{"id":8524,"date":"2021-09-28T22:15:48","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T02:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/?p=8524"},"modified":"2021-09-28T22:16:43","modified_gmt":"2021-09-29T02:16:43","slug":"an-experimental-approach-to-bus-stop-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/2021\/09\/28\/an-experimental-approach-to-bus-stop-design\/","title":{"rendered":"An Experimental Approach to Bus Stop Design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bus stop in Pitsunda, Abkhazia, Georgia.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a long-distance bicycle trip from London to St. Petersburg in 2002, photographer Chris Herwig<\/a> encountered something unexpected in the barren post-Soviet landscapes\u2014artsy, unusual, and almost spaceship-like bus stops. The more he rode, the more he came across such unique transit structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Herwig traveled through and later began living in post-Soviet states, he would keep an eye out for unusual bus stops. It fascinated him to find colorful, almost celebratory structures in a land that was once so rigidly governed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a
Taraz, Kazakhstan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWondering why they existed was one of the driving forces that had me fascinated with the bus stops,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was totally unexpected. Every time you\u2019d see one you\u2019d wonder, \u2018What was the plan here?\u2019 Or, \u2018What was the purpose?\u2019 Because everything in the Soviet Union seemed regimented, planned, and organized, while the bus stops didn\u2019t seem to have a centralized plan. In some places it was basic\u2014the guys who were building the roads would get schoolkids to join in. It did embody the ideal of what communism was\u2014people could contribute to the bus stops. People still paint them today, and the themes are often quite local.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a
Gagra, Abkhazia, Georgia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Each design is unique and shaped by the community around it. Herwig shared an anecdote about a construction worker who\u2019d wanted to incorporate local embroidery designs into the bus stop, much to the chagrin of his colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herwig has done a considerable amount of research, even consulting artists who were commissioned to work on the bus stops. He has yet to discover why or how it was decided that the designs should be left to local authorities. Based on his research, it seems that the bus stops were often constructed by the workers building the roads, local artists, or even community members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a
Machuhi, Ukraine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"a
Pitsunda, Abkhazia, Georgia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On one particular trip to Armenia, Herwig had been driving for hours in a barren landscape when suddenly he saw a bus stop in the distance. \u201cIt was big, with heavy brutalist-style concrete, but at the same time really light, experimental, and fun\u2014built to last,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was like a spaceship [had] landed in the middle of nowhere. It\u2019s finding them in settings like that that makes it feel really worthwhile. The architecture, landscape, and culture all come together. You\u2019re in these flat landscapes, and boom, you see a bus stop and it\u2019s like it\u2019s on a pedestal, like a fantastic art installation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a
Aralsk, Kazakhstan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"a
Shymkent, Kazakhstan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it’s interesting to consider the design of bus stops from other eras and in other parts of the world, especially if I am to center my project around the design of bus stops for the Upper Arlington circulator. The idea of each bus stop being unique and designed by people from the community, as is the case with these Soviet era bus stops, is something that I think could definitely fold into social connectedness. I am also pretty intrigued by how dynamic and experimental these designs are, but I\u2019m not sure that designs like these would be well received by Upper Arlington residents, particularly in Old Arlington where there are guidelines to keep the neighborhood aesthetic intact. However, these designs serve as a good reminder to look beyond standard bus stop design to find a solution that is more than just a bench and a simple covering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bus stop in Pitsunda, Abkhazia, Georgia. On a long-distance bicycle trip from London to St. Petersburg in 2002, photographer Chris Herwig encountered something unexpected in the barren post-Soviet landscapes\u2014artsy, unusual, and almost spaceship-like bus stops. The more he rode, the more he came across such unique transit structures. As Herwig traveled through and later began […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":8525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8524","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8524"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8546,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8524\/revisions\/8546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}