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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