The Pods - Structure..

Before I can design the transport station, I need to first look at the transport which will be using the station and the overall system which will be put in place, and then design the station around that.

Firstly I needed to look at the infrastructure which these pods would run along.

 

My initial idea was this, to include a top rail and bottom rail and have the pod sit between each so that the rails moved through the pods themselves.
This was done so that the pods could be powered similar to a train, which has one positive and one negative rail and the charge runs from one to the other through the train, therefore powering it.

However, I couldn't work out how to support the top rail without the pod running through it.

The resultant proposal was to provide lateral supports to this top rail, which with the inclusion of the bottom rail and column, would create too much structure for the network and therefore reduce the positive impact of this system upon the urban context.

In order to remove structure from the ground plain and create a more free and open feeling to Queen street, it was decided that the pods themselves should be suspended in order for the structure to remain higher up, away from human interaction.

Some ideas of how the upper track should be supported were discussed.

 

The most basic idea would be to have a central support, which limited the amount of structure on the ground and still provided enough support for two pods to operate within.

 

The opposite to this was to have the structures on the outside of the pods, which when drawn didn't make any sense at all in terms of providing an unassuming structure. However, sometimes it is good to understand how to not do something.

 

An alternative to this was to create a joined structure with two supports, this would increase the amount of structure on the ground, and wouldn't give the same amount of support as other options.

 

Another idea was to have one lateral support for one line, the angled column would provide an interesting character to the streetscape. However, the structural capability of it was under question.

This is how the street would look if the two columns were erected next to each other. It can be seen to take up a lot of room within the street.

While the first idea of a central support is the most suited, the idea of having one column supporting two lines meant that there would need to be more columns placed along the ground.

Therefore a new idea was proposed.

To create two individual columns which could be spaced alternately to reduce impact upon the ground plain.

However, after more exploration it became apparent that having this system would force the two pods away, and therefore would mean that the station would need to be wider to accomodate these elements.

Therefore, in order to reduce the size of the final building, but also to reduce ground plain space and also keep structural integrity, a final idea was visualised.

 

This was the final structure decided upon. Obviously in the final design, the pods will be closer so that they are almost touching, but can still pass by each other sufficiently.