MTrail provides Canberrans with an immersive public transport experience by enhancing awareness and building understanding of Canberra’s unique natural landscape and Indigenous Ngunnawal culture. MTrail stations sympathetically combine modern, inclusive, accessible and safety considerations into medium-scale light rail shelters that feature key aesthetic elements of Canberra’s unique topographic environment: specifically, eight of the highest framing mountains in Canberra's ancient landscape.
The Indigenous name and purpose of each of the eight mountains are highlighted internally within the station through typography and light, etched in the contour lines, creating a powerful symbolic motif to evoke a strong spirit of place.
Through the use of forward-thinking low-carbon materials such as LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber) and recycled concrete in a 2D arrangement that emphasises the contour lines of the mountains that shape our city.
The MTrail platform includes ‘stalagmites’ that incorporate multifunctional services such as a water-filling station, ticketing machine, line information and emergency aid system, which at the same time provide structural support for the platform’s seating requirements.
MTrail aspires to represent the highest ideals in built architecture for public transport shelters – sustainable and forward thinking – reflecting the past, present and future for all Canberrans.
During the design and prototyping of the project, Adobe Illustrator was used exclusively to produce detailed files, containing contoured layers that were etched via a laser cutter, which then linked together precisely to form the finished 3D model. Two 1:100 replicas of the CAF Urbos 3 tram were also produced using this method. This fabrication process enabled an accurate representation of the shelter to be produced, informing the construction methods to be utilised in the actual build.
