One of the best ways to get people out of their cars is to make cycling and mass transportation more efficient and convenient--and to facilitate links between them.
One way to accomplish that is to make to provide safe bicycle parking at transportation hubs. That means more than simply installing a few racks. Bikes should be treated with the same care and respect as other parked vehicles. That involves sheltering bikes from the elements and damage from other bikes and vehicles.
A facility that provides safe bike parking should also be environmentally sustainable.
The Tengbom architectural firm seems to have accomplished all of those goals with its bicycle parking garage at the Uppsala Central Station in Sweden. The eco-consciousness of the design is not limited to its energy sources: The materials are also sustainable (and few in number) and the building's design allows for optimal use of light that enters it.
Best of all, it has a restrained, but elegant aesthetic that fits, not only with the immediate surroundings, but an overall Nordic mentality.
Send lead architecht Cecilia Oberg--and Tengbom--here, to New York and the USA!
