LAX Transit Corridor | Crenshaw

Description

The Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor aims to link LAX and the Exposition Metro lines via Inglewood, CA. The site and canopy designs for the seven stations on this new metro line call upon the history and neighborhood ecologies of the iconic Crenshaw district, known nationally as the locale of the Los Angeles riots spawning from the Rodney King Trial in 1992. Throughout the first phase of the project, we completed studies mapping the social and ecological tendencies of the neighborhood. These studies led the team to identifying each station with an individual mantra, a driving force behind the station’s canopy and site design. The seven station sites vary in topography, site elements, station location, and canopy type, but together link a fractured and disenfranchised community.

During the second phase, through a comprehensive community participation and outreach process, the Design Team actively engaged the community through an integrated approach that was coordinated in four main areas:
• Urban Design and Community Linkages
• Station Area Planning
• Alignment Landscape and Streetscape Design
• Maintenance Facility Landscape and Community Integration

Crenshaw Boulevard Hisotry, Built Environment, Building Development, Community Assets and Neighborhood Morphology

Community engagement, participation and feedback.

Design Process

1) Research history and neighborhood ecologies > 2) Community workshop > 3) Map ecological tendencies of each neighborhood > 4) Identify the urban alphabet for each station > 5) Station typology > 6) Design hybrid of the three ecologies per station > 7) Community feedback

Design Tools

GIS (Citywide analysis) > Hand sketching > Rhino > Grasshopper (Site specific analysis) > Renderings

A conceptual framework for re-imagining the Crenshaw/LAX LRT as a new public infrastructure is transposed from the dissection of the line as an organizing element. Three different strategic concepts emerge that force designers to see the line differently, but more importantly to exploit particular opportunities in each. They include: The Dotted Line (Landscape Ecology), The Polyline (Cultural Arts Ecology), and The Ribbon (Neighborhood Ecology)

Media:  Light Rail Stations
Type: Urban design / Public
Dimension: 7 Light Rail Stations
Budget: $28 million
Proposal Location: Los Angeles, California.
Project Manager: Shivang Patwa and Tim Mollett Parks
Project Team: Hood Design

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shivangpatwa@gmail.com