DOWNTOWN TRANSIT STATION

Transcription

1 DOWNTOWN TRANSIT STATION client: city of charlottesville, virginia status: built completion date: spring 2007

2 Instead of considering what is past, however, we are to look forward and prepare for the future. Thomas Jefferson CONTEXT Nestled in the foothills of Virginia s Blue Ridge Mountains, Charlottesville occupies a storied place in the American imagination. Home to Thomas Jefferson, it is the place where a budding nation s aspirations were so eloquently expressed, in brick and wood, in his astonishingly fresh and lucid architecture at the University of Virginia. Our five-year involvement with the project began when we were selected to prepare a Master Plan for Downtown Charlottesville s Public Spaces. The plan focused on the extension of Lawrence Halprin s remarkably successful Downtown Pedestrian Mall of 1976, and the construction of a Transit Station with earmarked transportation funds. The Master Plan culminated in a series of recommendations that included the redevelopment of the 1.5-acre unfinished east-end of the Mall as a vital extension of the city s urban fabric. The Master Plan extended the Mall one city block; created a new Station Square that recovered the civic prominence of City Hall and the old C&O station; sited the new Transit Station to be a gateway and bookend to the Mall; and, most importantly, kept the buses off the Mall. The new Transit Station building is the City s central intermodal facility for bus, trolley, and tour bus connections. The 11,200 S.F. building s program was developed to incorporate uses that enliven its functions and integrate it with the community. Its spacious central Transit Hall supports a visitor center, a café, art gallery space, a newsstand, and public restrooms that serve the Mall and the adjacent amphitheater. ARCHITECTURE The building crystallized a progressive City initiative to make transit a more integral part of city life, sponsoring community and a sustainable lifestyle. As a transit hub, security, visibility and flow were of particular concern, which meant that the building had to be as open as possible. The building s location and use also made it a highly prominent addition to the City which allowed it to assume the role of a civic landmark. To many deeply held opinions, this meant that the building would be designed in the classical style. The above concerns meant that the architect s challenge was clearly laid out: How to design a building for the future, in a City so defined by its past? That question was answered over the course of four years, and great public debate. The design that emerged is a studied responses to the demands of program, context and environment. The vocabulary of forms and materials developed for the building were inspired by the local vernacular, but studiously avoided replication. Its integrated design approach generated a high performance sustainable building that earned it LEED Gold Certification. That approach led to a building that avoided the comfort of the familiar, to architecturally embody the City s commitment to renewal, adaptation and change. It allowed the design to be responsive in ways that can be read in its nuanced architectural expression. An engaged citizenry embraced the architect s proposition for a building that is firmly vested in the city s unique building traditions, but which interprets those through the material craft and quality of its architecture rather than through the overt use of historical motifs. They supported an approach that focused its concern on the important issues of the times: building sustainably, building community, and building with genuine regard to place. Today, the building is widely admired by the community, even by some who still maintained that it should have been designed in the classical Jeffersonian tradition. True to Jefferson, however, the building s outlook points decidedly towards the future. DESIGN ACHIEVEMENT This small but complex project demonstrates exemplary skill and creativity in the way that it: Resolves and integrates the formal, technical and functional requirements of a modern transportation program in a state-of-the-art sustainable building set that is within a historically sensitive and complex urban context. Advances the ecological stewardship and social responsibility goals of the City of Charlottesville through a comprehensive design that has served to incorporate transit into the social and economic life of the city, to build a sustainable and vital community. Reflects the strong sense of place of its highly significant historical context, redefining the nature of civic architecture in the city of Jefferson, to allow it to rise to meet the challenges of the future as it establishes a vital dialogue with the traditions of its rich historical past. Includes state-of-the-art engineering achievements in its integrated building systems design. Its innovative design and sustainable features have earned it LEED gold-certification and served as a teaching tool in the community s drive towards sustainability. Innovated in the use of materials to demonstrate how those, commonly used in the traditional architecture of the region, can be used in new ways and combined with new materials to generate an architecture that is responsive to its environment and to modern demands. Sustainability The new Charlottesville Downtown Transit Center performs 43.3% better than ASHRAE requirements using the LEED Energy Cost Budget methodology. The success of this design is the based on the sum of all of its various components and their ability to complement each other. The roof has thermal properties that are approximately 52% better than ASHRAE requirements. The shading coefficient and insulating properties of the windows are also better than the minimums set by the energy standard. Average lighting power density for the building is 0.99 W/sf versus 1.2 W/sf allowed by ASHRAE The ground coupled water source heat pumps offer the most energy efficient cooling operation during summer. During winter, radiant heating with a condensing, gas fired boiler achieved higher efficiencies when compared to standard boilers and fin tube radiators. In addition, the largest water source heat pump utilizes an energy recovery wheel between the relief air and outside air intake to mitigate the high occupancy loads projected for the Visitors Center and the Passenger Waiting areas. The project s percentage of energy reduction and energy consumption per square food as defined by the EPA s Energy Star Target Finder is: EPA % Energy Reduction: 40 kbtu/sf.ft./yr.: Site: 43.6 Source: 96.9 Renewable energy is used: kbtu/sf.ft./yr.: 0 (Excludes geothermal wells impact) One of the primary exterior features is the metal volume, clad in pre-patinated copper, a material low in emissions and with a 93% recycled content. The use of clear, low-e, insulated glass throughout the major public spaces provided an unmatched sense of openness without compromising the continuity of the envelope. The brick is produced in the region. The interior of the building implemented materials with low emissions and high recycled content in its finishes and its structure. In addition, the successful management of the construction process resulted in the reduction of waste deposited in landfills by over 60%.

