MONROE CITY STATION

The Monroe Transportation System is the oldest publicly owned transportation system in the United States, operating since 1906. The City of Monroe has continually invested in the infrastructure of the System, most recently in 2010 with a renovation of the “Downtown Terminal”, originally constructed in 1987. The next opportunity for investment came in 2014 when the City of Monroe requested proposals for an intermodal transit center feasibility study and development plan. The current site and facility has the City fixed in a timed transfer, or pulse, system, while barely accommodating basic functional demands for passengers. The aspirations for the new station included a modern bus docking configuration, increased community program and an ambitious public art program. The proposed scheme, which was required to occupy the limited existing site, relies on an open ground approach, pushing essential program elements to the street faces, which also house circulation to the fully programmed roof level. Rather than shying away from an association with parapeted plane of the modern service station canopy, the approach embraced the potentials of the typology as a legitimate urban strategy for a redeveloping but pockmarked historic downtown. 

Initial project planning in collaboration with GCR, Inc. 

Location

Monroe, Louisiana

Status

Completed

Team

Robert Baddour, Sabeen Hasan, Lauren Hickman, Jessica O'Dell, Jonathan Tate

Collaborators

GCR