Project Brief // Glasgow Subway Design

SENSE OF SPACE Glasgow Subway (SPT)

Contract

Rachel TzeKan, Wong Year 4, BA (Hons) Interior Design Glasgow School of Art

Projects program structure summary

A number of unequal sized projects > Connected (in major theme) // Diverse (in function and building typology) > overlapping

Synopsis My understanding of a new place is created through observations of local lifestyle. Cashier at a supermarket, playground in a park, ticket office at the underground, signage for a bus stop, corner stand in a newsagent or florist… these are set elements in our everyday life that always pique my interest and develop into my ongoing inspiration and imagination.

As an international student I am inevitably a frequent traveller. When I Moved to Glasgow, I realised the act of examining everyday life turned into an important way to develop a broader sense of interior design in terms of trends and culture, particularly in terms of achieving a global perspective. I believe this forms a major motivation in my work. It transforms into a fundamental process of thinking, regarding how I, as a designer, apply new meanings into objects or things. I am interested in how physical qualities within a space can reveal other layers of meaning, or can be related to other ideas beyond themselves through the experience of the realm.

This booklet explains a general interest into exploring how everyday life constructs setting. They frame our experience and understanding of a city through details, materials and construction within spaces. I want to explore the connection and new possibilities for a collection of space, rooms and objects, taking consideration of spatial capacity on holding collective and individual activities.

‘We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.’* ———— Winston Churchill

sense of space- Glasgow subway final year project contract

MEMORIES, MEMORIES

background background -

Everyday activities in Glasgow are mapped out through the complexity of rail lines. If the city is seen as an giant ‘living being’, then roads and rails are vessels, which transport people to different places; and we are the blood cells who carry oxygen and nutrition to different parts of the city, bringing life to the ‘body’.

My home town, Hong Kong, is a mass transit oriented region. The Subway has always been a big part of my life. It intertwines itself into the clearest memories of my childhood, the joy of visiting different places and discovering new things. When I reflect on my experience of taking mass transportation, I realised they are not only my personal wanderings and memories: they are also a process of socialisation, where I witness and learn about the evolution of a city, and develop my own identity and values towards the world.

sense of space background

“ Places are filled with individual identity, language, references, unformulated rules, (while), non places are space of solitary individuality” -Marc Augé

This project has been inspired by two distinct influences. One is the curiosity of finding what forms a ‘sense of space’ under the context of the 21st century when everything (or everywhere) is seemingly standardised and streamlined. Coming to Glasgow, the interest of ‘sense of space’ grows stronger as I am constantly searching for places of familiarity that associate with my personal memories. I want to explore how a shared experience can be provoked within an environment of constant flux. Beyond this, how different settings or norms in design change the way of perceiving oneself and affect both the individual and collective realisation of identity.

The second inspiration is from a book called ‘In The Metro’ by Marc Augé. Marc Augé is well-known for arguing that spaces which cannot be defined as relational, historical or concerned with identity should be referred to as ‘non-spaces’. He believes that these places are products of super modernity, emerging from an accelerated need to move capital and people. Train stations, ATMs, bus stops, airports and shopping malls are common examples of ‘non-space’. In a non-place, you are the customer, user and passenger; and yet you rarely engage with these spaces.

As an anthropologist, Augé finds the Metro (subway) a fascinating site for memories, interconnecting solitude and correspondence. He examines the Paris underground by observing individuals and movements, and conducts a study that is both an ethnography of the city and a personal narrative.

There is something attractive about Augé’s exquisite description of the underground world in Paris, where his careful yet exclusive view points bring me back to the memory of a late night commute in the subway on my way back home, in Hong Kong. I wonder how the design of public transport system, as a transitional space with millions of footprints everyday, can shape a shared experience and bring people together in a way that other representations of architecture cannot.

Photos from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/guy_arab_uf/6341664338/in/album-72157628120853836/

Having these influences and ideas, I thought it would be interesting to look into the Glasgow Subway as it is a subject of daily life that we often overlook, and struggle to describe in terms of experience. I want to explore how routine constitutes a space. The thought of descending into Glasgow metro appeals to me as it is a commonplace (or non-space in Marc Augé’s argument) where many ‘lonely’ individuals encounter and connect with one another, creating moments and memories.

With careful analysis on passengers’ traces of travelling, I then question if a new and different form of experience can be proposed within the particular historic context of the Glasgow city and subway development.

sense of space

project outline

project

OUTLINE,

The project should explore new design concepts and challenge the accepted norm set in modern public transportation. It aims to investigate how different elements can give/add ‘form’ to a sense of place in the particular context of Glasgow, and use the Glasgow subway system as a threshold. From tangible space: platform, ticket office, concourse and carriage interior to intangible qualities: accessibility, private to public, single to plural etc. are elements that the project will investigate and further explore the possibilities beyond the existing formulaic design.