3 REGIONAL CONTEXT / the transit line and station connects the city to the downtown mall UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA DOWNTOWN MONTICELLO MAIN STREET downtown pedestrian mall WATER STREET SITE CONTEXT / the transit station was designed as a gateway into the downtown

4 CONTEXT VIEW / the transit station amid the mall extension, station square, and re-framed C & O station

5 city hall mall amphitheater old C & O station SITE PLAN / the transit station defines the edge of the mall, frames civic buildings and mediates potentially conflicting activities.

6 NORTHWEST VIEW / mall level entrance and window to monticello

7 SOUTH ELEVATION / transit platform canopy and copper clad volume

8 SCALE: 1/32 = Visitor s Center (V.C.) 2 Elevator 3 Cafe 4 Cafe Prep Room 5 Conference Room 6 V.C. Office 7 Copy Room 8 Office Space 9 Women s Restroom 10 Men s Restroom 11 Janitor s Closet 12 Anteroom VISITOR CENTER LEVEL / mall level floor plan FT VISITOR CENTER LEVEL / mall level floor plan

9 SCALE: 1/32 = Men s Restroom 2 Women s Restroom 3 Elevator 4 Gallery 5 Passenger Waiting 6 CTS Guest Information Center 7 CTS Office 8 Retail 9 Trash + Recycling Area 10 Janitor s Closet 11 Driver s Restroom A 12 Driver s Restroom B 13 Mechanical Room 14 Electrical Room 15 Transformer VISITOR CENTER LEVEL / mall level floor plan FT TRANSIT LEVEL / water street floor plan

10 RESTROOMS west elevation RESTROOMS east elevation RESTROOMS north elevation south elevation OLD C&O STATION WATER STREET TR building elevations EAST ELEVATION SCALE: 1/32 = FT

11 interior west elevation / n-s section e-w mall section e-w mid level section evolving light conditions e-w street level section building sections

12 mass and transparency

13 high reflectance roofing membrane 2 low e glass 3 exterior & interior shading devices 4 natural light in all public spaces 5 high albedo value exterior paving 6 bike racks / alternative means of transportation 7 geothermal wells 8 radiant flooring 9 trash + recycling area 10 waterless urinals in public restrooms 11 local and regional building materials 12 low voc and urea formaldehyde free materials 13 ultra low flush valves 14 efficient HVAC system 15 recycling of construction debris 16 energy efficient task lighting 17 educational displays SUSTAINABLE DESIGN / the municipal landmark is a LEED GOLD certified structure

14 new and old juxtaposed passenger waiting area EXTERIOR AND interior views

15 visitor center hall grand stair case interior views

16 southwest view / the lantern-like structure s openness creates a safe and welcoming environment