"Unhappily those marvellous places, railway stations, from wich one sets out for a remote destination, are tragic places also, for in them the miracle is accomplished whereby scene which until now have had no existence save in our minds are about to become the scenes among which we shall be living, for that very reason we must as we emerge from the waiting room, abandon any thought of presently finging ourselves once more in the familiar room which but a moment ago still housed us. We must lay aside all hope of going home to sleep in our own bed, once we have decided to penetrate into the pestiferous cavern through which we gain access to the mystery, into one of those glass roofed sheds [...]" (Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust)

Terminals in general are considered “marvellous places”, celebrants of travel and of the modern age. Their increasing number worldwide

proves a new social demand arising from today’s popular tendency and social need to travel. The common and frequent natures of

traveling have caused terminals to become common places in our society. Unfortunately over the last decades, many of them have

become a blunt and conventional response to a complex mixture of urban circumstances and requirements. They do not deal with the

plethora of experiences and perceptual richness that people bring into such pulsating spaces. These factors alone have the potential to

shape space in a way that is more relevant to the meaning of travel and to the cultural exchanges that occur in such buildings. Terminals

should portray the dynamic society we live in because they are the ultimate proof of the hyper movement experienced by today’s urban

populations. We now live in societies where people rely more on an integrated transit network than the individual transit mean itself.

Connectivity clearly reflects the rising demand for a quick and efficient way of traveling. In such circumstances, the design of nodal

terminals becomes a key factor in a successfully urban transit network.

The answer to the challenge in transforming these buildings lies in that fascinating dynamism between the experiences and the

ephemeral presence that people bring to a space. The character of a terminal can be expressed not only by modern aesthetics of

structure but through the impulses brought forth by the users of that space. Interestingly, this intense exchange between social

interactions with respect to the layout of a space is constantly in flux. It allows the building to speak of space in terms of experience and

not exclusively of program or function.

The thesis challenges typical commercial based programs assigned to nodal terminals in pursuit of a more public environment that is

shaped by social and cultural interactions. It focuses on a dynamic connectivity within an urban and architectural context by pushing the

idea of hyper transit movement which is ingrained in the way we live today. It also aims to re-establish social and cultural exchanges

occurring in terminals by revealing a dynamic shaping of public space through the ephemeral and experiential.