Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has shared photos of its new bus shelter designs for the City of Los Angeles.
The LA STAP (short for Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program) shelters are the first prototype designs for the initiative that will eventually install 3,000 shelters and 450 shade structures in need-based locations across Los Angeles over the next decade. Officials from the city's Bureau of Street Services (aka StreetsLA) met in Tarzana last month to preview the designs.
There, they bore witness to what will eventually be unique new additions to the city's visual landscape. Another 250 total are expected to be installed by June 2025.
The configurable designs are said to be inspired by the California Modernism movement and will display a digital art program and feature smart lighting technology.
Leading the contract for STAP is Tranzito-Vector, a joint venture between smart mobility operator Tranzito and transit advertising company Vector Media. The team assembled by the City of Los Angeles and Tranzito-Vector to develop and execute the program includes, besides SOM, Designworks: A BMW Group Company, Studio One Eleven, Fehr & Peers, HLB Lighting, and Tolar Manufacturing.
7 Comments
The design is attractive and actually provides shade (great). But more deserving of press and definitely more important than this design is that community groups finally shamed the various City agencies that were preventing shelters from being installed... Mayor Bass's office seems to be much more receptive to quality of life improvements like this than previous mayors; just two weeks ago our street had street trees installed in the sidewalk knockouts that have been vacant for as long as we've lived here...
They tried to plant trees by my office downtown, people kept intentionally killing them.
they provide shade in some orientations, but won’t help at all on north-south streets, as is typical for most transit stops. This isn’t that complicated, yet it’s stunning how often there’s no indication of any consideration of shade in transit designs; there need to be reconfigurations for different orientations. As a formerly regular transit user, it is depressing how common it is to see riders forced to stand behind the shelter, often in the landscaping or adjacent parking lots due to a complete lack of consideration for this seemingly obvious issue. And who thinks three closely spaced seats are an appropriate number of accommodations? Most major intersections I see will have as many as 2-3 dozen people having to stand in full sun. We really need to take this seriously, transit riders are already made to feel like second class citizens as it is, we really need to make better choices.
Probably not in SOMs hands, but they are totally following LAs anti-unhoused bench design etc, which sucks.
Let's not forget Sombrita, which was designed and "implemented" once to call attention to the limitations of bus shelter design, funding, and placement.
https://www.latimes.com/entert...
Curious about the timeline and feedback loops...
As someone who's hidden behind a fair number of light and telephone poles from the sun... I don't hate this concept at a glance.
The entire point of this "concept" was to call attention to the legal limitations of making shelters that provide refuge, and the space needed to accommodate them.
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