Slideshow: More progress on DC bike station

July 2, 1:53 AMBicycle Transportation ExaminerAdam Voiland

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A tarp covering the bike station billows in the wind.

• Introducing the bike station
• Interview with the bike station architect
• Where does federal funding for bike infrastructure come from, anyway?

There's been more progress on the Union Station bike transit station.  For a time, the structure was covered by a tarp, but recently its final look and shape have begun to emerge.

When I spoke with the architect--Donald Paine Jr.--earlier this spring, he emphasized he was striving to build what he called a "non-building" that didn't compete directly with Union Station.

And rather than considering the project a bike station, he regards the new structure as a bike "garage." Indeed, only the retail section of the structure will be climate controlled; the rest will warm and cool naturally in concert with the outside temperature.

That's not to say, however, that the bike station won't have some architectural bells and whistles.  A point-and-load structural glazing system will allow the bike station's glass panels to shift and flex comfortably even as changing temperatures cause the materials to expand and contract. And it has ceramic fritting that will allow more or less light into the building as the angle of the incoming sunlight changes throughout the day.