The Mechanical Pathway: Reactivating a Derelict Rail Corridor in Edmonton

Abstract

This architectural thesis addresses a derelict urban rail corridor and the possibility of combining architecture and landscape to reactivate its latent potential as a dynamic seam in the urban fabric. Edmonton is a city built on a foundation of interconnectedness with the nation. Rail access has established the city as a staging hub for various industrial practices since the mid 19th century: import and export, agriculture, oil and gas, etc. As inner city rail access as been discontinued, parcels of rail land have been left as relics; nostalgic reminders of a formerly expansive arterial mechanical network, in turn connecting the city to a mechanical backbone spanning the nation. This architectural intervention will reactivate a piece of rail land in the northwestern part of downtown Edmonton by establishing a dynamic activity corridor around an energy-harnessing machine.