Angle Lake Transit Station and Plaza

Text description provided by architect.

With ample space for people to live, work, and play, the new Angle Lake Transit Station and Plaza is an Envision certified sustainable mixed-use facility consisting of a 1-acre connecting plaza and community event spaces, a drop-off area for light rail users, retail space with dedicated bike storage and parking and a 35,000 square-foot parcel for future transit-oriented development.It also includes a parking structure for 1,150 cars designed to accommodate conversion to new future uses.

Serving over 2,500 passengers daily, including the headquarters for Alaska Airlines, which employs more than 7,500 people in the immediate surrounds and over 4ooo people living within ½ mile of the station, Angle Lake Station is an important transit hub in the Sound Transit portfolio of transit facilities.

This idea lessens the need to think about the end result and focus more on discovering new ways of movement and transformations’. Using ruled surface geometry, the undulating façade is formed by connecting two curves with a series of straight lines to form the surface of the façade.

This technique allowed the design team to work with complex curved forms and rationalize them into simple, cost-effective standardized components, making them easy to fabricate and efficient to install.

The entire façade was installed in less than three weeks without the use of cranes or special equipment.Every unique condition of the project’s shape had to be geometrically rationalized.

Beginning with the top and bottom chords, every segment of the curves was reduced to either measurable arcs for a pipe roller or straight-line segments for standardized shapes.

The architect provided analysis, constructability, and digital documents for direct and automated fabrication.

It features a seven-story, cast-in-place and post-tensioned concrete structure with an exterior façade that uses over 7,500 custom formed blue anodized aluminum façade panels.Using ruled surface geometry, the undulating façade is formed by connecting two curves with a series of straight lines to form the surface of the façade.

Each of the custom aluminum façade elements were designed and segmented into standardized sizes for the most efficient structural shape and material form, while maximizing production, fabrication and installation cost efficiency.

With five levels above ground and two levels partially below ground the mixed-use structure takes advantage of the sloping site topography. It is accessible from three different street locations at various levels with 2,500 square feet of retail space at ground level and a 35,000-square-foot site to the west to support future transit-oriented development.

It includes a passenger drop-off area, para-transit loading areas, and a covered walkway from the garage to the station.It forms a physical and visual connection between the project elements and includes several displays of regionally inspired artwork.

Ornately designed seat walls, pathways, paving, native planting, and storm-water catchment features help to engage transit users as they move through the space, creating quiet places for social interaction while waiting for a transit connection. The plaza is designed to accommodate community events, such as festivals, farmers’ markets, art exhibits, and other outdoor public gatherings.