuter rail b e l
Commuter rail waiting area
Open air bus station for San Francisco MUNI Transit and SarnTrans cornmuter buses
at street level
Public open space and origin of pedestrian landscape of movement which ramps up into and continues
through teminal building
Carved out space. Cornmuter bus entry to terminal
building. This is the transitional zone between the highway and
the terminal building
Bus terminal. Rhythm of structure and light
responds to building orientation and the ve!ocrty and scale of a bus
Moc
View from apartrnent tower looking south West towards
the San Francisco Museum of jem Art. The terminal building and the movement it contains become the front lawn for the
apartment tower
Vtew from south showing park, bus terminal, roofscape, and
apartment tower
terminal Main entry to
building: overail view
Main entry to terminal building: detail
Cross-sectional view into main ticket hall and zone of expr-essed movernent
Cross-section: main ticket hall
Pedestrian bridges
Bus bridges
Cornmuter rail passenger platforni
Cornmuter rail waiting area
Escalators
Pedestrian ramp (continuation of landscape of park through building)
Moving ramps
Pass-through for building at ground level
Parkade
Main entry and ticket hall
Rear elevation of terminal building showing Second Avenue cutting
through building and rear entrance to main ticket hall.
Cross-section through bus terminal. main concourje.
ground level shops, and cornmuter rail levels
This thesis used the experience of movement as a starting point for
the generation of architectural form. This topic provided a virtually
endless supply of ideas and concepts for the development of archi-
tectural form. Through the use of video and study models. pBnci-
ples about the relationship of architecture and the movement
experience were established. These principles were then used to
develop the primary form and ordering concepts for the design of a
new transit terminal in San Francisco, California. 00th the study
models and the final design are responses to the thesis question:
"how can a study of the experience of movement be used as a
generator of architectural form?"
The experience of architecture while on the move shoula be a
common theme in architectural design; however, it is not often
studied or written about in current or historical architectural dis-
course and it seems few architeas use this as a starting point for
architectural design. In contemporary architectural discoune and
practice it would seem that the use of experiential qualities of a
building as a generator of architectural form has been neglected in
favour of the clarity of composition in architectural drawing.
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