Example of one of my student's final project report (Final phase)

Spring 2016

Transit Park (Thesis II Report) Submitted To: Dr. Mostafa Yehia

By: Serag Eldin Sameh Faiez THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO

Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Preface ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 In the Context of Luxor ............................................................................................................................. 3 Project Proposal ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Concept Statement ................................................................................................................................... 5 Relation to the Group Problem ................................................................................................................. 5 Tensions to be Addressed ......................................................................................................................... 6 Relation to the Other Projects .................................................................................................................. 7 Phase I ........................................................................................................................................................... 8 Scope ......................................................................................................................................................... 8 Reflection on the Previous Stage .............................................................................................................. 8 Research Development & Methodology ................................................................................................ 14 Project Development (The Three Alternatives) ...................................................................................... 24 Alternative Assessment .......................................................................................................................... 30 Phase II ........................................................................................................................................................ 36 Scope ....................................................................................................................................................... 36 Reflection on the Previous Stage ............................................................................................................ 36 Research Development & Methodology ................................................................................................ 38 Design Development ............................................................................................................................... 46 Phase III ....................................................................................................................................................... 54 Scope ....................................................................................................................................................... 54 Reflection on the Previous Stage ............................................................................................................ 54 Research Development & Methodology ................................................................................................ 55 Design Development ............................................................................................................................... 65 References .................................................................................................................................................. 89

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Abstract The Premise of this report is to provide detailed information about the workflow that went through the design process of the transit station in the Great City of Luxor throughout the duration of the project. This report is aimed to serve as the continuation for the first report at the end of Thesis I. Therefore, this report will not contain every information that has already been discussed in the first report. However, some of the most significant information will be summarized and information will be recalled whenever deemed necessary throughout the report. After the introduction, the report is divided into three phases. Each phase corresponds to major milestone in the life cycle of the project. Phase I would discuss the brainstorming process and the development of the three alternatives. Phase I will discuss the process into which one of the alternatives was chosen and developed more deeply. Finally Phase III would discuss the latest elaboration that went into developing the Transit station.

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Introduction Preface Most cities have developed their different transportation modes as distinct entities.

However, now in the environmental age, the segregation of transportation systems is being replaced by ‘Joined- up thinking’ to increase the efficiency and the attractiveness of the mass public transportation. As a result, many “transportation authorities are able to exploit interchange opportunities” (Blow, 2005).

Although, there is some sort of integration already existing in the City of Luxor through the existence of some informal regional buses near the train stations, this integration is not organized and efficient to be considered as a true interchange. It is rather the residents of the city are trying to take an advantage of the opportunity that a transit interchange aims to capitalize and exploit.

Transit station design aims to improve the public realm while balancing engineering with more architectural considerations to produce a building that is significant, relevant and visually complex. Transit station is a distinct typology with a particular architectural language of “large-span roofs, grand entrance halls, interior concourses and wide public entrances” (Edward, 1997) Transits are “distinctive and complex as they help shape and define the cities they serve by their social, cultural and functional interactions” (Edwards, 1997). The essence of transit architecture is the weaving of the space architecture and the structure engineering.

Transits are considered as one most significant building types in the modern age. This is because of the fact that they realize different functions like retail, social places and urban landmark, besides giving access to the different transportation modes.

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“THE MODERN STATION IS A CONTRADICTORY AND DIVERSE CREATURE, A PLACE WHERE ARCHITECTURE & TECHNOLOGY COME TOGETHER IN CLOSE AND DRAMATIC ASSOCIATION WITH LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE” (GRIFFIN, 2004) As mentioned above, Transit stations are much more than just a transit. In fact, they act as an economic catalysts that leads to enormous urban development by attracting retail, office, leisure and conference developments. In recognition of this impact, transit stations location have been changed from the edge of the city to the city center to revitalize the down town area, like in the example of EuroLille.

As a result of the public desire to use the transit as an economic catalyst and thereby the change of the station location from the edge of the city to the city center, Transit station started to make the station as “a great gathering places, urban gateways for floods of arriving and departing passengers” (Edward, 1997). Adding the function of being an urban landmark has added another layer of complexity to the station of design, an identity layer. While, the station typology has repetitive flow of functions from entering to boarding, the architect should design the station in a way that symbolizes the identity of the city that the station is in.

In the Context of Luxor In 1851, the Luxor train station has been constructed to improve the city transportation infrastructure and increase the accessibility of Luxor while connecting Lower and Upper Egypt.

The station was designed to be on the Eastern periphery of the city because of the view of the urban planner at the time and the constraints enforced by the monuments locations. However, now in 2015, the city has grown beyond the Eastern edge, the Rail line boundary, making the station in the center of the city center.

Moreover, because of lack opportunities in the city of Luxor, there is a large number of people go to either Cairo (majority) or Aswan or the transportation mode chosen is the train, thus, adding an enormous pressure on the train station.

Besides the rail transportation, there is a lot of other forms of transportation in Luxor that make up the transportation infrastructure of Luxor.

First, there is car transportation, including both private cars and Taxis. This compromises around 30% of the transportation in Luxor (CAPMAS, 2015). There are also buses, both regional and local, and the buses compromise around 43.5% (CAPMAS, 2015) and there are Microbuses which transport around 15% of the Luxorian people (CAPMAS, 2015). Finally, there is a very important transportation mode in Luxor, Horse carriages ‘Karetas’. However, this transportation mode is used primarily for leisure for both the locals and tourists who want to enjoy the scenic route.

The problem with the transportation infrastructure is that it is not sufficient and that it is dis-integrated. For instance, the train station designed in 1851 was not designed as a station in the town center therefore it was not designed an urban landmark, a gateway and a hub.

Therefore, it is not achieving its potential for acting as an economic catalyst. Moreover, the station designed was not designed to accommodate the capacity of people in 2015, resulting a lot of people jumping in the trains without having tickets (therefore, no seats) increasing the train passenger load by 35%, causing problems in safety and service quality for the passengers and users of the station.

The main problem with the other transportation modes is that they add pressure on the road infrastructure and there is no formal parking and pickup/drop off existing. This leads drivers to park wherever they want usually around important nodes throughout the city to take 4|Page

advantage of the natural presence of the people at these locations. However, these nodes are not designed for this purpose and utilizing it in that manner increase the congestion of the place that is already congested. What make the matter worse is that many of these nodes actually besides ancient monuments and thus, adding pressure on the monuments.

Luxor Transportation Modes

Motorcycles 1%

Microbuses 14%

Cars 28%

Trucks 14%

Buses 43%

Project Proposal Concept Statement “Tailoring the transit to Luxor & its

People, through the Weaving of architecture with the Urban Fabric, Culture & History, creating a unique

Character representing the Identity of Luxor”

Relation to the Group Problem The nature of the problem that there are a lot of decisions are being taken without considering the impacts of those decisions on the other stakeholders. The problem is being defined from a single perspective and this causes tension and

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all of these over imposing change creates an identity crisis in the city of Luxor.

From the perspective of the Government, the city of Luxor is unique because of its monuments and heritage and therefore they want to gain as much profit as possible from the site for the sake of the national economy. As mentioned above in chapter 1, Luxor 2030 developmental plan aims to do just that. This chapter will focus on their perspective towards the transportation infrastructure. The government sees all those microbuses/buses/karetas parking informally in front of these monuments visually impact the quality of the monument scene, adds pressure on these monuments and give the tourist a sense of discomfort and unsafety. Therefore, Luxor 2030 plan aims to drastically restrict all the informal modes of transportation and replace

them with touristic shuttle system designed to give the tourists the globalized efficiency of transportation that they desire while giving them well organized scenic routes.

From the perspective of the locals, the continual care of the government towards the tourism industry and restricting their transportation modes will further enforce the idea of “ ‫األثر أهم‬ ‫”من البشر‬. Restricting their transportation mode will further decrease their presence in their heritage area and will cause them to marginalized in the southern districts. Hence, Luxor is no longer for Luxorians. Furthermore, the locals knows that the tourism industry alone will not suffice to improve the already very poor quality of life and that they need to attract investors. Thus, they know that investors looks for a diverse, efficient and well organized transportation infrastructure.

These two different and contradictory perspectives creates a tension. Since, as explained in chapter 1, the group theme is weaving those tensions. In order to do that, the project needs to focus on the merits of the two perspectives. It is true that the proposed new centralized shuttle system would dramatically reduce the pressure on the monuments and could potentially provide a better service for the tourists. On the other hand, there is a beauty in the informality of the other transportation modes, including their availability, accessibility, affordability and adaptability to new situations.

