On Aug 1st, the Chicago Architectural Club and the Chicago Humanities Festival launched UNION STATION 2020, an international design ideas competition for the conversion of Chicago’s Union Station into a high-speed rail hub, regional market, and meeting place.
The three winners and seven honorable mentions of this competition have now been announced:
UNION STATION 2020 RESULTS
1st Prize: “FLOW DISPLACEMENT + CLARITY” by Michael Cady, Elba Gil, David Lillie and Andres Montana
From the project statement: “Movement networks and urban clarity are two fundamental components of the Burnham 1.0 plan. Despite this, the disjointed history of Chicago’s commuter rail systems has created a fragmented set of terminals. Our intent is to restore Union Station as the region’s clear transit nucleus by the creation of a station integrated into a public space with connections to all modes (high-speed rail, commuter rail, CTA, megabus, water taxi, helicopter). This public space opens the existing building to the river, thus restoring prominence and the ideas embodied in the original 1925 concourse design.”
“The form of the station / public space facilitates, and is derivative of, the flows of transit systems, users, and information. This method clarifies the process of intermodal transit for the end users. Additionally the public space displacement is a function of the high-speed system within, which displaces the normative urban condition in the same way that high-speed movement displaces mass as waves.”
“The public space is not only for the market, public assembly, and performance but also a porous filter plate with apertures allowing direct access to the waiting areas, which are physically separated, but visually connected to the platforms and trains above. Ticketing and access will be handled digitally and will require less physical barriers. A more traditional access system through the existing building and security checkpoint is also accommodated if needed. This direct access facilitates self-inherent user understanding and does not rely on derivative navigational devices such as way-finding. The building is inherently navigational through form.”
“The creation of the station / public space as well as the transformation of the existing Union Station re-establishes a primary focus in the region’s transit hierarchy, allows for a self-evident and clear transit process, and also is a derivative formalization of system flow and the nature of high-speed travel.”
2nd Prize by Cheyne Owens:
3rd Prize by Lindsay Grote:
Honorable Mentions:
Images: Union Station 2020, Chicago Architectural Club
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