CTA 95th/Dan Ryan Terminal Station by EXP: 2019 Best of Year Winner for Transportation

Scarlet aluminum bands are the head-turning flourish on the busy Chicago transit hub CTA 95th/Dan Ryan Terminal Station. Aptly signaling the Red Line train below, they wrap its disparate parts into one streamlined whole, visually connecting the renovated 1960’s North Terminal, a new South Terminal, and the pedestrian bridge between them. The entrances jut out like brows over the Dan Ryan Expressway, which runs on either side of the station.

“The idea was to create an iconic element and a gateway to the South Side,” says EXP’s vice president and principal design architect Thomas Hoepf, who led the 66,250-square-foot project, composed of passenger concourses and boarding platforms and CTA field offices. The previous station, a dark concrete hulk, poorly served its 20,000 daily bus and train riders. Hoepf and his team more than doubled its size. They designed airy terminals with aluminum curtain walls, low-emissivity glass windows, and granite and poured-concrete flooring.

During the planning process, neighbors expressed hope that the station would also become a community space. Public art by Chicago native Theaster Gates and an active DJ booth suggest the project is on the right track.

Project Team: Jefrey Jakalski; Mindy Viamontes; Jasenko Badic; Casey Johnson; Alzira Maldonado Protsishin; Saul Moreno; Melina De Oliviera; Sara Feterolf; Steve Citko; Jonathan Pearson; Aram Ebben.

> See more from the December/January 2020 issue of Interior Design