The proposed shuttle system will never be able to compete against the other transportation modes from these aspects. Furthermore, restricting the transportation to the shuttle system will reduce the local presence in the heritage sites and impacting the identity of Luxor as the identity constitutes of both the monuments and the people.

In an attempt to weave that tension, this chapter proposes an “Interchange Transit” that 6|Page

combines all the form of transportation along with the train station while adding the shuttle system. The problem with the informal transportation modes is infect their disorganization and lack of guidance. So incorporating them in a centralized interchange system will give the locals the affordability, accessibility and flexibility they desire.

Moreover, the organization of these modes and

the presence of guidelines to design an efficient interchange system will lower the impact to the monuments and will give tourist an efficient transportation system, thus, satisfying the government need. Finally, as mention above, Interchange transit stations act as an economic catalyst attracting investors to the town center.

Tensions to be Addressed As Mentioned before, the objective of the project is to weave the tension. There are several tensions that this project would focus on, this includes: Urban Tension: This is the main tension that this project would address. The current rail line creates a tear in the urban fabric that separates Luxor to Eastern and Western side. Although there are crossings over the rail line, there number is too low and their quality is very poor that they are unsafe especially at night. Thus, the Rail line creates a segregation edge in the middle of the city.

Functional Tension: This is the tension that is caused by the New Luxor developmental plan and explained in the above section. This tension is caused between the old informal transportation modes and the proposed centralized shuttle system.

Cultural Tension: Being in the city center and the gateway entrance for more than a hundred thousand passenger each day, the station becomes the first impression about the local and the cultural identity of the city. Therefore, the station needs to rise above what is imported and what is commoditized to symbolize what is original and what is local and cultural.

Relation to the Other Projects Unlike the other projects, the users of the station would experience the project as they are passing through. The project relies on dynamic movement and mobility. However, the project is

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essential for the other projects that it acts as connector between the different projects.

Moreover, the station would provide support to the other projects by allowing the other projects to have an access to thousands and widely diverse potential customers for their project. For instance, the station could provide a space for the entrepreneurs coming out of the “‫”دار الحرف‬ project to experiment and test the validity of their ideas. Moreover, the station can provide an announcement space for special events in the AlSaha and Al-Dawar projects. The station also provides a direct link to the Al-Souq project for goods and passenger transportation

Phase I Scope The Premise of this stage in the design life cycle is to provide three alternative solutions for the transit station. Each alternative should be developed to only the extent that would demonstrate the potential and the conceptualization of the idea. However, each alternative should be significantly different than the others as to allow for the brainstorming of multiple ideas. The Purpose of the production of three alternatives is to get accustomed with different ways to solve the design problem and provide options to assess and choose from to move on to the next stage.

The progress in this phase is thoroughly explained in four sections; Reflection on the Previous stage, Research Development/Methodology, Alternative Development and Alternative Assessment.

The Reflection on Previous Stage section contains previously attained knowledge from the General Research done in Thesis I. While the Research Development/Methodology section contains all the data and information that was collected in order to fill gaps of the knowledge necessary required to design a proper station.

The Alternative Development Section explains and demonstrates the actual work output.

Finally the Alternative Assessment section explains the empirical methodology to assess the different alternatives.

Reflection on the Previous Stage Given the Fact that this report is actually written to act as a continuation report to the Thesis I Research report, the report will not contain all the information mentioned in the previous report to eliminate redundancy. However, this report is aimed to be used independently.

Therefore, the section would include all directly 8|Page

relevant information to the workflow that occurred in this Phase of the project development. Moreover, the information included in this section would be the conclusions/results without the mention of all the steps and procedures undertaken to reach these conclusions as these are mentioned extensively in the previous report.

The Site of the Transit station is located in the site that contains the current Luxor station. The site spans the rail lines of station to connect between the Eastern and Western side of the station to attempt to resolve the urban tension as mentioned earlier. The site location is in the center of the city of Luxor which gives it a very important strategic importance and allow the station to be a gateway for the city of Luxor. The Site is selected according to these criteria:      

Proximity to the Existing Train Station Located on the Eastern Side of Luxor Congestion Level of the Area Accessibility Proximity to people Settlements Visual Corridors

The Image Below show The site location:

Because of the site location, there are major constraints that were imposed on the transit design. The first opportunity that the site location offered is the strong visual corridor with the Luxor Temple through Al-Mahta st. This strong relation is an aspect that were maintained throughout the design process.

The visual corridor shown above is actually is more of an asset than just being a visual

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connection as the street connecting the temple with the train station is one of the most important streets in Luxor that offers a lot of commercial spaces and social activity that transforms that corridor into one of the most important social nodes in Luxor. Furthermore, the street is capped at one end with the train station (a very important social node) and from the other end it is capped with ‘Seedy Abo AlHagag Plaza” in front of Luxor temple. This plaza can be considered as the most important node and social hub for people of Luxor. As it offer the platform for the locals to sit and socialize, for the children to play and run around and for the informal market sector to set up shop and sell for the user of space to satisfy their local need. Thus, creating a well-balanced eco-system. Despite the strength of the connection on the Eastern side of the station, the western corridor is not well developed despite its potential. See the Image below.

One of the major opportunities also offered by the site location is that there are numerous nodes of different transportation modes like microbus parking and regional bus parking which in fact offers many opportunities to integrate with to create multi-modal transportation hub.

Moreover, the presence of the Luxor market and al-Mahta st market means there are large number of pedestrian ridership coming from these social nodes. See Image below.

information required as result of the product typology. This includes The Peak 15-min Ridership, The Peak Capacity per Hour, Platform Length, Platform Width, Number of Vertical Circulation Elements (VCEs), The Capacity of Each Bus Bay, The Peak capacity per Hour (Bus), The number of Buses to be Accommodated in on One Hour and Number of Bays Required.

These important technical information has been calculated and deduced through a thorough procedure and from multiple official documentation as explained in Thesis I report.

However, this report would only include the conclusions:     

Moreover, the project needs to be very sensitive to the context and its impact because of the nature of the Luxor context. This is mainly there are a lot of contradictories in the context resulted from the tension between the Ancient Architecture of the Pharaohs and the modern and shallow adaptation of the language in the nep-Pharoanic architecture. Also, the tension between the brand that city needs to portray whether it is being the city of history and the old Ones or wither it is a modern city with modern needs and multiple culture that evolved from the ancient culture. That level of controversy that dictates the new transit architecture to be soothing, relaxing and allow the ancient temples to the dominant ones.

Other than the site analysis, opportunities and constraints created by the site location, three are constraints and important technical 10 | P a g e

   

The Peak Capacity Per Hour= 4,848 Passenger The Peak 15-min Ridership= 1,818 Passenger/ 15 min Platform Length = 385 m Platform Width = 4.5 m Number of VCEs is dependent on the NFPA 130 requirements of The maximum time allowed for passenger to escape the platform is 4 minutes and the maximum allowed time for passengers to leave escape from the furthest point in the station to outside is 6 minutes.

The Peak Capacity Per Hour (bus)= 2020 Passenger Per Hour The Capacity of Each Bus Bay= 20 Bus Per Hour The number of buses required in an Hour = 89 Buses The number of bays required= 12 Bay

Finally, these data, along with the Level of Service (LoS) required for each Space, were used to create the space program for the Transit Station which is shown in full details on the page to the right. Following The space program there is the Bubble diagram for the station showing the relationships between the different spaces shown in the space Program

Space Program

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Bubble Diagram Summary

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Research Development & Methodology Despite the extensive research that has been done in the general research phase of Thesis I Report, there were still gaps and information required to be attained in order to develop the alternatives. This is mainly because of the complexity and uniqueness of this building typology. Hence, new research methodology were required to order to attain the information required.

The first information that were needed are details and the drawings for the existing Luxor Train Station. This information is essential as the new transit station is built on the site of the existing train station and thus, this information is required to assess the potential of the existing structure and to assess whether there is a need to replace, extend or maintain the existing train stations.

Secondary source information are instrumental in any type of research and the analysis of the different precedence whether from functional, technical or conceptual point of view is essential for the design. However, the analysis of these precedence, illustrated in Thesis I report, were not enough to getting accustomed and comfortable with a new building typology. For that purpose, there is nothing better that living walking, studying and using a similar station.

