Check it.

Check it out.

Archetype Station:

I was figuring: Hey, I'm investigating the site, we need an archetype station for renderings, why not take a stab at it? I based it partly off the Valley Metro stops, which are fantastic precedents based in Pheonix, AZ. They're functional, aesthetically pleasing and evocative of their function. They're basically a solar shade plane/frame fronted/backed by small triangular sun shade canopies, with art interwoven into both the fabric of the station and the ground surrounding it.

So the most pressing difference is weather. They don't get a lot of rain or snow in Pheonix. So what I did was to take an planar arcade and fold it into rowhouse-bay window bumps with benches on the diagonals and top it off with a low slope solar panel roof. The single plane profile makes it thin, the folding gives it stability and the ability to hold up a roof, while the roof itself offers both shade and power.

Not only that, but the design, because it's based on these windowesqe bays, is completely modular. You could even take a single bay and use it as a temporary bus stop (provided you anchored it using some sort of heavy base.)

Masts:

One of the important and so far neglected elements of the design are the masts. These are pretty simple, but come with street lamps and a single top light I call the Mast light. The Mast light flickers on whenever the train passes beneath it. This gives a visual indicator to both rail-goers and enthusiastic drivers as to the train's position, hopefully adding an element that it both dynamic and safety inducing.

Play:

One thing that just kind of happened was the idea of placing touchscreen panels into "table" blocks, and allow people to play various boardgames on them (checkers, chess, backgammon). I dunno, I just think this would be super cool. It kind of reminds me of those park chess games

Arch:

One element not in the rendering is the possible focal element of the station, an arch over where the crosswalk intersects the station. It might be nice to give a focal point to the linear design, and this arch or tower could also serve to display information/time/weather/whatever. Or be purely sculptural.

Art:

One takeaway idea I saw in the Valley metro was the seamless integration of art and station design. The "weft" of the planar element of the station allowed it to become a "loom" for art elements, while the ground and mosaic features/sculptures also played a major role. Without a doubt, individual artists and designers should be assigned individual stations to integrate a piece of artwork into. There's less wiggle room than in the AZ designs, but I think it's almost a given that it would be beneficial.

Signage:

Almost forgot... signage. I was thinking about Jenny's comment... with the something like "i am a bright orange sign w/ bold lettering designed to f*ck up your day." It's true. But any signage we put up will have to be Additional, not Instead Of. There are federal guidelines which are also adopted by states regulating the exact color, shape, font, and anything else you can think of. But that doesn't mean we can put up additional, more engaging signage (even on the same signpost) with graphic elements (multilingual stop signs with a big red hand on them) and cones with spiral reflective tape topped by bicycle reflectors or suchlike.