SLOUGH BY SIMON MOXEY

The word ‘slough’ − like sludge, slurry and slime − is almost onomatopoeically awful. In old English it means ‘a swamp; a miry place; a quagmire’, an image that the place Slough itself hasn’t entirely shaken off. Slough seems, in short, an unlikely site for architectural speculation.

However to Royal College of Art student Simon Moxey the place is on the up. ‘In July, Slough became the European entry point for the first transatlantic fibre-optic cable laid since the dotcom boom,’ he beams. ‘This new cable will shave five milliseconds off the time it takes to make a trade between Europe and New York.’

And while this may seem finical and trifling, to high-frequency trading firms the principle of ‘time is money’ needs a finer measure than grains of sand, with each millisecond apparently having million-dollar implications. While this may seem an unusual starting point for an architectural project, the banal can often shape the whole identity of cities.

The brick party walls required post-Fire of London engendered the city’s terraced town houses; while the invention of the lift gave rise to the towering ambitions of the American city.

Why not an urbanism configured to cable latency, and the time it takes to send a message? Slough Global City reimagines Slough as a higher-speed Canary Wharf, usurping the existing financial centres of the City and Docklands (itself, in its time, a usurper), in order to regenerate the fortunes of a maligned outer town.

And if the idea of a development laid out according to the whim of bankers makes you feel uncomfortable, it is meant to. Though GAGA set out to move away from the recent celebration of dystopia in architectural student projects, the judges felt that the scheme didn’t fit into that category.

Though it questions attitudes to the relationship between capital and development, it does so not merely by offering a critique but by making a proposal. And though it may be depressing in its expression, it is entirely plausible. If Slough Council could find a financial backer, it could even be the best thing to happen to the place since The Office first aired.

GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEXT 100 YEARS BY WXY ARCHITECTURE + URBAN DESIGN

After Foster + Partners’ vision, then SOM’s, WXY Architecture + Urban Design is chosen as one of the firms to re-think the public realm around the future Grand Central Terminal.

“New zoning rules should trigger real transportation links to public space. One way is to harness the untapped potential of Grand Central’s edges” says Claire Weisz, one of WXY’s founding principals. ”The plan for Midtown’s near future needs to make the Grand Central neighborhood a place people enjoy being in not just running through.”

WXY’s proposal would create a striking new ground transportation hub, through the following interventions:

• Transforming Vanderbilt Avenue into a pedestrian-only street,
• Creating new public spaces around the base of the MetLife building,
• Adapting the west side of the current Park Avenue Viaduct into an elevated pedestrian and bicycle path, with a glass floor and seasonal plantings, and
• Introducing a new tower, featuring \”sky parks,\” on the west side of Grand Central Terminal.

Focusing efforts along 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, the plan by WXY Architecture + Urban Design restores pedestrian-friendly amenities to what had been an automobile-centric urban layout. The pedestrian/auto hybrid strategy includes making Vanderbilt Avenue a pedestrian-only walkway. The west side of the Park Avenue viaduct would become an elevated promenade featuring tall grass plantings and glass paving — a space for reflection hovering over the city bustle.

Combining walkable skylights with wide staircases and a multi-level approach, points of entry to the Grand Central area become unusual and gracious outdoor rooms that provide access and support to an expanded terminal city. Direct access to and links between the multiple subway and train lines — including the new East Side Access/LIRR lines — would be greatly expanded and improved.

Egress from the MetLife building’s base would become visually striking and yet relaxing to use, with escalators transporting travelers into a cleared podium park. Some years after completion, visitors exiting via these escalators will have the experience of being greeted first by the park’s grove of trees, a pleasant surprise in the Midtown East district. Surrounded by an active facade and a sky lobby above, the podium park presents an opportunity for a unique public event space.

WXY’s plan also includes a tapered obelisk-shaped tower west of Grand Central Terminal. The tower’s graceful, elongated pyramidal lines are broken at odd intervals by garden terraces that protrude like enormous window-box gardens, and feature seasonal plantings. The roof is likewise vegetated, reinforcing New York City’s renewed commitment to finding and creating green spaces for the health and enjoyment of its citizens.

 

Location: New York, USA 
Architects: WXY Architecture + Urban Design

UNION STATION MASTER PLAN

Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, Washington Union Station instantly became one of the pre-eminent passenger rail facilities in the world.

Burhnam Place, named after Union Station's original architect Daniel Burnham, is part of Amtrak's master plan and will be developed by Akridge and architectural firm Shalom Baranes.  Developers plan, over the next 15 years, to build a 3-million square-foot mixed use development over the train tracks.

The Solution

The Washington Union Station Master Plan (Master Plan) creates a framework for capital investment that will provide numerous local, regional, and national benefits. The plan is practical, with phased construction that can be accomplished incrementally.

The plan will improve the primary functions of the station, focusing on the core needs and customer experience of a multimodal transportation center, by increasing:

• Capacity

to triple the passengers in the station and double the train service, moving towards more sustainable transportation.

• Quality

to improve the passenger and visitor experience as commuters and travelers move swiftly and efficiently across all modes of transportation.

• Vitality

in the surrounding area by providing transportation and economic growth to support Washington as a nexus of cultural, political, and business opportunity in the region and nation.

The Master Plan connects a modernized rail infrastructure with the city – infrastructure necessary to move millions of passengers a year through Union Station to jobs, homes, schools, cultural facilities and tourist destinations.

However, realizing the station’s potential for growth must be accomplished within the existing station footprint, preserve the iconic existing Union Station, limit negative impacts on surrounding neighborhoods, and respect the historic legacy of Daniel Burnham’s original station design and Washington’s city plan.

Amtrak released its $7.5 billion Master Plan for Washington Union Station, which would transform the station area into a multimodal transportation hub and a major commercial, retail and residential center for the entire Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

The plan envisions 500 hotel rooms, 100,000 square feet of retail, and 1,300 residential units built on a concrete platform over the tracks and supported columns placed throughout the rail yard. 

Developers emphasize that the project will feature elements that enhance public space and amenities. One such feature includes a 1.5 mile elevated greenway with a bike lane along the west side of the station that will link the NoMa neighborhoods with Union Station and the Metro and connect to the Metropolitan Branch Trail.

Plans also call for a "grand plaza" fronting both sides of H Street that will lead into a brand new Train Hall in what developers say will be "a grand northern entrance to Union Station."