The Depot: A New Intermodal Transit Facility in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan

Abstract

For over 100 years, railroad development has been resisted within Afghanistan even as foreign powers have vied for control. Due to current efforts driven by foreign investment, a seventy-five kilometer section of railroad has recently been completed between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. This thesis proposes the design of a passenger railroad station at this sections current terminus in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Railroad architecture is a new building typology within Afghanistan. Thus the appropriate integration of this new infrastructure and technology within a developing nation must respond to the specific physical and social conditions of the particular context. This design aims to reflect the character of Afghanistan by exploring architectural qualities and environmental conditions unique to the region in addition to examining the specific cultural influences of the city, the role of the station as both function and symbol and the importance of the landscape to the railroad journey.