New Semester

The summer is over. Now, with all the students back from break, the real fun begins as studios are back in session. Thesis this semester will focus heavily on research, much like in the summer. This is the list of goals for the end of this semester:

•  a full map of all the lines of a BRT/LRT system throughout the Pittsburgh Metro area. 
• identify the site of the hub station that I will be designing. 
• more focus with the thesis topic of "image of a city"- (thesis statement)
• a detailed site model
• a preliminary design
• complete understanding of a wide range of research topics

Summer Winding Down

Summer sessions are nearly over and I am gearing up for the Fall semester. On the research page of the blog I have a couple of new posts including one that compares the above/below grade threshold to birth, a paper I wrote on Transit Oriented Development and analysis of the "Spine Line" corridor study of 1993.

I'm now looking at the specific locations of where best to put the stations. The Spine Line study and ECTS have given me good direction to start. I have also uncovered some great concept maps from two designers, Craig Toocheck and Edward Shin. These maps are similar to the ultimate map I create for a new LRT or BRT system.

I am also going to compare BRT and LRT systems in my final paper for Professor Buehler. From my research thus far, it appears that BRT is much cheaper and easier to implement while LRT has more appeal in that it is perceived as permanent and pushes its city to "modern" status. For the purposes of my thesis, which explores the ideas of "the image of a city"is affected by public transportation, LRT is perhaps better. Conversely, BRT systems are not common in the USA and Pittsburgh boasts one of the biggest networks with 3 existing lines. There is also the possibility for Pittsburgh to combine these two systems into one cohesive transit network.

Either way, this coming semester will be exciting as I explore these topics and many more.