SAINT NAZAIRE RAILWAY STATION BY TETRARC ARCHITECTS

Saint Nazaire railway station is the focal point of a public transport network for a sprawling town that is destined for further growth.

The creation of a high-frequency bus route lead to the reworking of the roadways and parking areas for buses and coaches around the station as well as the development of the square in front of the station.

Discussions between the architects, the town authorities and the Carène development council led to changes from the initial design:

• the bus and coach parking areas are to be located on the existing plaza between the station and the post-war buildings opposite. Using this site relieves congestion for buses and coaches;
• a cheaper, longer-lasting coating is to replace the granite planned for the public transport operating area.

The budget that this has freed up means that two long parallel canopies can be built to protect public transport users. Standing out in the town thanks to their broad, flowing and colourful protective covers, they provide the additional comfort of enclosed glazed shelters which protects against the often violent winds of the Atlantic coast.

Concrete slabs are used to cover the plaza, creating a carpet on which are spread a bike rack in the shape of an engine shed, benches, information screens and lamp posts whose shape directs the eye towards the station entrance.

Very close by, the post-war period concrete bridge over the railway lines has been replaced by a metal one. A segregated bus lane and two lanes for cars take up the central roadway. To the sides, two pavements each provide a footpath and a cycle path.

The desire to protect pedestrians and cyclists from bad weather, along with the requirement to build railings above the railway lines, produced the distinctive shapes that emphasise engineering in the town by evoking the silhouettes of ocean liners under construction which are visible above the town’s skyline.

The station is at a symbolic crossroads between the port town and the railways, the town centre and the outlying commercial districts, the post-war town and its urban growth at Circé-Trignac.

 

 

 

Location:Saint Nazaire, France
Architect: Tetrarc architects
Project Manager: Claude Jolly / J.P Mace
Project Director:Romain Cateloy
Landscape Architect: Louise Follin
Total Area: 50,5 hectare

Year:2012

Client:Carene / City Of Saint-Nazaire

Photographer:Stéphane Chalmeau

‘GARDEN BRIDGE’ FOR LONDON BY THOMAS HEATHERWICK

Olympic Cauldron-designer Thomas Heatherwick has unveiled concept plans for a green bridge crossing the River Thames in London. The project is backed by London mayor Boris Johnson who wants to build new green infrastructure in the capital similar to New York’s High Line elevated park.

The vision for the link between the Victoria Embankment, near Temple and the South Bank comes after Heatherwick Studio – working with Arup – won a Transport for London tender to improve pedestrian access across the river. Heatherwick said: ‘With its rich heritage of allotments, gardens, heathland, parks and squares, London is one of the greenest cities in the world.

‘In this context we are excited to have been selected by TFL to explore the opportunity of a pedestrian river crossing. The idea is simple; to connect north and south London with a garden. We have been working with actor and campaigner Joanna Lumley, who has been a proponent of such an idea for several years.”

A spokesperson for the mayor told sister title New Civil Engineer: ‘The mayor has a long-standing commitment to increasing river crossings across the Thames. ‘He is also keen to help progress in London an iconic scheme similar to the New York High Line. He has instructed TfL to examine ways to do this. ‘A proposal is currently being progressed following a competitive tender process. The construction of the structure is entirely dependent on third party funding.’

DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT BY GENSLER

The South Terminal Redevelopment Program aims to reinvent the way Denver International Airport (DIA) connects to the city — providing travelers a swifter gateway to downtown Denver — while turning the airport into a travel destination.

The airport is one of the busiest in the world, with more than 50 million passengers. With a footprint twice the size of Manhattan, it’s always had room to grow. Now city officials are gearing up for the most ambitious expansion in the airport’s short history—a south terminal that will add a new 510-room hotel, a civic plaza the size of a football field, and a train hall linking a commuter rail line from the airport to downtown.

The South Terminal Redevelopment Program has not been without its challenges, though—not the least of which was the involvement of Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava, who was selected as the master plan consultant by the project’s master planner, engineering, and construction firm, Pasadena, Califorinia-based Parsons.

