Architect：Yuji Tanabe Architects

Location：2-19Dai, Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan; | ;View Map

Project Year：2016

Category：Passenger Terminals;Train stations

Shonan monorail runs between Ofuna and Enoshima in Kanagawa, Japan. As a member of the Kamakura-Fujisawa Ring Project Research Group we took part of the renovation project which ranalongside the reconstruction work to provide a part of the station an easy accessfor the passengers.

The part we were given the commission to design was the wall along the track. We began considering the particular situation only given by the Shonanmonorail system that is completely different from the other railway systems. Taking a Shonan monorail train means that we travel through local mountains and valleys and enjoy the view of Mt Fuji and Hakone mountains to the far.

Itmay give people a feeling as if they areclimbing mountains and crossing rivers.We wanted to depict such a travel experience visualised in a two-dimensional plane. The actual view from the monorail trains is diverse. The extended view of the faraway mountains intertwines with that ofthe localmountains and station buildings. We wanted to express the multiple layers of various height and distance of them in the plane of wall.

The main material we used was transparent multiple layered polycarbonate panels. Each of them was composed of three semi-void layers. We inserted aluminum pipes and copper pipes into them to express the multiple layers of the scenery.

It was a Group’s first renovation attempt for a monorail station. Since there are possibilities of further renovation projects of other stations along this monorail system we wanted the case ofFujimicho Station to have versatility which we will be able toapply for the other stations in the future.The scene varies from station to station, and the method we adopted this time would enable us to express the subtle changes along the railway line.

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