The following points describe the focuses of the project: 1 Understand how sense of place develops and changes and the consideration of how this interaction may become more sustainable between people throughout the change of time.

2 Find out what constitutes a space and how everyday ritual shapes a space.

3 How a public transportation provides a shared experience to users, and these experiences form ones’ understanding to a city.

4 Considering the existing theories and arguments of public transport design in general, how can the design proposal can respond to them, and how much the design can be engaged with?

5 Identify what are the general ‘travel experience’ on the subway consists of in terms of both physical and non-physical design. And consider what can be re-designed or created to bring both material value and emotional value to the users and the places.

6 How design in details can start speaking of a place in terms of the plan of a city.

Glasgow subway -

SPT,

When Glasgow first planned to build a subway system in 1887, the city was growing rapidly and had a great need to improve public transport, particularly in response to the general public’s needs of crossing the river. The construction began in March 1891 and it was officially opened in 1896. The Glasgow underground railway was cable-hauled to begin with, was not completely electrified until 1935. Despite various changes over the years on the city above, the subway still remains a small-scale operation — a circular route of six and a half-miles, with twin tunnels serving fifteen stations, and the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ system running services in opposite directions.

Although different conversations

about the subway extension have been further proposed over the years, the expansion scheme was shelved.

The subway was closed in 1976 for the first period of modernisation and reopened again to the public in 1980. after this second major upgrade on stations’ facilities and carriage design. The train journey became more stable and the famous ‘shoogle’ was largely gone. The subway had an improved air ventilation system as the cable

sense of space

There was a wave of nostalgia for what had been lost

operation was no longer been used.

SPT

Unlike other cities such like London, New York and Tokyo, Glasgow subway system operates on a much smaller scale, not only because the population and the size of the city is geographically smaller, but also the subway expansion plan never came to fruition over the past decade due to lack of funding. The Glasgow Subway network is the only system that hasn’t been expanded from its original route, spanning over 121 years. Despite SPT voicing ambitions to enlarge the subway network in 2007 to serve the east-end and Commonwealth Games in 2014, the project never came to fruition. There was a huge response from the general public to meet the needs of the growing city. Till now, the SPT is undergoing a project of upgrading all the current subway stations - 9 out of 15 are complete. The modernisation plan is believed to provide a more ‘modern,

welcoming

environment’

accessibility’ for the public.

with

‘better

‘If it is true that everyone has a past of his or her own, it nonetheless happens that some, those who remember having lived fragments of their past with others, can sense they have shared at least this memory with them… ("Oh! really! Did you know him too? ... Now let's see, that must have been in 19 ... 66 or 7, no, 1967, I think . . . "), but the subway routes provide the rider with stable points of reference and, when combined with the calendar of sporting events, regular time frames.’

-‘In the Metro’Marc Augé

sense of space observe London South Kensington Metro Station

reality deviated substantially from ideology

OBSERVE, When I arrived in Glasgow 3 years ago and took my first subway ride from the Cowcaddens station to Kelvinhall station, I instantly wondered: where am I? The Subway has the power to distort the physical relation between spaces, and confuse passengers’ sense of direction with all the dots and lines drawn on the map.

However, disregarding how one loses sense of the physical distance due to the limitations of presenting a spatial concept visually, I do believe in the power of mass transportation in giving one a ‘sense of place’,

a

representation of a city.

When I walk through the tunnel leading to the Exhibition Road from South Kensington Underground, the sense of ‘I am in London right now’ is strong. Not only because of the classic London Underground red and blue signage, but also the materials, architectural details and atmosphere of the station, which all point to a perception or feeling that is unique to myself and the city. Be it the convenience stalls at the corner of the platform in the New York subway, or the colourful mosaics and sculptures exhibited inside the Stockholm subway stations, I have come to the same realisation

when

I

visited

these

places…

The

characteristics of the community are reflected through these places and expose the exciting lifestyle and soul of the cities.

Considering my travel experience on the Glasgow subway, I feel like there is a disconnect

between

the

city

and

its

surrounding context. The subway does not mean ‘Glasgow’ to me, only the strong branding of ‘SPT’. Throughout the past 120 years, the Glasgow subway route remains the same, meanwhile the city above has changed utterly which causes a detachment between

the

network

and

the

neighbourhood. No doubt, the subway has lost much of its integrity and community attachments under the evolution of the city’s landscape (such as the tenement demolition as part of the slum clearance at the south side of Glasgow in the 1970s), the design of the subway also plays an important role to create a sustainable interaction with the people.

