LOCATION
Charleston, SC
STATUS
Design Completed 2011
CLIENT
Charleston Department of Transportation
TYPOLOGY
URBAN DESIGN
ROLE
Architecture - Urban Design
The competition's site is on a former train depot site, the intersection of historic Meeting Street, Museum Mile, and a historic residential district. The proposal introduces the "Hub" in an already famously walkable city, deprived of any up-to-date transit system. Ideally, the facility should mend this critical but unrealized link in the city's fabric.
The HUB Competition brief includes a light rail transit facility, retail, multipurpose meeting space, bicycle rental, repair, and café. The KGP proposal capitalizes on the city's affinity to integrate indoor and outdoor areas as manifested in the traditional typology. The ubiquitous veranda, a recurring element, combines naturally ventilated interior spaces with intimate courtyards and porches along the public plaza. Each courtyard crosses through the HUB to connect a new public plaza on the west to Meeting Street on the east. The courtyards are created by subtracting components from the larger mass. These subtractions are placed along the transit line to create "node stations" or members of an extended family. The HUB will physically integrate the adjacent institutional, commercial, and residential urban edges, while the node stations will extend beyond the immediate context via the transit network.
Retail and commercial uses are placed along Meeting Street to activate the sidewalk and provide an urban edge that seamlessly connects to the light rail platform at the northern end of the block. Here, transit users engage with a dynamic outdoor space for waiting, purchasing tickets, and storing bicycles. A bicycle storage tower marks the corner of the block and defines an open space between the HUB and the Visitors Center. A new plaza design on the HUB's western edge provides an outdoor gathering space for special events and large groups. This plaza and the living roof of the HUB act as an extension of the existing park to the north, extending into the residential district.
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