Metro Transit | portfolio

In collaboration with Metro Transit

Millennial Bus Shelter

2015 NATIONAL DESIGN EXCELLENCE AWARD

View the Honor Award Submission Packet

Working with Metro Transit the Twin Cities metropolitan transit service provider, the studio was tasked with designing a bus shelter for the millennial transit rider, a leading category of transit users. The project site was located within the Downtown Minneapolis core directly in front of the county jail.

Realizing that there were a number of negative connotations and feelings about the site, the project goal was to reverses these contextual site feelings through interactive user engagement and technological advancements. After completing a comprehensive global precedent study about transit shelters and consulting with solar panel and interactive technologies experts the design encompasses innovative solutions based on these learned best practices.

Redefining the Neighborhood

The shelter does a number of things to improve the neighborhood, the first of which is adding amenities and constant activity at the site through bike rental and food vending facilities. It also features interactive elements like reflective ceilings, interactive pin art and digital projected gaming to reduce wait time perception. The shelter also features color changing lighting that indicates when the next bus is due to arrive to further inform riders when the next bus is due to arrive.

This new playful and interactive amenity gives new freedom to riders and empowers them with an uplifting human experience. All of this activity allows the shelter to move beyond simply being an object in the urban environment, instead it becomes a neighborhood activity node capable of bringing the community together in powerful ways.

Please wait, the 3D viewer is loading...

Click and drag the image to orbit around the 3D model, scroll to zoom.