The environment surrounding the Philadelphia Chain Rail is of great diversity and artistic values. The four pathways that transform into bridges are designed to bring people from the street, Paine’s Park, the athletic  field, the Schuykill River Trail and the Philadelphia Art Museum. The convergence of these pathways makes the interactions of people from each location possible. and allowing skating, biking, sports and art cultures to become intertwined. The program separation corresponds to the pathway connections. The pathway that connects the Schuykill River Trail breaks through the bike shop to promote the shop and encourage sales. While the pathway from Paine’s Park goes through the cafe to bring in more customers from outside the bike hub.  Street access runs through the lobby and offices to invite visitors passing through and the athletic field connects to the rest area. 

By incorporating the tunnel and its conversion into a bike trail, the bike hub 
becomes an entrance to the underground world beneath the city. The buildings 
are situated at either side of the tunnel to avoid disturbing the bike trail. The 
bridges that cross over the path allows pedestrians to cross the site, creating a 
connection between the athletic field and the skate park.

The structure is designed this way in order to create the atmosphere of a city while still remaining functional for the visitor. Glass and steel is used as the skin for the bike hub buildings to create a transparent facade that allows people to see the activity occurring in each  building. The wide flange steel columns and beams extend over the entrances to create a  covered exterior space. The form of the pedestrian bridges is a reaction to the grid-like skin system. The bridges break through the skin in between the structural design creating elbows  in the bridges. Structurally the bridge is arranged in a way that allows the pathway to be undisturbed by columns and encourages bikers and skaters to pass through.