Transport Infrastructure Design Utopias for Guideways and A Review of The Marmaray Project

Abstract

Transport infrastructure design has regarded as a task in the
field of engineering; architects have mostly involved in the design
of terminals and stations, but not in the routes of mobility –the
guideways. The spatial value of guideways has not been
examined, since they have been taken as paths for vehicles
embedded in the landscape in a notion of separating
transportation space from built environment. But, this paper
aims to spatially conceptualize guideways as city structures and
nodes connecting different modes of transportation while housing
various architectural facilities. As a case, three utopic guideway
designs are proposed for roads, bridges and viaducts in Istanbul,
the biggest city of Turkey. And a current guideway construction
in Istanbul is introduced and discussed according to the concepts
addressed throughout the study. The Marmaray Project is a
tunnel design, which can be appreciated as a real-time utopia
connecting two sides of Bosphorus under water.