The shelter is synthetically planned, aiming at structuring a framework of a city block, together with the station building, station plaza, and footbridge in Oyumino Area on the Chiba Kyuko Line. The characteristic of the site from the wide-area point of view is its location being the starting point of the promenade on the walkway (Four Seasons Path) which loops round the whole area. The only station that is along this Four Seasons Path is the Oyumino Station where a dense transportation node is formed with railroad, pedestrians, and automobiles paralleling with one another. A spatial medium (Large shelter) which links these three transportation systems is planned, utilizing the space gap between the axis of the walkway and the axis of the railway. The axis of the shelter brings a new axis of the city to recognition, and supports structuring the city block framework as it adds a new function as a street station as opposed to the railway station.
As for the spatial point, a vast space with a membrane roof structure is planned allowing soft light into the public walkway for a semi-outdoor space facility which creates continuity between the station precincts (indoor) and the station plaza rotary (outdoor). By positioning the complex space including the area under the overhead railroad as a main node base of the center block, and effectively utilizing it as a plaza, the station plaza which is now divided in terms of both space and function into north and south parts will blend into one unit. As for the scenic point, the objective is to create a feature of the block by adopting for roofs of a railway station and a pathway station a continuous roof which does not clarify the border between publicly and privately managed areas.
In proceeding towards creating a center block of approximately 8 ha, with an anticipated business population capacity of 100,000, a station opened as a start-up in 1995, and access into town was secured as the rotary in the north station plaza was improved. In 1996, the improvement of the walkway including the Four Seasons Path was completed, strengthening the feature of Oyumino Area as the loop base. The shelter, as well as functional facilities in the station plaza, will be improved in phases in response to the improvement of the transportation network such as bus lines, and a population increases along the train line.
Text by Hiroshi Innami 1997/8