Hence, the research methodology included going on to several field trips to Ramses Train Station in Cairo.

Luxor Train Station Luxor Train Station was originally built as station on the edge of the city of Luxor and railway was placed to act as a powerful edge that was aimed to stop the urban growth on the adjacent agricultural lands. However, even with the strength of the edge, the city has grown past the railway edge making the train station at the city center. This section demonstrates the quality of

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the architecture, the structure zoning and drawings of the station.

First, The architecture of the station and the quality of the spaces will be assessed. In order to do that, images will be used to demonstrate the different spaces and zones. Hence, this will be more of a visual assessment. It is important to note that the images used are from the field trip undertaken to Luxor at the end of last year.

The first space to be discussed is the main plaza of the station and the Entrance. The exterior of the entrance is designed as a simplified neoPharoanic style. However, there is no transition between the public realm and inside the station (i.e. there is no space in front of the entrance as the building is built to the edge of the street).

The interior of the entrance hall is more elaborately detailed to give a more of luxurious and ancient feel. The space only contains the ticketing windows and it leads to the platforms.

The Second Spaces to be discussed are the platforms, see the images on the right. There are two platforms in the city of Luxor serving the two main rail lines (One is going Northbound and one going south bound). However, the second platform also serves another rail line going only from Luxor to Aswan. There are also one service platform. However, it was not accessible for unauthorized users. The platform in Luxor station is very important and act as the connector between the different spaces of the station. Hence it acts like a spine of sot. For that purpose, the platform is wider than the typical platforms found in international stations. The Platform is divided into two lanes with a fixed seating edge. The outer lane is space provided for the entraining and detraining while the inner lane act as the connector corridor between the different spaces. The platform also hosts some vendors selling snacks and newspapers. In terms of architecture, the space is very simple and can only be distinguished by the canopy shading the platform the modern adaptation of the classical pharoanic columns

The last structure to be visually assessed are auxiliary and commercial spaces on either side of the entrance lobby. As it was mentioned earlier, the auxiliary service spaces are accessed from the platforms and is ventilated on it as well.

While the back of the spaces are the commercial spaces which are only accessible from the street.

The architecture is not distinguished by any distinct language. The facades of the commercial spaces are overpowered by the advertising signage and the canopies of the commercial spaces. Each signage and canopy is of different color leaving the façade in a state of noise. While the facades of the auxiliary spaces which is the edge of the platforms has the material as the platform and the façade is compromised with the openings of the simple doors and windows.

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Luxor Ground Floor Plan

The floor plan for the Luxor station has been obtained from the Railway Authority in Municipality of Transportation. As it can be seen the station is a very shallow plan typology and as mentioned earlier, there is no direct connection among the spaces. As the plan suggests, the station is very simple and lack many of the services and the amenities needed in a modern station. Moreover, the scale of the station is inadequate for a city center station for such an important station like Luxor.

Studying the floor plan of the station, it appeared there are points of strength and weaknesses in the design of the existing station.

These are illustrated below.

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Advantages:  



Very clear way finding Minimal walking distance from the outside realm to the platforms and to the trains Simple zoning layout

Disadvantages:    

The general concourse area is too small for the increase capacity There is no buffer zone between the outside realm and the station Large level of stress on the platforms as it is the only connector No connection or relation to the commercial spaces or other moneygenerating activities

Luxor Station circulation Diagram

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Ramsis Train Station Nothing is more useful to get acquainted with a building typology than living the building and walking through it. For that purpose, several field trips were arranged to Ramsis Train station in Cairo. In order to get the maximum benefits, The Kevin Lynch Methodology of urban analysis was used to assess the experiential journey through the architecture of the building.

The process started with walking purposefully through the building and then sitting somewhere and doing a mind map of the relationships between the different functional spaces.

The first walk through the station was taken to do the same as with the Luxor station and that is to visually assess the quality of the different spaces. However, the focus here is more about the relation between the architecture and the experience and the feeling of the space.

The first space to be discussed is the huge plaza in front of the station. The plaza acts as the buffer zone between the public realm and the station. It contains the parking, entrance from the metro and some monuments of old trains.

The Second space in the journey is the entrance lobby. Unlike the Luxor station, the general concourse area is spacious enough to handle the capacity. The space has an industrial modern feel because of the used metal as cladding for the roof and the columns. However, the space also has a historic feel because of the use pharoanic elements like the inverted pyramid and abstracted Pharoanic columns. The use of the skylight for the roofing in combination with the spaciousness of the space gives a feeling of transparency and openness. Finally, the use of the double escalators leading to the mezzanine floor containing the food court is very interesting.

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Following the entrance lobby, is the platform which are covered with a truss roof. The skylight adds an interesting experience. Moreover, the space contains various vendors and fixed seating area. However, the platforms are only used for entraining and detraining. It is important to note that not all the platforms are covered in fact the northern platform (i.e. platform 8 through 11) are actually open-aired with small canopies to offer some shade.

Finally, the mezzanine floor that host the food court and multiple seating areas offers a very interesting experience while waiting for the train. It overlooks the entrance lobby with wellmaintained architecture and roofed with glassmetal truss. The space leads to the shopping mall spine on either sides of the station which have been developed recently.

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After finishing the first journey though the station and wrapping up the visual assessment, the Kevin lynch methodology can start with mind mapping the station. The second walk through the station was only to record the main functional zones without any details to get a feel for the relationships and the typical user journey and experience. The walk started with the ground floor which contains the main following zones:       

Entrance General Concourse Admin Cafeteria Ticketing Entrance to Platforms And Commercial Spaces.

The Diagram on the right shows the resultant mind map of the ground floor plan.

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After Wrapping up the ground floor, it was time for the journey to move on to the first floor which hosted multiple zones that include:      

Station President Wing Foreign Expert Wing Security and Information Center VIP Service Area Commercial Spaces And Food Court

The Diagram on the left shows the resultant mind map of the first floor plan.

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The Second journey of the field trip was extremely instrumental in understanding the general zoning, journey and how does the train station primarily works. However, there were still several subzones that needed more detail in order to understand how to tackle them due to their complexity and uniqueness. Hence, it was time for the third and final journey which was aimed at gather more details on these spaces that include:    

Entrance Lobby Ticket Office Police And the Station President Wing

Main Entrance Lobby

Ticket Office

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Western Entrance Lobby

Police Department

Station President Wing

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Project Development (The Three Alternatives) After finishing the last phase of developing the researching and getting acquainted with the transit stations as an architecture typology, it was time to develop the three design alternatives depending on the site conditions, technical and functional requirements. The design approach of the three alternatives differ primarily according to the following criteria:    

Relation to the Existing station (whether to preserve, extend or replace) Pedestrian Ridership (i.e. Location of the entrance) Transit Typology (whether at grade station or aerial station) Level of impact on the context

Alternative 1 Alternative 1 was designed to have minimal impact on the context and the existing structures. Hence, the structures of the existing train station were preserved as is and new station wing was built on the opposite side of the rail line to act as bus station in the interchange.

The premise here is to study the viability of existing station in new station.

After developing the alternative, some advantages and disadvantages started to appear quite clearly, this includes: Advantage: 

Minimal impact on the context

Disadvantage: 

The train station cannot allow for the increased capacity required by the future expansion of Luxor

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Alternative 2 The Premise here is reconfigure the station by an acceptable amount to allow for the adequate efficiency. This will include taking more land from the context budget to allow for a nice plaza to act as a buffer between the public realm and the station.. Moreover, the station configuration would be adjusted to work as an aerial station.

The entrance location is maintained in same location as the original station.

After developing the alternative, some advantages and disadvantages started to appear quite clearly, this includes Advantages: 





Theoretically could prove adequate in handling the expected increased capacity Creation a nice plaza that act as a buffer zone between the public realm and station Creating more efficient interchange as it allows for more services

Disadvantages 

 

Major Feasibility studies needed as it could prove more expensive to reconfigure the old station Loses the ability to act as a gateway for such a great city The architecture might be too imposing for the city of Luxor

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Alternative 3 This alternative supposedly is the alternative with the most impact on the context. However, the building could prove to be quiet fitting despite the numerous adjustments and interventions that are made. This is because, conceptually, the idea is derived from the behavior if liquid form on a tissue. The diffusion of the building will be as a result of an attraction towards some opportunities to flow within the existing function and fabric.

