The city of the 21st century is faced by a unique set of challenges for transportation. Despite a higher proliferation of bike lanes throughout the city, busy intersections are still a danger to cyclists and drivers alike.

Our proposed solution is a separation of both forms of traffic at major intersections. Rather than further segmenting already confined city streets, bicycle traffic is elevated off the street on its own infrastructural layer. The Plug-in Rotary sits atop major intersections as a traffic circle for bicycles, providing recreational park areas and bike rentals at the center. An urban-scale module, the rotary can be used repeatedly throughout the city. At night, a lighting scheme integrated into the ramps and rotary illuminates areas both above and below the structure.

Copyright 2008 Maki Tsuchiya & Christian Marc Schmidt. All rights reserved.