Six high speed rail lines are being planned on various routes throughout the Midwest. One of the lines which has been publicly announced, is the Chicago to St.Louis route. The objective is to investigate a station along this route and propose a design solution that will, not only, benefit the transportation industry but also to bring new life into the chosen city.

Springfield is the chosen city, and even though it is the current capital of Illinois and the second largest in terms of population, it has seen a stagnant level of new growth. A reason for this is the massive amounts of ‘cavities’ in the city center due to the abundance of surface parking; a result of poor planning.

The solution would be to look at the city holistically and not just from pedestrians perspective. The station should become a transportation ‘hub’ that the city lacks and desperately needs. It should represent energy, movement and playfulness while still being able to incorporate itself into the city’s overall identity. The ideal location for this new ‘hub’ would be where the current Amtrak station is located, on 3rd and Washington.

The main scheme is to achieve a simple organization, placing the building along the edge of the lot, so to integrate an urban plaza designed both for pedestrians and vehicles, and turn it into an interior part of the station.