TRANSIT
A bus stop design that was created to serve transit from Virginia Tech's recreational fields to the Blacksburg Transit bus system.
DESIGN
The bus stop's first ideas were involved with some sort of levitation and continuous flow. I wanted the bus stop to have a continuous spiral shape that somehow fixed itself with the bench.
First I had the spiral stem from the bottom of the model to the roof, over and around, creating a bench and stopping in the corner. The roof has a diagonal shift and allows for the continuation to become smaller and allow for a smooth transition from roof to bench.
With this, I could simply add the element of levitation I wanted and had the bench hovering above the ground on the right side. After multiple iterations, I found a structured solution that would allow for the bus stop not to tip, but of course it would be bolted into the ground anyway. Lastly, the contours were added to relieve the flat edges. |
When it was first created, it was as simple as it looked, but as I thought about it more, I realized that the rain would still find its way into the shelter somehow, and so I went about creating a roof solution so that the rain wouldn't drip inside.
MECHANICS
As you can see to the right, there is a subtle cut to the corner of the roof, and a hole poking out of the bottom of the bus stop.
Less visibly, there is also a diagonal contour running across the roof and meeting the cuts in the corner. This line is there because the section pointing towards the front of the bus stop is angled slightly upwards to a small degree. The back section is perpendicular and level however. If rain were to hit the roof, it would run down to the line and slide its way down to the cuts, where the water falls through a grate, and into a drainage pipe concealed by the heavy side wall. Naturally, the water runs down the pipe and out the small hole. Here are some more detailed sketches to show the thought process behind the mechanics of how the bus stop would work in the event of rainy weather. |
I also included the materials that the bus shelter would be made out of including sheets of plywood, 2'x4's, and PVC pipe for the water collection. The actual bus shelter would be very easy to make, and could even be made industrially, but it has a unique quality that makes it want to stand as something of its own.
The project took a total of 4 iterations to complete, with minor adjustments here and there. I did research on other materials, but settled on wood, as it would be easy to paint, and that maybe I could leave it as is. Another reason it was created with wood was that the bus stop is located in a relatively green area full of trees and sits right across from the recreational fields where wood seems like a good fit. Even as a single project, it would cost little as well and would be a very probable idea for the bus transit system, as there is no current bus shelter there at the moment. |
PRESENTATION
As this was a good and possible idea, I decided to create a poster so that I could potentially propose the idea to the school and to the Blacksburg Transit system. In Photoshop, I rendered the bus stop model on to a picture of the site, and added details that would later be included such as a map systems, or the logo of the transit. I also rendered it green as an experiment, and to show the possibility of painting the bus shelter. The poster as shown below contains details, an elevation that I created with Illustrator, and a small summary all placed onto a rendering of the site.