Calatrava was also tapped to design the train hall and civic plaza, while the global architecture firm Gensler was selected to design the hotel. As the project progressed from conceptual design to schematic design, the airport reduced the budget from an estimated $650 million to a more realistic $500 million.

The cuts reduced the project’s overall square footage from about 1 million sq ft to 700,000 sq ft. The hotel rooms got a little slimmer. The train station, which showed four tracks in early renderings, was trimmed to two. A signature Calatrava bridge intended for the rail line was scrapped. And it was the cuts that apparently drove Calatrava off the project.

After Calatrava officially left the project, Gensler was chosen to take over and basically began anew, keeping only its own dimple-shaped hotel. The new version will rest on a five-story podium that will likely be clad in textured limestone to evoke the feeling that the base of the project is growing out of the earth.

The sections housing the guest rooms will emerge above as a glasslike object.  But the real novelty of the DIA expansion is the integration of so many disparate elements: train station, hotel, civic plaza, and airport. It starts with the train hall, which will be spanned by a 300 ft grid-shell structure overlaid with glass.

The hall will provide access not only to the hotel—through a remote, ground-floor lobby—but to the civic plaza a few floors up and, of course, to a security checkpoint for travelers catching a flight. The centerpiece of the project is the large civic plaza that is to be situated between the existing Jeppesen Terminal and the new hotel, with connections to the train hall below.

As wide and long as a football field, the plaza will connect the terminal and hotel, pass beneath the hotel and emerge on the other side. The city hopes the plaza becomes not just a large windswept space where people can relax between flights but a major public space, fit for concerts, festivals, art shows.

Slated for 2015 completion, the airport seeks to improve passengers’ travel experience before they take flight and after they land. While the train line won’t open to revenue service until 2016, the train hall will be finished 2014.

 

 

 

Location: Denver, USA

Architect: Gensler Architect

Enabling elements, including excavation and utility relocation: Kiewit, CMGC

Responsible for constructing the hotel and Public Transit Center: MHS (Mortenson, Hunt, Saunders) A Tri-Venture, the CMGC

Program Management: Parsons Transportation Group

Gross Square Footage: approximately 730,000 square feet, not including the plaza

Cost: $ 500 million

Year: 2013

BUS STATION BY BLUNCK+MORGEN ARCHITEKTEN

The construction of the Hamburg Poppenbüttel station connects the bus stations to the train station and the P+R parking garage through a central pedestrian bridge. It is a first component of the restructured and expanded transportation junction Poppenbüttel.

The design concept called for an ensemble of buildings with a floating wing and a transparent roof. A guiding principle was the idea of building a sculpture in the air.

The hovering wingshaped roof, with its 1800 m²-surface area, is the striking design element in the modernised bus station, and its light almost floating appearance makes a major impact.

The flooring comprises only a few materials, which you might say ‘flow’ under the wing and further emphasise the suspended character of the roof.

The sail itself is supported by steel supports. ALUCOBOND® cladding, bent along two axes, merges seamlessly with the membrane surface.

Premises belonging to the Hamburg Elevated Railway are located under the mixture of wing and membrane roof as are toilet facilities, shops, break rooms for the drivers and waiting areas for the passengers.

Eight bus bays are located around the island allowing buses to access them independently. The limited capacity of the old bus station, built in 1973, was the crucial factor in prompting the modernisation.

Less than fifty years ago, only 20.000 passengers passed through Poppenbüttel every day; nowadays that figure has tripled.

The bus transfer station has been transformed from a sheltered waiting area in the centre of Poppenbüttel into a flagship of public transportation and urban planning.

The Hamburg Architecture and Engineering Association (AIV e.v Hamburg) has awarded the bus station the title “Building of the Year 2009”. The jury particularly appreciated the lightness and transparency of the new building.