In this alternative, the entrance is moved from the existing location to be from the plaza created. While the original entrance lobby will be used as the VIP Entrance Lobby. Moreover, the building spread to take advantage of the different nodes and opportunities surrounding the site, this includes the Microbus stop, the regional bus stop and the existing Luxor Market.

Finally, the street in front of the plaza was suggested to be extended and expanded and turned into pedestrian walkway between the station and the Luxor Temple.

After developing the alternative, some advantages and disadvantages started to appear quite clearly, this includes Advantages:   



Could maximize the potential of the area and act as an economic catalyst Has great potential to be one of the gateway to the city Create a full interchange hub with combining the different modes of transportation in one space Optimum to carry the expanded capacity of the future expansion of the city

Disadvantages:  

Significant impact of the context Huge scale of the project

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v

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Alternative Assessment After Developing alternatives, it was felt that there should be an empirical way for assessing and comparing between the different alternatives. Since the transit stations is all about people movement, efficiency of movement and the efficiency of transition between the different modes of transportation, it was decided to use agent based modelling to create micropedestrian simulation to assess the level of satisfaction of the users within the three alternatives. However, this effort is opposed by two main aspects, the criteria through which the level of satisfaction is assessed (this is discussed in the first sub-section) and modelling the human (i.e. agent) intelligence to simulate the pedestrian movement within the station (this is discussed in the second sub-section)

Criteria of Assessment (Level of Satisfaction for the User) Pedestrian circulation is may be the single most important element in the design of any interchange as the pedestrian circulation determines the efficiency of the passengers changing from one mode of transportation to another. Thus, it determines the efficiency of the entire interchange.

There is an interesting study on mobility and pedestrian circulation, by Seriani & Fernandez, that aims at quantifying the level of satisfaction, or rather the dissatisfaction, of the users using the interchange transit.

“Dissatisfaction are the variables that degrade the quality of the journey” They have concluded that the dissatisfaction is impacted by three variables: 

Inconvenience: relates to the physical effort the passenger has to exert to reach the other transportation mode.

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



The inconvenience value is equal to zero up to separation distance of 25m Frustration: this is the most significant variable that impact the dissatisfaction.

Frustration relates directly to speed. The optimum walking speed is 1.4 m/s and this is the only value where the frustration variables equal to zero. They have concluded that the users feels extremely frustrated when they are forced to walk at lower speed due to congestion or due to queuing. The passenger also feels frustrated when forced to walk at a higher speed as it gives a feeling of anxiety and unsafety.

Discomfort: this relates to the availability of personal space and this relates closely Level of Service (LOS) required for each component of the interchange

It is important to note the inconvenience factor impact the idea of dissatisfaction the least.

Therefore, it is actually better to increase the distance between bus and train platforms up to 100 m to avoid congestion and reduce the frustration values than to put the bus platforms within the range of 25 m and risk high level of congestion and queuing resulting a higher ‘Frustration’ value.

Micro-Pedestrian Simulation (Agent Based Modelling Using Cellular Automata) A cellular automaton is a model of a system of “cell” objects with the following characteristics. 

The cells live on a grid. (Although a cellular automaton can exist in any finite number of dimensions. The 2dimension grid is the one that is going to be used in this model as it same number of dimensions as the floor plans.)



Each cell has a state. The number of state possibilities is typically finite. The simplest example has the two possibilities of 1 and 0 (otherwise referred to as “on” and “off” or “alive” and “dead”).



Each cell has a neighborhood. This can be defined in any number of ways, but it is typically a list of adjacent cells.





Grid represent the space in which the pedestrians are allowed to move.

The Cell State represents the presence or not of a person. Moreover, in this model, the cell State is more complex as it can carry more variables which are color, the social field index, Vision Field index and the Weighted Social Parameter, which explained later on.

The color variable is white when there is not a person in the cell and the color variable will have any one of the colors ranging from green to red depending on the level of satisfaction of the person in that cell. The level of satisfaction is measured according to the three variables discussed in the previous subsection The neighborhood of the cell is the list of the adjacent cells and their state. The state of the neighborhood influence the state of the cell and how the pedestrian move. If the neighborhood is all

In the micro-simulation model adopted in this report: 

Each cell in the Grid is equal to 0.41m x 0.41m, a value that was taken from the Level of Service table (LoS) and this value represents the personal space needed for one person. Hence, in this model each cell represents one person. The

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occupied by persons, then the speed of walking decrease, the level of discomfort increases and congestion start to appear.

Modelling human behavior psychology is actually follow certain rules and has basic elements, despite its complexity. The three basic

elements that a microscopic pedestrian model must take into account are:   

To mitigate Conflicts Forward Motion Lateral motion

For this reason a pedestrian is only allowed to move as shown below:

Moreover, there are several phenomena start to appear when looking at pedestrian flow. These phenomena are essential as they make modeling pedestrian simulation possible as they offer the rules and guidelines that influence how each cell transition according to human social behavior.

These phenomena are:    

from its own route avoiding physical contact, thus expending more energy.

Territorial trends affect changes in pedestrian behavior which are guided by social fields. This ideas are taken to model territorial behavior by means of repulsion forces, in such a way that persons tend to move away from others or objects to avoid collisions or hurting. Social field resembles an individual space where each person feels comfortable. Thus the social field acts in a similar manner as the repulsive force of the social force model. Whenever a person invades the social space of another, the last tries to move in a direction that diminishes the discomfort, acting as a repulsive force among persons. In this way the social distance is kept among individuals. To each cell a discrete value of the social field is assigned. In the case that the fields intersect, the values at the intersected cells are summed up as shown, so the intensity or presence of the individual is increased.

The Dynamic Multi-Lane (DML) Social Field Vision Field Weighted Social Parameter

The dynamic multi-lane (DML) flow is formed by groups of pedestrian moving along directional lanes. Pedestrians generate a lane by avoiding others coming from the opposite direction and by following the one just ahead of him/her and going in the same direction. Formation of dynamical lanes can be understood as follows: a typical pedestrian chooses to minimize its energy by walking along currents of people in its own direction. Thus when he/she walks along he/she has to worry about keeping its own distance from the pedestrian in front of him/her.

Without forming lanes pedestrians will confront each other frequently and would have to deviate 32 | P a g e

The third phenomena is the Vision Field. The majority of pedestrians look at all what happens in front of them, as they walk by. In this way they can avoid collisions with objects or other persons. The vision field reflects the attention that a pedestrian pays to situations that happens in front of him/her, giving them more attention

than those which happen besides or back of him/her. On the other hand, pedestrian’s vision scope becomes important from certain distance on, where he/her can change direction to avoid collision with obstacles. This characteristic permits the pedestrian to take a decision, to continue walking straight ahead or deflect.

The weight per lane for lane i is defined by 𝑛𝑝𝑘

𝑤𝑘𝑖 = 1 + ∑ 𝑗=1

𝑑𝑗 𝑙𝑘 𝑥𝑉 𝑖

Where npk is the number of persons in lane k, 𝑉 𝑖 is the number of cells within the vision scope of a pedestrian, l = 1 for walking lanes k − 1, k and k + 1, and l = 2 for walking lanes k − 2 and k + 2; dj = +1 if pedestrian j walks in the opposite direction as pedestrian i and dj = −1 for those walking in the same direction. The composition of walking lanes is shown below; cells of the same color belong to the same walking lane. The social value of lane k is obtained by summing the social field of cells that form the walking lane.

The weighted social parameter for each lane is computed by taking the weight times the social value per lane.

The idea of Weighted Social Parameter is to help pedestrian decide on the lane with the highest pedestrian concentration walking in the same direction. In this way formation of dynamical lines is more likely. Let us introduce two intermediary parameters: the weight and the social value per lane.

Pedestrian motion is achieved in two stages: first the whole path of each pedestrian is computed, then each pedestrian position is updated. Each 33 | P a g e

time step is sectioned in time sub-steps.

Pedestrian motion applies to each time sub-step until completing the whole time step or the individual velocity is attained. The updating of pedestrian positions is made in parallel, that is, in each time step a pedestrian moves to the last cell of the computed path. Now that all parameters have been defined the micro simulation pedestrian code can be written and the analysis can start. The following is the pseudo code that went into writing the actual computer code:  

  



Compute the weighted social parameter of walking lane k.

If the weighted social value is less than 1, then go to step 5. Otherwise repeat steps 3-5 until sweeping all five possible pedestrian motions.

