For both transport planners and users, bus travel tends to be regarded as a marginalized activity (who could possibly prefer taking the bus to the comfort and convenience of a car), and its associated buildings and infrastructure too often reflect lowest common denominator thinking. In Switzerland, which has a more civilized approach to public transport, things are slightly different. Mario Botta, the noted exponent of Ticino regionalism, was commissioned to design a new bus station in the heart of Lugano, a trim lakeside town in the Italian-speaking southern tip of the country. It is also Botta's home turf and his buildings pop up in the urban fabric at regular intervals; the new bus station is overlooked by the Ransila office building completed in 1985, a characteristically elaborate geometric celebration of a corner site executed in Botta's signature brick.
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