PROFESSOR

This studio proposes to learn from but then replace a respectable but aging station on the northeast corridor Acela line, in Providence RI. Whereas major rail terminals in Europe and East Asia have become a favorite trophy building type lately, many with undulating canopies, nevertheless a smaller more sparing building can teach the design basics better. Providence Station (SOM 1983) is just that: rational, classical, brutalist, and minimalist all in one. This building was also a small catalyst for ambitious urban design: the transformation of gritty Providence into one of America’s favorite small cities. With that project now under study for expansion (although here we imagined full replacement), and with $24 billion for Acela in the recent federal Infrastructure bill, this studio studied many stations from which to propose a new one here, for a growing ridership, more diverse not only in its identities, or in its civic values, but also more diverse in its new mobilities.