This thesis intends to rethink the role of Metro stations in the Washington Metropolitan Area. It considers Metro stations as more than infrastructure, but with potential to serve as neighborhood centers and vital physical elements in the city. It anticipates an organic relationship between the station and the neighborhood and explores the opportunity to animate the program of the stations by reexamining the relationships between Metro stations and their urban / suburban, socio-cultural, economic and physical contexts.

Design strategies are developed and tested in two neighborhoods: Farragut North and Silver Spring. Precedents of railway stations design are analyzed and compared to existing Metro stations as part of the research. This research supports the exploration of programming and design of the two Metro stations.

The goal of the thesis is to create more dynamic and contextually integrated architecture of Metro stations for the national capital, and thus to strengthen the urban centers as well as enhance the image of the neighborhoods in the Washington Metropolitan Area.