High Speed Design (original) (raw)

Architecture Mon Nov 10 2008

The Chicago Architecture Club has announced the winners of their High-Speed Rail Station Competition, Chicago Tribune's Blair Kamin reports. While entirely theoretical (an unimpressive office building currently stands on the site) the design posses an interesting approach for a project surrounded by skyscrapers. Rather than filling the city block street front, the design appears folded or even pushed into the ground, meeting the river almost at grade. Restored to prominence would be the colonnade and grand hall of Union Station, which currently serves as little more than an appendage for large events and loitering. As any regular Metra rider can attest to, this design would be a sleek, tactile solution to the hardly humane condition of the current Union Station platforms. Check out the CAC's web page for the competition criteria.