Urban Design Guidelines - Valley Metro

Page 20SYSTEM BUILDINGSSystem Buildings include various enclosuresalong the alignment that housenecessary electrical and communicationselements.Traction Power Sub Stations (TPSS),which occur about every mile, deliverthe electrical current to the overheadcatenary system which ultimately deliversthe power to the vehicles. These safe,secure, and temperature-controlledstructures are approximately 20 by 40feet and must be located within 300 feetof the station. These enclosures need tobe accessible by a maintenance vehicleshould the equipment become disabled;however, the routine maintenanceschedule only calls for a single personwalking up and into the building once amonth to monitor the equipment.Smaller Signal/CommunicationBuildings (approximately 10 x 10 ft.) areused to relay various data between thetrain, the operations base, and the signalsystem.It is critical to ensure that the systembuildings are designed to be as unobtrusiveas possible to the immediateneighborhood. Since these buildings dorepresent the system and can be strongtransit wayfinding devices in and ofthemselves, they should reflect theidentity of the system. However, theseare in no way small enclosures andtherefore need to respect their immediatesurrounding in character, materials,and placement.Urban DesignPerformance Criteria∆ Placement of the structure should:- Locate within a nearby officebuilding or parking structure; or- Occupy a location that is bufferedfrom or not readily visible fromthe public right-of-way; or- Use systems buildings creativelyintegrated with other amenities,such as a backdrop for benchseating, a place for artwork, orpart of bicycle storage. Avoid abolt-on look of furnishings.∆ Emphasize pedestrian-oriented andhuman-scale treatment of enclosuresin terms of materials used, artwork,landscaping, screening and othertreatments.∆ Site the Systems Buildings allowingsufficient access for maintenanceand operations workers and equipment.∆ Consider the possibility of re-usingbuilding takes along the LRT alignmentfor siting of equipment.∆ Consider security of stations andsurrounding areas and utilizeCPTED principles when siting systembuildings.∆ Consider adjacent neighborhoods,existing paths of pedestrian travel,neighborhood amenities, and “eyeson the street” from adjacent businessesand residences when sitingthe systems buildings.∆ Articulate and clad buildings, whenappropriate, to identify this as anelement within the transit systemdesign vocabulary.∆ Consider the use of glass, or othernon-opaque materials, and nighttime interior lighting to mitigatebuilding mass and create a “somebody’shome” atmosphere.∆ Utilize design solutions for detailssuch as doors, vents, and drains thatshow care and avoid a “toughshed”appearance.Importance to User’ sExperienceForm: MediumVisibility of Systems Buildings is notcritical to the successful user experience