CONSIDERATIONS - APPROACHES, As the project considers the public transport experience as a whole, the site and all aspects of the subway travel journey should considered as an entity. The design should be integrated and linked with its surroundings, but also be able to address and define the uniqueness of each particular site. As the subject itself has a rich historical background and has undergone various changes over the years, and will continue to serve the context: current, historic and potential. I believe this helps me to understand and establish a feasible proposal.

sense of space

public, it is key to carry out a detailed examination of the

consideration - approaches

The following diagram attempts to map out the scale and concerns that will be considered throughout the project. It outlines the approaches that have been undertaken at the research phase, and what will follow in the next 7 months, from inception to completion. However it is important to state that the diagram is an over-simplification and also an overcomplication of my understanding of the project. To be clear, it is over-simplified as it involves so many physical and non-physical settings and qualities. To fully understand these, the project journal must have a detailed narrative to indicate and describe the evolution of the project. On the other hand it is also over-complicated due to the thought process, which should be more personal and experimental without being restricted by these boundaries. I believe the diagram is simply a tool to give form to my sensibilities at this nascent stage.

PHYSICAL

NON-PHYSICAL

PRACTICAL CONVENIENCE

INNOVATIVE

FACILITIES

SERVICE

DISTANCE

COMFORT

MATERIAL

HISTORY

FUNCTION

NARRATIVE

DETAILS

CONTEXT

ACCESSIBILITY

CULTURAL

PRIVACY/

PUBLICITY

EXPERIENCE SAFE

‘Near hospitals one always finds a florist, an undertaker, and a subway station. To every station are tied knots of memories that cannot be untangled, memories of these rare moments,’

‘... therefore, that we discover underground the origins of a new social elan, of solidarity, or even complicity.

The names of the stops evoke, neither strongly nor adequately enough, the history they celebrate such that, from the intersection of their so-called common referent and the diversity of individual trips, something necessarily is born resembling a collective emotion.’

-‘In the Metro’Marc Augé

UNDERSTAND - INTERPRET, One of the biggest challenges of the project is to avoid thinking about the design as a master plan. Although the need to relocate and further develop the Glasgow Subway station network is identified, various feasible proposals have been proposed over the years and available for further exploration.

In this case I would like to approach the site in a different, interior design centric solution. 
 The project should focus on responding to the existing context and trying to understand what is important to in a place. The contract should avoid perceiving and resorting understand of a place in a top-down or geographical approach. Detailed studies and observation of the architectural, construction and material details of the context is needed to establish and reinforce the sense of space through the design of the

Experience

Time

Single

Private

Public

Norms Collective

Routine

Contain

Intensify

Transform

Ritual

Details

Tangible

Creation

Function

Building

understand - interpret

Specific

sense of space

settings.

Glasgow Cowcaddens Subway Station

GAPS - CHALLENGE, The Glasgow subway system runs in two lines: the Outer Circle and the Inner Circle. Trains operate clockwise and anti-clockwise respectively around the same route but in separate tunnels. The stations sizes and designs vary as modernisation work by SPT is on-going. Some stations provide interchangeable transport links with the surface railways and bus network, such as the Patrick station.

Although refurbishment of the Glasgow subway has been carried out since 1977, the major layout and structure of the platforms and rails remain unchanged. Stations are designed in a variety of platform layouts including single island platforms, opposing side platforms and in some stations such as Hillhead, one side and one island platform.

sense of space

I faced a lot of challenges during the research period while looking for plans and technical drawings of the existing subway stations. Knowing the platform layout are mainly divided into three types, I am looking for blueprints that cover all of the above layouts to propose an accurate representation of my design.

gaps - challenge

Varies authorities and organisations have been reached out during my research period while evaluating the feasibility of this project: - Planning department of the Glasgow City council - Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) - SPT Station supervisor - SPT Enquiry - SPT Operations Management team - SPT Communication - SPT Media - Graham Construction (Glasgow Subway refurbishment contractor) - AHR Architects Ltd. (Glasgow Subway refurbishment consultancy) - Glasgow Mitchell library archive - Glasgow Riverside Museum subway collection curator: John Messner - National Records of Scotland - Scottish Tramway and Transport Society chairman - Keith Anderson (Author of the 'Glasgow Underground: The Glasgow District Subway’ )

DRAWING MATERIALS FROM GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL PLANNING

Details

Tangible

Creation

Function

Building


As Glasgow city council Planning is only responsible for approving the exterior design of the subway stations, they were not able to provide any information regarding to the current interior design of train carriages and stations when I contacted them. Some technical drawings (sections, elevations and roof plan etc.) of the Bridge Street and Buchanan Street stations were found through the Glasgow City Council Planning website.

However more materials are required in order to carry out detailed research and further develop the project.

Blueprints of the design could not be found at the Mitchell library, Riverside museum as well as the National records of Scotland. I made several attempts to get in touch with SPT but these were unsuccessful due to security reasons- in one case I tried to carry out my won site survey but was warned and asked to stop. Until now, an on-going conversation is still in process with the SPT communication department. They have responded positively and are wiling to provide more information so I hope they will be able to help.

More supporting materials are expected to be obtained in the coming few weeks so that a full-picture of the existing design can be mapped out.