At the nexus of old and new, fast and
slow, the site for the Dearborn Intermodal Station needs to balance the
shift between the slower pedestrian experience and the faster commuter
experience, between the cityís preserved history and its potential future.
Bridging the site, the station is flanked by an entrance plaza that faces
Michigan Avenue and an elevated pavilion that provides views of the tracks
and the site beyond. Further connecting it to its surroundings, the station
is enclosed only when necessary, remaining open to sounds, sights, and
the elements.
Materiality is used as a means to transcend the temporality
of form, allowing oneís understanding of the building to shift with scale.
At the macro-level, the structure is visible as a unified whole, and at the
micro-level the material emerges as a tactile play of light and shadow. In
order to establish the clarity of perception at the larger scale, the imaging
of the site had to be addressed as well. Rather than a pixilated field of
visual noise, the parking lot is organized by color, visible as a striated
pattern from the station.
