Architecture is rooted in material and immaterial elements as the creation of both physical space and psychological and sociological space. Over time, these initial impulses have become abstracted into object-symbols as the practice of architecture has remained focused on the dominance of Res Extensa (physical) over Res Cognitas (mental). This thesis proposes a new view of architecture as a bridge between a material understanding of space and the immaterial understanding of space by a building’s users.

New York’s Pennsylvania Station does not exist as an object but rather a complex network of trains, distant connections, and intersecting pathways of daily and new users. Currently, the architecture of the station is disconnected both from this network and from its urban surroundings. Through an embrace of the station’s in-between (MA) nature, a void space is created, with elements added based on user pathways as a guide for the building’s various systems. Additionally, information systems act as the building’s facades and walkways, allowing the building to respond to the ebb and flow of its temporal activities and spatial connections.

“BEFORE A RAILROAD STATION IS A BUILDING / IT WANTS TO BE A STREET / IT GROWS OUT OF THE NEEDS OF THE STREET / OUT OF THE ORDER OF MOVEMENT.”

- “ORDER IS” BY LOUIS I. KAHN