A station is a continuum which is created by time and space.
In life there is “time” which rigidly sets the accuracy of operation, “place” where people meet and part, and “space” which repeats scenes created by a series of the above. We wish a station to be space which beyond the reincarnation of time and space, induces sensation, and not to be simple transportation space.
A station was originally a rest place for carriages, developed to be an arrival and departure point of steam locomotives in the early l9th century, assisted the government transport of important commodities and soldiers, and also was a symbolic space where joys and tears were always shared among crowds.
Now, a station is a place where multilayers of the new information environment, traffic environment and local community environment intersect.
Station No. 1
Proposal ideas competition for Ochanomizu Station
This is a proposal for the ideas competition for a station which some trains do not stop at and is located parallel to a river and a street in the center of a massive metropolis, Tokyo. It aims at a new compound urban infrastructure with an emphasis on social and public characteristics inherent in a station. Massive public nodes of space called urban stations demanded by the modern society consist of a variety of devices installed in multi-layered artificial ground which floats in the air, and of accumulated space which changes freely.
This station is forming a small city by containing functions as a base to dispatch information, public facilities like a financial center, theatrical space as a cultural project, and a plaza as continuous and harmonized space in the city.
Station No.2
Basic Plan for Mejiro Station
This is a proposal for a station and compound base facilities which are located in the Bunkyo district adjourning a university. A new facility plan for Mejiro station which becomes rooted in the local characteristics is being made based on the characteristics of 40,000 users of this station per day.
By placing students and business space surrounded by wealthy residents at the center, the compound of material, information and daily life service is constructed as a new multipurpose space towards actualizing our theme of a Grand Tour.
We are trying to create a station which supports the creation of new urban scenery which contrasts with the station environment seen in the city center or in the suburbs of Tokyo.
Text by Hiroshi Innami 1997/8