Compute the weighted social parameter for adjacent walking lanes Compare and choose the cell with the least weighted social value.

Verify if cell is free, otherwise choose another free cell with the least weighted social value.

In case there is no free cell, pedestrian stays in the same cell.

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Results of the Micro-Pedestrian Simulation The results of the micro-pedestrian simulation has shown that the first alternative is problematic due to the increased load on the platforms and the small scale of the gathering areas. However, the first alternative scored the highest in the convenience category.

The Second Alternative was adequate in its performance. However, there were some problems in the train concourse area.

Apparently, the concourse area is actually too small to handle the capacity and need to be increased for optimum performance.

The third alternative was actually the best solution in the overall performance. However, some distinct problems started to appear in some of the corridors and linkages. Especiall the one between the main station body and the microbus facility. It is also important to note that this alternative scored the least in the inconvenience category, despite scoring the maximum satisfaction level.

All the results are shown below:

First Alternative Analysis

Second Alternative Analysis

Third Alternative Analysis

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

Phase II 

Scope The Premise of this stage in the design life cycle is to push the design forward with one of the alternatives. Now that the brainstorming phase is over, it is time to choose one of the alternatives and develop them to see the actual viability as unique architecture solution. The outcome of this stage should be a clear conceptual idea for the project as well as schematic plans for the project. Moreover, there should be an idea for the form and the 3d for the building.

Areas of Weakness 



The progress in this phase is thoroughly explained in three sections; Reflection on the previous stage, Research Development/Methodology, Design Development.

The Reflection on Previous Stage section contains analysis of the final outcome of the previous stage to assess the point of strength and weaknesses of the project so far. While the Research Development/Methodology section contains all the data and information that was collected in order to fill gaps of the knowledge necessary required to develop the design. The Design Development Section explains and demonstrates the actual work output.

Reflection on the Previous Stage After presenting the three alternatives and the final outcome of the previous stage, some area started to appear strong while others appeared to be problematic, as explained below: Areas of Strength: 

The three alternatives were significantly different that they offered a variety of options

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Solving the plans, zoning and the flow of movement in the station was clear and strong The third alternative appeared to be the one having the most potential





Since every alternative had a different impact level, the boundaries of the project site and influence are unclear.

Thus, the boundaries are needed to be clearly defined There were some problems with the street in front of the plaza that suggested to be expanded, extended and turned into a pedestrian street to create a nice avenue between the station and Temple of Luxor as it was very controversial and out of the scope of the project. Therefore, it needs to be scrapped out.

The Pedestrian Micro-simulation modelling, despite its strength, appeared to be more useful in later stages for the optimization of the station.

The most important point is despite the fact that the project demonstrates knowledge of how to solve the zones and subzones of the project, it appeared the holistic approach for the design is still lacking. Hence, it become essential to take a step back and think how the project formalistically is going to look like as the form of the station is very important.

As a result of these reflections, work has started to be done to strengthen the project starting with the formalistic points. In the page on the right, there some attempts and iteration to create different formalistic approach to the project.

Physical Model adjustment and iteration for Alternative 3

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Research Development & Methodology After the initial session working with clay in attempt to create an interesting form and develop the project, despite the potential of the form produced, it became clear that there is still a need for further research. Since, this time, the problem is with building form expression, the research methodology relied on looking to precedencies and analyze what is interesting to starting building architectural language for the architecture of the hub. Four Projects were instrumental in this stage:    

Haramain High Speed Rail Kai Tak Cruise Terminal Berlin Hauptbahnhof (i.e. Berlin Central Station) 6th of October security Directorate

Haramain High Speed Rail (By Norman Foster) The Haramain High-speed Railway is a major infrastructure project for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, connecting the cities of Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and the developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC). Altogether, the large, flexible stations will cover an area more than 30 times the size of London's Trafalgar Square and will initially accommodate an anticipated 60 million passengers approximately six times the number of passengers that take the Eurostar from St Pancras each year.

The modular approach to the stations' design is complemented by variations in color, which signify the four cities while remaining emblematic of the HHR system. The terminal stations of Medina and Makkah are characterized by a rich color palette: Makkah Station references the gold leaf of the decorated Kab'ah and the city's significance as a holy site, while Madinah Station's vivid green color draws inspiration from the Mosque of the Prophet.

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concept takes the traditional gateway arch form as the basis for its roof design.

Following a 'kit-of-parts' approach, each station has a combination of different facades according to their orientation - solid facades are used where visibility is not essential, in order to reduce solar gain. The glazed entrances to the concourse and the platforms are concealed behind a combination of external mashrabiya and the deep overhanging roof canopies. Each station is oriented according to the path of the sun, turning from Madinah Station, which faces east, to north-facing Makkah Station. Their changing position is articulated through openings in the roof, through which light tubes draw daylight down to the concourse level and animate the space. At night, spotlights between the perforations give the impression of stars in a night sky.

Conclusion Despite the fact that this project draws inspiration from a totally different source, it worked as remainder that major public building need to draw inspiration from the major monuments in the context. In the case of this project, it was the Heramain architecture that dictated design language, while in the transit of Luxor should the Karnak and Luxor temple.

Other than the conceptual realization, there are several elements in the design that appeared very interesting, including:    



The Use of tensile structure The use of deep overhanging roofs and solid facades to reduce solar gain The use of colors to symbolize different meaning Spot lights with Perforations in the roofs to create the impression of stars in the sky.

The use of lighting elements to accentuate the rhythm of the structure.

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Kai Tak Cruise Terminal (By Norman Foster) The new Kai Tak Cruise Terminal is being constructed on the site of Hong Kong’s former airport, at the tip of the old runway. Establishing Hong Kong as the preeminent regional hub for cruise liners, the terminal will have capacity to berth two large 360-metre-long vessels, each with more than 4,000 passengers and over 2,000 crew, as well as anticipating the demands of a next generation of larger ships.

The linear arrangement of light-filled passenger areas is characterized by its clarity and ease of use. The terminal has a generous, rectangular footprint and is arranged over three main levels, encased by a lattice of large white ‘fins’ that allow daylight to filter through to the passenger waiting spaces The design is highly flexible, incorporating spaces that are suitable for alternative functions and enabling the building to be used all year round, fully utilizing ‘down time’. The spacious interior spans just over 42 meters and the waiting areas can be converted into a venue for performances, events and exhibitions, supported by a variety of restaurants and shops. The sustainable design

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also combines a number of energy saving measures, as well as generating power from renewable sources and making use of recycled rain water for cooling.

Conclusion Despite the different circumstances that led the form of this precedence, this project was extremely instrument in this stage as it added to architecture language aimed to be adopted in the project. Some of the very interesting elements of this project includes: 



 

The design approach is interesting, as the cruise terminal design started from the section The linearity of the project was very interesting and gave a sense of movement and dynamic Very interesting energy saving techniques Most importantly, the use of the green roofs as entertainment platform for the station was very interesting

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Berlin Hauptbahnhof (i.e. Berlin Central Station by Meinhard von Gerkan) Berlin’s new Central Station – Europe’s largest train station for long-distance, regional, and local transport – was built on its historical site in the Tiergarten District, west of Humboldthafen. At this station the new underground north-south link of the InterCityExpress service connects with the west-east line running on a curved railway track. Additionally, suburban railway tracks in both directions, as well as an underground line from north to south arrive at this station. The north-south track runs 15 m below ground level in a tunnel, which also passes below the River Spree and the Tiergarten. A train station for longdistance journeys with eight platforms, four platforms for long-distance and regional transport as well as a new train station for the U5 underground line positioned parallel to the eastern platform was realized in this location.

The east-west line is elevated 10 m above street level und corresponds to the previous course of the railway tracks. A total of four long-distance railway tracks and two urban train tracks run on four newly constructed urban railway bridges.

The traffic of the train station is organized on three levels: 

Level –2: Long-distance and regional lines from north to south; U5 underground line



Level ±0: Local public transport; individual transport (access road, short-term car park); bicycles and pedestrians tourist transport (coaches, ships)



Level +1:

Long-distance and regional lines on the urban railway track; S3, S5, S75, S7, and S9.

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floor area of 175,000 m², with approximately 15,000 m² reserved for shops and gastronomy, 50,000 m² are provided as office space in the arch buildings, 5,500 m² serve for operational railway use as well as 21,000 m² as circulation area. The platforms cover an area of 32,000 m², the garage comprises 25,000 m².

