PAUSE
Masterplan and redevelopment for Shimokitazawa Station area

Designed by: Audun Hellemo

As an intersection between the two important lines from Shinjuku and Shibuya eastbound, Inokashira-sen and Odakyu-sen, the new Shimokitazawa station plays an important role for the around 90.000 transfer passengers that daily change trains there. Odakyu-sen is currently on ground-level causing huge traffic jams, dividing the northern and the southern part - creating the mental distance greater than the physical one - with barriers such as waiting, level shifts and confusing directions. When Odakyu-sen now is being dug down, a huge linear space is left open, calling for new urban strategies. Instead of the big scale shopping center often appearing after such redevlopments, the project aims to keep the pause between the intense south part and the calmer north part. Keeping the mental pause is thus an important part of the areas character, but instead of endless waiting and frustration, a linear public park is introduced calling for new routes and level changes, slowing down movement from one side to the other. The park is organised as a collection of different strips of different materials, these connect at different places with each other on the same level, as well as they connect with public available program on ground level such as a library, galleries and a day care center. Underground these strips correspond to the movement patterns within the station, knitting them together. Thus, changing from one train line to the other is no longer a dull walk in endless corridors as is the case in nearly all other stations, but views both out of the station system during your escalator journey as well as view inside to the underground market work together in a new escalator experienced architecture.

Teacher's comment:
Fuji-sensei: "Very good."