Semele Kari

• From a Meaningless Wait to a Meaningful Time
• Tutor(s): Alina Nutrmist, Kirke Päss

The purposes of my Bachelor’s thesis is to research the conditions in which time is spent
waiting for the train to arrive and to project my proposal of the Lahtse railway station.
Train transportation is a preferred way to travel among those who choose a
more environmentally friendly way of living. When arriving at the train stop a few minutes
before the train on a nice and sunny day, the wait can symbolize a moment to take in the “here
and now”. Which can counterbalance our everyday quick hassle and offer a calming pace
changer in the regular intensity. We arrive at the train stop for a specific reason and that is to
get on or off the train. The interviews that I conducted in my research show that people
waiting for the train on the platforms feel anxiety, discomfort and hazardousness during the
wait. Commonly people arrive at the train stop 2–10 minutes before the arrival of the train.
Those 2–10 minutes waiting in the rain, the wind, the cold or while it is too hot make the
person in that situation suffer. I want to improve the waiting conditions at the Lehtse train
stop area by proposing an alternative to staying on the platform while the wait. The
implementation of my proposed idea which is based on my research should make waiting for
the train a pleasant experience. Ethnology professors Billy Ehn and Ovar Löfgren claim that
the right kind of meditative state of wait can bring out positive developments in our
character. The aim of adapting to the wait is to be completely aware of the present and to
live in the moment – no making plans, no thinking of what’s yet to come. For the spatial
solution I have chosen the old train station building in Lehtse. By partly opening and
revitalizing the historic interior as a extension of the exterior I will create a borderline
situation between the inside and out and also between the old and new which will be opened
to the public. The qualities of both the indoor and outdoor waiting areas will be represented.
Reliving the memories of that room as an exhibition will be my proposition of interior
architecture of the “lost world”. Trains don’t no longer take us to the new and unknown, the
thrilling future… they take us back to a simpler time when time stood still. Once in a while.