The key design principle of Berlin’s Central Station is the clear emphasis of the existing course of the railway tracks in the urban environment. Large, lightweight glass roofs as well as two intersecting office buildings translate this principle with architectural means.

Conclusion This precedence might be the most helpful during this stage as there were so many interesting aspects in this project, this includes: 





The way that the geometries intersect each other is very interesting conceptually as it provides linkage between the city The use of curved linear smooth structure with the stagnant and dominant form of the station main body offers a very interesting juxtaposition.

The way the levels were design and the plans configured was intriguing.

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Berlin Central Station Drawings

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6th of October security Directorate Unlike the previous presidencies which were international examples and collected through online resources, this precedence is local and the photos were taken by the author. Despite the fact that this building is not related to transit facilities, its architecture offered an inspiration as it contained several interesting element:  

The abstract take on the Pharoanic massing is very interesting Beyond the decorative elements that usually employed in the neo-Pharoanic style, the simple composition and the abstract rules of symmetry and pylon massing is very interesting.

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Design Development Concept Development The design approach for this project started with looking back at the first field trip undertaken and remembering the first impressions. The first clear idea that appeared is the sense of the dualities as there were so many aspects that appeared contradictory and even in conflict from the first glance. For instance, walking throughout the city is very interesting as one moment the area is extremely luxurious and touristic and then one block later the area is turned to be extremely exotic then taking a left the space started to feel very poor and informal.

Moreover, the locals even call Luxor the city of two lands. This is because of the Nile River and the way it divides Luxor into eastern Luxor and western Luxor. Although this is very normal in many cities, even Cairo is divided by the Nile, In Luxor is quite different as the two lands are extremely different in their customs, traditions, life style, education, feel and their architecture despite their close proximity and dependency on each other. What is really interesting when the Eastern city of Luxor was further divided by the rail line, the two parts of the city started to differ considerably in the standard of living, customs and even the identity of the place.

Other than the urban fabric, another factor that showcases the idea of duality is the cultural duality in Luxor. Luxor is one of the most important touristic destinations in the world which means there are large variety of cultures and foreign influences that appear in Luxor. This in turn has caused another duality in the culture of the people of Luxor. On one hand there are those that are trying to appear more liberal to make the foreigners and tourists comfortable and familiar with the city and on the other hand, there are those who want to preserve their heritage, culture and customs and refuse to be influenced by the foreign element in order to maintain their sense of identity.

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Another factor that fuels the sense of the duality in the city of Luxor is the Ancient VS the Modern.

This duality is a source of high level of controversy as to what is the modern image of Luxor. So should we maintain the ancient look of the pharoanic Luxor and let everything revolve around the Ancient Egyptian Architecture and Heritage? Or should we change everything and modernize the city to try to attract more tourist?

What should be the brand of Luxor? Hence, the Old vs. The New is a very interesting duality.

What is really interesting is that through reading about the history of Luxor, it appears the duality exists even from the age of the Ancient Egyptian.

Where they worshipped their deities who each of them had good and evil residing within them and the struggle between them is what made their culture. Moreover, the journey between death, life and rebirth is what made their religion and belief system. How the urban zoning depends on the location of the land in relation to the Nile. For instance, all the temple were built on the eastern side of the Nile while all the tombs are built on the western side of the Nile.

Moreover, some of the Pharaohs personified the duality by being resembled as embodying both the male and female essence like in the case of Akhenaton. Hence, it is clear that the idea of duality is deeply rooted in the culture and history of the Great City of Luxor.

Now the question becomes how does the idea of duality manifest in Rail Station? Well it goes back to the first definition found in the literature review section in the Thesis I Report; According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, “The Modern Transit Station is a Contradictory and diverse creature, a place where architecture & technology come together in close and dramatic association with large numbers of people”.

Hence, it appears that the station itself has several layers of dualities associated with it. Like

Technology vs. People, Static vs. Dynamic, Slow Vs. Speed, Function vs. Experience…

Merging the Dualities of the context with the dualities of the station, the list of the dualities that the architecture of the transit would play on, this includes:       

Old & New Static & Dynamic Fast & Slow Locals & Global East & West Function and Experience Technology & Nature

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Transit Hub Master Plan As it can be seen in the master plan below, the form is made up of a long linear tube crossed with four Linkage masses. Each of the four masses are connecting between two functions in the interchange hub. The first one on the right is linking the existing regional bus facility with the microbus facility. The second one is linking between the pedestrian movements between two major ridership streets, the third spine is the station main body linking the train station with the bus interchange and the final mass is the admin wing linking two residential zones. The linear tube resembles the dynamic, modern looking and contains the high speed movement of the trains while the building masses were designed to look like abstract heavy Pharoanic masses.

Transit Hub Ground Floor Plan The ground floor plan was design to contains all the service spaces for the station to be functional. However, the ground Floor plan also contains some functions that are meant to serve the people in the platforms. The list of functions in the ground floor plan are:                      

Police Fire Emergency Ambulance and Nursing Center Electricity and Power Generators Heavy lifts luggage Train Maintenance Post Taxi Kiss & Ride Bus Bays Train Platforms Regional Bus entrance Regional Bus Lounge Microbus facility entrance Microbus waiting area Kareta Parking Admin wing Entrance VIP Entrance Loppy VIP Lounge Lounges Cafeterias Commercial Spaces

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Transit Hub First Floor Plan The First floor plan was designed to host the main activities of the station. This is considered the main floor. Even though, it does contains some amenities, the plan was designed to contain mostly leisure activities and to increase the satisfaction experience of the user. The functions included in the first floor plan are:               

Entrance lobby General Concourse Ticketing Vertical circulation elements leading to the platforms Restaurants Commercial Spaces Shopping Mall Strip Food Court Lounges Admin Area Security check Station President’s wing Foreign Experts wing Conference Rooms Employee halls

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3-D Form Pictures

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Physical Model Photos

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

Phase III 

Scope The Premise of this stage in the design life cycle is to push the design further to deliver a more elaborative project. Now that there was an actual product that can be finished and go deeper in, it was time to take a look on the viability of the idea and the way it was translated into the architecture to judge if continuing on the same course is the best decision for the project. The outcome of this stage should be an elaborate conceptual idea for the project as well as elaborate plans for the project. Moreover, there should be a unique experience and architecture that makes the project special.

The progress in this phase is thoroughly explained in three sections; Reflection on the previous stage, Research Development/Methodology, Design Development.

 

Solving the plans, zoning and the flow of movement in the station was clear and strong The site layout showed the connection expression intended linking both lands The juxtaposition between the static masses and elegant tube is interesting The geometry of the station looks intriguing

Areas of Weakness 





The scale of the station is controversial and requires a lot of evidence to justify the need for a station with that scale. If it is not justified, the station should be reduced The design is extremely geometrical and linear that for the pedestrian view will create a sense of disconnection rather than intended connection The commercial spaces are large in scale and its design is intimidating for the simple user of Luxor Despite the promise of connection and linking both lands on the opposite sides of the rail line, all the connection seems to be too rigid and controlled to allow for efficient connection. Does everyone want to just cross to the other side needs to enter the station building? This seems to be imposed Does the linking connection needs to be bridge?

The Reflection on Previous Stage section contains analysis of the final outcome of the previous stage to assess the point of strength and weaknesses of the project so far. While the Research Development/Methodology section contains all the data and information that was collected in order to fill gaps of the knowledge necessary required to develop the design. The Design Development Section explains and demonstrates the actual work output.



Reflection on the Previous Stage

As a result of these reflections, it was decided to take a step back and get immersed in the context and the concept.

Then there is a need to redefine the logic as it feels like the concept got lost in the translation of the project. Hence, the step back was taken in attempt to answer the question: what would be the most efficient connection that the Luxorian would use?

What does the people want?

After presenting the design and the final outcome of the previous stage, some area started to appear strong while others appeared to be problematic, as explained below: Areas of Strength: 

The idea of duality is strong has logical connection with the site and context

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

Research Development & Methodology Since the project design, in the last phase, appeared to be carried away with sort of globalized image of transit station, there is a need to for the project to be more grounded and tied into the context of Luxor. The research development during this phase project will focus on three elements:   

Site Analysis of the Different Energy Flow Luxorian Human-Social Behavior Analysis Precedence analysis

The process starts by going back to essence of the idea of the project and that is to weave in the tensions that exist in the city by maintaining and connecting the different flow of energies through movement. In order to that it was felt that it is necessary to go back and analyze the different flows of movements of the different modes of transportation and identify the areas of weaknesses and break in theses flows in order to identify area of opportunities. This is the purpose of the first subsection.

