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Transportation

the master plan


T ransportation of people and things
is the engine that runs our society.
We use these systems to feed our need
to consume and experience. Conse-
quently, the transportation industry
has dominated the great American
landscape for decades. Canals, rail-
roads, interstates, and even the ports
that connect the web of invisible air-
line paths have created, removed, and
molded our civilization into what it is
today.

From the ancient metropolis at Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico, we can see evidence of intelligent transportation design. Hirth
explains in Transportation Architecture at Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico, these great builders of Mesoamerica created winding com-
munication and trade routes throughout the mountains. These rugged pathways were designed with ease of assent in the moun-
tains, but once within the city, a Cartesian grid was drawn off of the major trade routes. The city streets were extravagantly paved
with mosaic tiles bordered with cut stone curbs, smooth ramps to boardwalks, and major roadways dictated the pattern and place-
ment of civic buildings. Residential, commerce, and leisure zones such as parks were all directed from a grid that was well before
its time. It is hard to tell what exactly the designers of this era were taking into consideration with these projects, but one thing is
for certain: they were designed.

Transportation has the power to rationalize an architectural


plan on any scale. However, transportation routes are generally
designed from large to small; for example, an interstate system
to an alleyway. A traveler’s experience along the routes can see
that the perspective gained by each stage of the route changes
dramatically. The major arterial routes create an A-to-B attitude
that can only be satisfied by easy flowing efficiency. Supporting
streets such as a Main Street pull off of the major routes and
distribute into numerous veins of streets and avenues. Each of
these levels of movement creates a different experience from
the last. Entering a city for example, a traveler is compressed
by the increasing number of structures, and naturally feels the
need to slow down. When getting into smaller streets, the speed
decreases more yet because of the environmental perception.
Transportation and the impacts on the travelers come in many forms, each as relevant and important as the next. As Siddell argues in his essay
Transportation and the Experience of Travel, as technology increases our ability to travel in an easier, more efficient way, the essence of travel-
ing has been warped into a necessity instead of an enjoyable experience. Take walking for example. Before the widespread use of fossil fuels,
one was either to walk or employ some sort of animal. Walking was sought after as a past time that people would do for fun. People enjoyed
being out and about among their
neighbors and environment be-
cause they knew nothing more. As
the transportation industry grew
ever quicker, the value placed on a
lazy stroll through the park was re-
placed by a Sunday drive, or a day
trip on the train. People soon real-
ized how these modes of transpor-
tation dissociated a traveler from
the environment. People did not
stop by shops on the boardwalk nor
did people take time to walk to the
park. This can be seen all through-
out the transportation realm. How
much more disconnected from the
environment can you be by flying
30,000 feet over the landscape?

How do these experiences affect architecture? Ar-


chitecture is the design of the built environment. As
Architects, many factors impact the environment
and consequently the design: site, community, cli-
mate, history, geography, available materials, and
surrounding structures to name a few. When trans-
portation is used wisely, it oftentimes can create
community, transform geography, and influence
history for the better. As we can see in historical De-
troit, Michigan, transportation as a business built
this city economically while a careful planning of
the streets brings people into the city in a grand
way. The routes around town give respect to mon-
uments of history, and also draw people in with a
scale that is comfortable and easy to experience on
foot.
Architecture
the new plan
Architectural design is primarily designing the environment we live in. It
allows us as humans to dictate what we want around us and control our
environment- to a point. The environment can be on a personal scale, such
as an office or bathroom, or it could spread to a grander, more holistic scale,
such as a city plan.

The sense of place is a concept that places a value on a certain location.


This is especially important in our ever expanding society and ever ex-
panding technology. As we spread out physically because of the links to
each other digitally, a regional headquarters is placed in a location that is
consequently more prized because of the disconnect from its employees
or clients. This strategy can improve the sustainability of the building be-
cause of the lack of transportation to and from a building.

Architecture has grown from a field that designs monumental structures


to include a more personal variety of projects. This creates a human in-
teraction with the environment, something which has seen a significant
resurgence. When a building interacts with a person, it engages senses.
Generally, the more senses the building taps into, the more meaningful the
interaction can be. It can truly define what a building is to a person and
dictate what a person thinks or feels within a designed structure. To en-
gage vision intellectually is good; to control what a person hears is better;
to control texture and what a person touches is great; to control what a
person smells or even tastes is on a different level.
As the sustainability of a building becomes more prevalent during the new
green movement, the more connected with the environment it becomes.
This includes using passive systems and sustainable energy sources to try
to become as carbon neutral as possible. Similarly, this impacts transporta-
tion by moving toward a sustainable energy source. That means looking at
hybrid, electric, and hydrogen alternatives. Looking into the future is al-
ways an interesting pastime, as Crane explores in Autoweek magazine. He
looks at what the next fifty years will hold for transportation. The futuris-
tic “car” runs entirely on hydrogen while communicating with the environ-
ment around it. It only requires the traveler to be inside the car to reach the
destination. The green movement that is carried today by the architectural
field will naturally bleed into transportation.

A building’s design depends heavily on scale. Small scale tries to address


the details of nuts and bolts, sometimes quite literally; whereas large scale
tries to address the relationship of building on site. Architecture generally
uses a small scale to large scale strategy. An initial inspiring idea is devel-
oped from a relevant source, such as the users. Then the building is built
from the ground up based on that idea, or parti. Human scale is taken into
consideration along the way to ensure an experience for the user. Archi-
tecture then, creates a sense of place to transport to.
How will architecture impact transportation in the future? The move-
ment toward green design will continue and also express the capability of
what we can do. The technology developed will transfer into the transpor-
tation industry and we will see more innovations by interested designers.
As Tom and Ray Magliozzi explored in the PBS series NOVA, the future of
transportation is very bright. Many small entrepreneurial designers have
taken a leap forward to examine what it really means to transport, what is
needed, and what is the future. Tom and Ray use their “car guy” attitude
to take a critical look at these innovations. They find that although the
future is very exciting, they are not ready to let go of the past. The attitude
of the rest of America is similar. We do not want to let our horsepower
driven attitude to disappear into the dust. But it is curious to see how we
are willing to use new innovative solutions to solve our building problems
and we are unwilling to let our powerful cars go.

These two cooperate by borrowing


technology, materials, and a qual-
ity of feeling. In the future, I
am confident that we will see
more harmonious designs
between the two. As the
public desires a greener
future, designers have
no choice but to
step into the un-
known and find
new solutions.
Architecture encapsulates our obsession with transportation as illus-
trated by both Meyhofer and Jones in their books Motortecture and New
Transport Architecture. These examples pull from the essence of trans-
portation and form it into purposeful structures. One cannot help but be
inspired by these masters of form and function. Today, we can see how
these two fields work together to create something more than just a build-
ing and more than just a highway.

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