The Light Line: Transport infrastructure as a porous object

Abstract

‘The Light Line’ suggests an alternative approach to the design of transport infrastructure. Driven by issues of severance and degraded pedestrian realms, this thesis argues a porous infrastructure which positions itself as an object in the contextual fabric, is a more suitable solution than those produced from a technocratic approach.

My area of investigation is Paraparaumu, the regional centre for Kapiti Coast, located approximately 50km north of Wellington city (Figure 3). As seen in Figure 4, there are two major transport spines which cut though Paraparaumu including the main railway trunk and the proposed ‘Northern Corridor Expressway’ (which is still under construction).

Both road and rail typologies are analysed in this thesis which finds that rail is less problematic when it comes to design implementation. The discovery of health issues that result from exposure to traffic pollution as well as the issue of highway interchanges becoming barriers to connectivity, ultimately changed my focus to rail typology.

In the process of doing the research for ‘The Light Line’, I tried to establish a more unified relationship between the infrastructure and its context. I found that treating transport infrastructure as an urban ‘object’ helped it to engage with the context and provide an infrastructure which was focused on the quality of the pedestrian realm.

The architect’s role in infrastructural design is also discussed. In the past, this role has been the responsibility of the engineer. However this has often led to mono-functional outcomes, where the vehicles using transport infrastructure take priority. I argue that by including the architect in this process a more qualitative outcome, responsive to context and a positive attribute to the pedestrian realm, can be created.