The people of Luxor will be intimidated to use a place like that … That connection is not efficient enough for the people … that architecture created segregation rather than connection … this type of connection is over imposed … Does the people really need this … what does the people want? There are all the comments and questions that the last phase faced. This subsection aims to respond to these questions by looking at the cultural social-behavior of the people of Luxor The last subsection is a continuation to the research methodology employed in the last phase of design. However, this time, the projects need to have been built around the idea of connection and the celebration of culture and different social behavior to create the identity of the architecture.

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Site Analysis of the Different Energy Flow Regional Buses The first energy to be talked about is the flow of the regional buses. There is only one Regional bus parking in Luxor and it is located at the end of Mahta-Street in front of the Luxor Train station. The main spine of flow for the regional buses is the Cornishe St. due to its accessibility and good visual experience. However, it is not the most efficient spine. Not ever since, the Green Belt Street was built to become the regional road connecting to Cairo-Aswan Rd. However, due to the lack of development in the western side of Luxor and the segregation occurred because of the rail line, the green belt rd is underutilized. Hence, there is an opportunity for the transit station, Connecting the flow by creating proper crossings and well developed spine will create a catalyst of development the eastern side of Luxor.

Taxis Taxis work primarily in the west-northern side of Luxor Due to the large presence of touristic activities. Taxis work primarily for the tourists as the locals do not usually have high level of incomes. That is why there is no taxi frequented route outside of the touristic district. There are few taxi parking usually around major monuments area. Due to their movement, the taxi parking facility are designed in the western side of the station. The map on the right illustrates the different flows for taxis movement.

Microbuses There is two microbus parking in Luxor; one near the Luxor station and the other is located south of the city, as shown in the map on the left.

Although there are some tourists who enjoy riding the microbuses around, the microbuses can be considered to be primarily serving the locals. Hence, the majority of their routes are in the eastern and southern side of Luxor where there is high level of concentration of residences.

However, the roads quality are terrible in these parts of town. Hence, there are opportunity for the station to promote development in these parts by creating strong visual connection and services to start as a catalyst. Because of the concentration of flow of microbuses in the eastern side, the microbus parked has been designed in the East.

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Pedestrian Movement The two maps on the right are for illustrating the pedestrian movement in the area surrounding the station. There are primarily three major nodes besides the train station in the area:   

Luxor Souq The MicroBus Parking Luxor Temple and Seedy-Abou-Al Hagag plaza

There are also four major streets for pedestrian movement:     

Al-Mahta St Al-Souq St. Al Cornsihe St. Salah Salem St. Ramsis St.

However, the flow of movement is disconnected due to the rail line between the East and the West. Hence, There is an opportunity for connect through the hub.

Kareta Karetas (i.e. Horse carriages) are among the few modes of transportation used by locals and tourists alike because they are major source of entertainments for both. The karetas routes and parking are typically around the major monuments attraction and the Nile. Hence, there stop is located in the western side of the design. The map on the right illustrate the kareta movement in the city.

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Luxorians Human-Social Behavior Analysis What do the people want? This is the main question of this subsection. Looking back at the videos taken and the analysis done during the general research phase of Thesis I, the pattern of different cultural behaviors starts to appear and answering the question of what the people want becomes an easier task to answer. Why? Well, because the people have answered. In the city of Luxor, the people enjoy open air and public spaces where can perform variety of activities and socialize. This is mainly because there is a severe lack of source of entertainments and well, it is cheap. In the area, where the project is to be built, there is only the Plaza of Seedy-Abou-Al Haga. This plaza has historical importance as it is built in front of Seedy Abo-Al hagag mosque and Luxor temple. The plaza hosts a variety of activities that the people do informally there. In order to capture the essence of the space and socio-culture, the methodology of the research is to sketch the various elements and activities that occur in the space in an expressive manner.

The sketches presented in this section are all from the Seedy-Abou Al-Hagag Plaza.

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Precedence Analysis Minneapolis Transit Hub The concept of this interchange hub is “A unique blend of architecture, open space, transit, infrastructure, history, culture and art.

The interchange represents an exciting vision of this character manifest in an urban environment. The goal of the interchange is to create a place that is uniquely tailored to Minneapolis and its citizens – a place that is iconic, modern and timeless” (EE&K, 2012) The new interchange is designed in close proximity to the Target Field Stadium and therefore, it was designed to the new ‘central station square’. The concept is to develop a new urban identity that emphasizes community pride. Hence, Minneapolis interchange has become an example for a transit that combines transit and culture.

Knowing that the people of the city appreciate the outdoor, the design included a lot of public

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spaces that can hold multiple activities while still having spaces for smaller social interactions.

Another important feature of the Minneapolis interchange station is the ‘Great Lawn’ which is the center of this new development. This new feature gives a bold statement about the city’s attitude towards sustainable environment while providing an opportunity for major social events as well as individual activities. Thus, creating a major new park in the heart of the downtown area.

The interchange combines different modes of transportation, including taxis, shuttle buses, train platforms, Metro platforms, bicycle racks and car parking. Moreover, the project also consists of dining areas and cultural & Art shows.

In conclusion, this project is very important as it gives an idea about the complexity of such cultural transit as well as how to integrate different modes of transportations. Hence, this precedent gives a guidelines at both the conceptual and functional levels.

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Namba Park Namba Parks, a massive retail and office compund in Osaka, Japan, totally blasts away the boring stereotype of what a mall is supposed to look like. Built in the footprint of the old Osaka baseball stadium, the awesome development, which was completed in 2003 by the Jerde Partnership, has an eight level rooftop garden that spans several city blocks and features tree groves, rock clusters, cliffs and canyons, lawns, streams, waterfalls, ponds.

Since it’s one of the first places that visitors to the city might see, owner Nankai Electric Railway asked the Jerde Partnership to envision the new development as a gateway that would redefine Osaka’s identity. Jerde designed Namba Parks as a huge green space and an oasis amidst Osaka‘s dense urban streets.

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The entire development includes a 30story office tower and adjacent mall, but what really makes Namba Parks stand out is its rooftop park that gradually ascends eight levels and gives passers-through the feeling that they are actually standing high on a mountaintop in nature when they’re actually right in the middle of the city. Right below the park, a gradiated “canyon” carves a path through the mall, as they stroll past shops, entertainment spots and dining venues. Different flavors of restaurants (Japanese, Korean, Italian, etc.) can be found on the 6th floor, and shops are located on the 2nd through 5th floors. There are also terraces located both on the rooftop and amidst the canyons, an amphitheater for live shows, and space for small personal vegetable gardens and wagon shops.

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Namba Park Master Plan

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Design Development After the finishing the research and diving more deeply into the context and into the life of the people, the concept development started to be clear. It all starts with answering the question “what does the people want?’ and the answer is that they enjoy open plazas, they enjoy sitting around in the open while spending time with their family, they enjoy spaces where they are in control and able to satisfy their needs. They enjoy spaces where they can afford with whatever is in your pocket. They enjoy spaces that are lively and dynamic. From all of that, the idea became clear; let’s build a park above the station which can be accessed by anybody and at time. It can be accessed from the East or the west. Let’s make it a platform that bring the people together. Let’s make it a platform that celebrates the informality and the dynamic for the people. Let’s create a platform where the people are in control. Let’s create a platform

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where the people can shape it in whatever form they want to create space memory. Let’s create an architecture that plays around the juxtapositions between the organic (i.e. nature) and the static architecture of the temples (Yes, it is yet another duality). Let’s create an building that sends a statement that Luxor is not the land of yellow, despite modern belief, but it is is land of the green, yellow and and blue, ever since the Ancient Egypt.

Transit Hub Master Plan The master plan shows the attempt to create what was discussed in the previous paragraph by creating multi-level park that is opened to public while have the station entrances as the only masses that appears to be dominant and can be visually scene. Everything else serve the purpose of the garden to emphasize the idea of the common platform.

