Abstract Precedent Studies Florida CSX Freight Control Center
Madrid, Rio
Design projects which deal with infrastructure, become difficult when trying to satisfy the needs of the urban location and building requirements. Finished on March 29, 1989 the CSX Rail Transport Operations Center building became the technological front runner of transit control. Employing nearly 500 people and responsible for the dispatch and monitoring of 1,400 trains per day, this building became an instant icon for public transportation operations. The building contains a state of the art control center responsible for the smooth operation of all CSX trains. The highlight of the space, which is considered one of the best organization methods for a control center, is the control room (the brain of the transit operations). The control room is organized in a semicircular fashion and the central displays are a used in a rear projection screen method with a need for an abundant amount of space behind the screens for equipment and cooling. This project, meets all of the intricate and evolving needs for such an evolving building type, however, the urban fabric has not been evolving, rather it has been existing and unchanged for quite some time. An urban building should be able to endure the constantly changing city fabric. Changes much like that in Madrid, Spain. West 8 designed an infrastructural project (Madrid Rio) around various recreational buildings, public facilities, and public buildings. Tunnels were implemented in lieu of highways, to give the space back to the pedestrian and provide space for future expansion. In this case, the designers were sensitive to what was existing, and were able to synthesize the large space as a whole. Many times large expansive urban changes can leave local buildings outdated and unfitting. One instance where this occurs is in Boston, MA. The city of Boston, is old, dense, and constantly changing. One of the more recent major changes was the Big Dig project which brought the existing elevated highway and moved it below ground. The Big Dig is just one example of the continuous evolution of the city. Boston’s diversity in culture, occupation, and architecture in such a small area has created a very unique city fabric, unique to most of the world.