The notion of spending time at a subway stop or other major transit center for pleasure may strike you as odd, but many cities and transportation companies are investing heavily in building up this part of their infrastructure to create desirable public spaces (it adds a whole new dimension to "mixed-use"). In this feature by Kim Slowey for Construction Dive, the shift in investment is explored: 

Architecture firm HOK designed the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodel Center (ARTIC) in California, a 21st century take on the massive transit halls of the past. Finished in 2014, using steel and ethylene tetrafluoroethylene "pillows," designers created a hangar-like, light-filled area that makes room for dining and shopping, as well as for additional future commercial development.

Skanska also completed an ultra-modern, $4 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub last year, which connects city subway lines and PATH trains to New Jersey, to replace the one destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It features a dove-shaped centerpiece called the Oculus designed by Santiago Calatrava, as well as 75,000 square feet of retail space.