Infrastructural architecture: social design for the public realm in underground transit systems

There’s a certain allure and poeticism to
\nmass transit, from buses, to streetcars, and trains.
\nIt’s curious that a strictly infrastructural marvel
\nof engineering houses such an honest and diverse
\napplication of shared architecture, mutual in it’s
\nurban scope. In many ways, the architecture of
\nthese utilitarian transit spaces (subways most
\nnotably), are comparable in their role to that of
\nthe public square, court, or forum. There is an
\nuntold architectural relationship within these
\nurban environments between subways as a space
\nof movement, and as a place of activity.
\nThis thesis aims to re-examine subways
\nunder this lens. To posit that subways offer more
\nto the urban fabric than a functional vessel for
\nmovement, and are indeed vital at providing
\nopportunity for social life to flourish in an urban
\ncontext. Questions of democratizing space, spatial
\nlegitimacy, functionalism, and the dichotomy
\nbetween space and place, arise when examining
\nthese constructs of subterranean infrastructure.
\nThese relationships will be explored by
\nstudying and reimagining a particular site along
\nthe City of Toronto’s subway system, specifically;
\nSpadina Station. It is the intersection of both the
\nUniversity-Yonge Line, the Bloor Line, as well as
\nthe terminal to the Spadina Avenue streetcar. The
\nkey methods of research for this study include
\nstudying, drawing, and photographing the space
\nto better understand it’s prescriptive needs, and
\nto inform a modified architectural response and
\nproposal.
\nUltimately, this project aims to be didactic in its thinking with regards to infrastructural
\narchitecture through proposal work. The core of
\ntransit is the people who use it, and it must be understood that these people interact socially with
\ntheir surroundings, far beyond just the isolated
\nmotions of coming and going. We must ask how
\nutilitarian infrastructure can shift it’s functional
\nrole in cities to reclaim the public realm as a space
\nof communal activity, and shared program.

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