train enclosures

I came across this train designs from a bartlett project in 2005. An interesting treatment of transportation structures as architecture. Here is a brief of the project:

Ordinary
1. According to established order; methodical; settled; regular.
2. Common; customary; usual.
3. Of common rank, quality, or ability; not distinguished by superior excellence or beauty; hence, not distinguished in any way; commonplace; inferior; of little merit.

Extraordinary
1. Beyond or out of the common order or method; not usual, customary, or regular.
2. Exceeding the common degree, measure, or condition; hence, remarkable; uncommon; rare; wonderful.

An interrogation of the distinction between ‘ordinary’ and ‘extraordinary’ will form the central theme of the unit’s work this year.

Beginning with an exploration of the apparently dualistic nature of these terms in relation to one or more conditions, it is proposed to identify the boundaries that separate and define them and expose the territory which lies in-between. Possible strategies for achieving this may include but not be limited to juxtaposition, hybridisation, deformation, exaggeration and subversion. The resulting architecture will locate the extraordinary within the ordinary and the ordinary within the extraordinary.

The unit will encourage a plurality of different responses to the programme, both in the selection of initial conditions and the strategies adopted.
As part of its investigations, the unit will travel to either St. Petersburg or Venice.


This other image was within the same project, but reminded me of an Automata. The house treated as a clockwork device that responds to a cranking device controlled externally. This puppet analogy and the Automata similarities to my project seem like an interesting direction to pursue. The structure, suspended by strings like a marionette, is manipulated by the the train: the train becomes the puppet master but is also influenced by its own actions within the scheme.