Ben West, DC's Bicycle Ambassador, got a chance to go inside the new Bikestation and sent along these photos and a few words.
It is a smart building which opens and closes plates of the building in order to maintain the temperature, with a rain sensor on the roof to keep things dry. There is a/c and heating if needed for the shop portion which might become brutal otherwise.
There is a locker, with a changing room. Both sections are accessed with a smart card.
I am particularly impressed with the construction methods. Forming large sheets of 1.5 inch safety glass into a curved structure is hard, much more so when it needs to be articulated and moveable. The Project manager told me that each sheet is a different shape, which makes the whole thing like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
It is an object designed to attract attention, to impress, to be functional and hint at things to come and in those ways it is fundamentally Washingtonian.
It says that DC is committed to a smart, sustainable future and it is saying that clearly and elegantly.
More photos below the fold
A shot of the front abutment with a view outside.
\ The mechanism that controls the moveable glass panels
The lockers and the changing room
Has anyone else looked at this bike station and thought, "that isn't big enough", or "there's just not enough spaces for all the bikes that need to fit there"?
Posted by: John | September 19, 2009 at 12:15 AM
I'm not sure. We'll find out soon, but having demand overwhelm supply would be a nice problem to have in my opinion.
Posted by: Washcycle | September 19, 2009 at 01:30 AM
Yeah,
I was just talking with a colleague and said the same thing, "a problem I want to have."
Posted by: Ben West DC Bike Ambassador | October 08, 2009 at 10:30 PM
Oh, BTW, he project manager, (pictured) is Pablo. Cool Guy, and offered to show me around when he heard that I worked for Jim.
I guess construction was complicated, but Pablo pulled it together.
Posted by: Ben West DC Bike Ambassador | October 08, 2009 at 10:33 PM