Transit Hub Ground Floor Plan The ground floor plan was design to contain the main entrance of the station and concourse and it can go directly to the platforms. The list of functions in the ground floor plan are:                           

Entrance Lobby General Concourse Ticketing Platforms VIP Entrance Lobby VIP Lounge Lounges Cafeterias Admin Commercial Spaces Police Fire Emergency Ambulance and Nursing Center Electricity and Power Generators Heavy lifts luggage Train Maintenance Post Taxi Kiss & Ride Bus Bays Train Platforms Regional Bus entrance Regional Bus Lounge Microbus facility entrance Microbus waiting area Kareta Parking Admin wing Entrance

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Transit Hub First Floor Plan The First floor plan was designed to be complementary to the station experience. Even though, it contains the administration area, it still is an essential part of the user experience as it leads the user to unique garden crossing between the two building while being served with cafeteria and restaurants. The functions included in the first floor plan are:            

Vertical circulation elements leading to the platforms Restaurants Commercial Spaces Shopping Mall Strip Food Court Lounges Admin Area Security check Station President’s wing Foreign Experts wing Conference Rooms Employee halls

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3-D Form Sketches & Visualization

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Physical Model Photos

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

Phase IV 

Scope The Premise of this stage in the design life cycle is to push the design further to deliver a more elaborative project. In fact, this stage is considered as the semi-final stage for the project that should acts as a mock up for the final submission for the project. The outcome of this stage should be an elaborate design with fully detailed technical drawings. The stage should include floor plans, layout, elevation and section.

Hence, the entire design should be presented to the extent that there should be only minor changes between the end of this stage and the final presentation for the project.

The progress in this phase is thoroughly explained in three sections; Reflection on the previous stage, Research Development/Methodology, Design Development.

The Reflection on Previous Stage section contains analysis of the final outcome of the previous stage to assess the point of strength and weaknesses of the project so far. While the Research Development/Methodology section contains all the data and information that was collected in order to fill gaps of the knowledge necessary required to develop the design. The Design Development Section explains and demonstrates the actual work output.

Reflection on the Previous Stage After presenting the design and the final outcome of the previous stage, some area started to appear strong while others appeared to be problematic, as explained below: Areas of Strength: 

The idea of duality is strong has logical connection with the site and context

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



Solving the plans, zoning and the flow of movement in the station was clear and strong The whole idea of the transit park was accepted and appreciated The juxtaposition between the static masses and the complex organic forms/ landscape was interesting The form is complex and nice with intriguing perspectives

Areas of Weakness  

 





The presentation of the layout was extremely poor The landscape layer of the park was not properly designed and needs further development There should be some hierarchy between the different pedestrian paths Some of the curves connecting the ramps with each other are overexaggerated and need to be more elegant The pedestrian bridge linking both sides of the station is the weak and needs for its geometry to furtherly developed Minor mistakes in the plans solving

As a result of these reflections, it was clear that the main point of weakness is lack of landscape design and that should be the main concern for this stage.

Research Development & Methodology Since the main gap in the database knowledge of the landscape, the research development and methodology in this stage relied heavily on seeing a lot of image of different landscape solutions, especially those that emphasize the juxtaposition between rectangular form and the organic circular shapes. On the following pages are showing the main images that were extremely influential in this stage:

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Design Development After the finishing the research and diving more deeply into the different landscape language and after acquiring the required landscape languages it was time to start developing the project

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further. It all started with the layout design and with setting the space program for the park, the same way it was done for the building

Transit Park layout The layout of the park was designed to contain the following functions          

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Amphitheater Food court Sopping area Free to use open garden Bus bays Kiss & ride Main Outdoor Restaurant Steeping Fountains Football Court Open – air café’s

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Transit Park Ground Floor Plan The ground floor plan was design to contain the main entrance of the station and concourse and it can go directly to the platforms. The list of functions in the ground floor plan are:                           

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Entrance Lobby General Concourse Ticketing Platforms VIP Entrance Lobby VIP Lounge Lounges Cafeterias Admin Commercial Spaces Police Fire Emergency Ambulance and Nursing Center Electricity and Power Generators Heavy lifts luggage Train Maintenance Post Taxi Kiss & Ride Bus Bays Train Platforms Regional Bus entrance Regional Bus Lounge Microbus facility entrance Microbus waiting area Kareta Parking Admin wing Entrance

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Transit Park First Floor Plan The First floor plan was designed to be complementary to the station experience. Even though, it contains the administration area, it still is an essential part of the user experience as it leads the user to unique garden crossing between the two building while being served with cafeteria and restaurants. The functions included in the first floor plan are:            

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Vertical circulation elements leading to the platforms Restaurants Commercial Spaces Shopping Mall Strip Food Court Lounges Admin Area Security check Station President’s wing Foreign Experts wing Conference Rooms Employee halls

Elevation & Section

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3D Digital Shots

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

Phase V

Areas of Weakness

Scope The Premise of this stage in the design life cycle is to push the design to its final potential. In fact, this stage is concluded by the final presentation for the project. The outcome of this stage should be a finalized design with fully detailed technical drawings. The stage should include floor plans, layout, elevation and section. Hence, the entire design should be presented full and completely as this is considered as the end of the project life cycle The progress in this phase is thoroughly explained in three sections; Reflection on the previous stage & Design Development.

The Reflection on Previous Stage section contains analysis of the final outcome of the previous stage to assess the point of strength and weaknesses of the project so far. The Design Development Section explains and demonstrates the actual work output.

Reflection on the Previous Stage After presenting the design and the final outcome of the previous stage, some area started to appear strong while others appeared to be problematic, as explained below: Areas of Strength:    



The interplay between the rectilinear shape and circular and organic shapes are very interesting

The landscape is well designed The sketch effect presentation is intriguing It started to look like an actual park The juxtaposition between the static masses and the complex organic forms/ landscape was interesting The form is complex and nice with intriguing perspectives

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  

The floor plans need to be more clearly presented There should be more studies in the posters Minor mistakes in the plans solving

As a result of these reflections, it was clear that the next step is production, production and production.

Design Development The main focus of this stage is production of architectural drawing and presentation.

Transit Park layout The layout of the park was designed to contain the following functions          

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Amphitheater Food court Sopping area Free to use open garden Bus bays Kiss & ride Main Outdoor Restaurant Steeping Fountains Football Court Open – air café’s

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Transit Park Ground Floor Plan The ground floor plan was design to contain the main entrance of the station and concourse and it can go directly to the platforms. The list of functions in the ground floor plan are:                           

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Entrance Lobby General Concourse Ticketing Platforms VIP Entrance Lobby VIP Lounge Lounges Cafeterias Admin Commercial Spaces Police Fire Emergency Ambulance and Nursing Center Electricity and Power Generators Heavy lifts luggage Train Maintenance Post Taxi Kiss & Ride Bus Bays Train Platforms Regional Bus entrance Regional Bus Lounge Microbus facility entrance Microbus waiting area Kareta Parking Admin wing Entrance

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Transit Park First Floor Plan The First floor plan was designed to be complementary to the station experience. Even though, it contains the administration area, it still is an essential part of the user experience as it leads the user to unique garden crossing between the two building while being served with cafeteria and restaurants. The functions included in the first floor plan are:            

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Vertical circulation elements leading to the platforms Restaurants Commercial Spaces Shopping Mall Strip Food Court Lounges Admin Area Security check Station President’s wing Foreign Experts wing Conference Rooms Employee halls

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3D Digital Shots

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Physical Model Photos

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References  Blow, Christopher J. Transport Terminals and Modal Interchanges: Planning and Design. Oxford: Elsevier, 2005. Print.  Edwards, Brian. The Modern Station: New Approaches to Railway Architecture. London: E & FN Spon, 1997. Print.  Blue, Victor J., and Jeffrey L. Adler. "Cellular Automata MicroSimulation for Modeling Bi-Directional Pedestrian Walkways." Transportation Research Journal5.3 (2000): 293-312.

Web.  Griffin, Kenneth W. Building Type Basics for Transit Facilities.

Hoboken: Wiley, 2004. Print.  Ross, Julian. Railway Stations: Planning, Design, and Management. Oxford: Architectural, 2000. Print.  Seriani, Sebastián, and Rodrigo Fernández. "Planning Guidelines for Metro–bus Interchanges by Means of a Pedestrian Microsimulation Model." Transportation Planning and Technology (2015): 569-83. Print.  Toy, Maggie. Architecture of Transportation. London: Academy Editions ;, 1994. Print.  "Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual, 2nd Edition." Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual, 2nd Edition.

Web. 29 Nov. 2015. <http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/153590.aspx>.  "‫الجهاز المركزي للتعبئة العامة واإلحصاء‬." Report about the Count of the Licensed Vehichles. 1 May 2015. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.

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