 

 

Location: Hamburg, Germany

Architects: Blunck+MorgenArchitekten

Project Team: WTM Engineers Hamburg, Martin Tamke

Fabricator: BVG Blechverformungsges. mbH, Schwarzenbek, Germany - Brinkmann, Lemgo Brake

Construction: Tray Panels

Cost: € 4 Milion

Year: 2009

Client:Hamburger Hochbahn AG

MEDIOPADANA STATION BY SANTIAGO CALATRAVA

La nuova stazione ferroviaria Mediopadana, che rappresenta l’unica fermata in linea dell’Alta Velocità nella tratta Milano - Bologna, sorge a circa 4 Km a nord dal centro di Reggio Emilia parallelamente al tracciato autostradale e il prossimo 9 Giugno diventerà operativa.

La localizzazione strategica enfatizza il ruolo della stazione come elemento identificativo della città, definita appunto “stazione porta”, e la fondamentale importanza come nodo di scambio intermodale all’interno del sistema della mobilità regionale, nazionale ed internazionale.

Il progetto di Calatrava prevede la copertura delle banchine ferroviarie e la riqualificazione delle aree di pertinenza allo scopo di raggiungere un’armonia tra le parti del sistema intermodale con i treni del Servizio Ferroviario Regionale e con il traffico su gomma pubblico e privato e la riqualificazione ambientale e paesaggistica dell’intorno.

L’idea di “onda” non solo rappresenta un “marchio di fabbrica” di Calatrava, ma assicura alla stazione una sua identità e unicità in quanto elemento architettonico autonomo trasmettendo, mediante le forme della struttura, una sensazione di movimento ai viaggiatori che transitano sul tracciato ferroviario e su quello autostradale adiacente.

Il progetto di Calatrava si struttura attraverso la ripetizione di un modulo di lunghezza pari a 25,40 metri composto dalla successione di 13 differenti portali in acciaio. Ogni modulo è formato da 25 portali distanziati tra loro di circa 1 metro che, ripetendosi in sequenza, permette di raggiungere la lunghezza complessiva di 483 m, generando l’effetto di onda dinamica.

Una modularità che si propaga in pianta e in elevazione, originando un volume tridimensionale ad andamento sinusoidale che crea un effetto visivo assimilabile ad una successione di onde disposte differentemente sui due prospetti: la facciata più mossa, che sovrappone le due onde in modo simmetrico, si affaccia sul lato dell’ingresso alla stazione, mentre quella più calma, con le onde in fase tra loro parallele, si sviluppa sul lato del tracciato autostradale.

In corrispondenza delle banchine di salita e discesa dai treni è prevista la realizzazione della copertura in vetro realizzata con pannelli rettangolari translucidi in vetro stratificato, collocati tra i portali mediante un telaio in alluminio. La copertura ha un’altezza variabile dovuta all’effetto onda, con valori fra i 7.5 m e i 14.5 metri a livello delle banchine, e complessivamente ha un’altezza media di 20 metri per una larghezza compresa tra i 50 e i 35 metri con uno sviluppo totale della stazione in lunghezza di 483 metri.

La pianta della stazione si sviluppa su due livelli: il primo livello è all’altezza delle banchine, ossia all’altezza della fermata dei treni, il livello inferiore a livello terra è quello di accesso e vi si trovano i locali della stazione vera e propria che racchiude in un unico impianto i vari servizi previsti come la stazione per i viaggiatori con le relative attività commerciali, interscambio con la linea regionale e una zona adibita a magazzini, depositi e servizi.

Il collegamento fra i due piani viene risolto mediante scale e gruppi meccanizzati posti lungo i corridoi laterali tra il viadotto e la parte inferiore della struttura della copertura. Quattro scale mobili per lato servono il livello delle banchine. Due ascensori panoramici sono stati predisposti nella zona centrale.

L’impatto ambientale e paesaggistico viene mitigato mediante riqualificazione a verde delle zone lungo il tracciato ed all’altezza dell’ingresso della stazione.
La zona compresa fra l’autostrada Milano - Bologna ed il tracciato dell’Alta Velocità viene sistemato a verde mediante alberature di medio basso fusto che coprono la parte bassa della stazione fino circa all’altezza del passaggio dei treni, lasciando comunque la visuale libera sulla pensilina ondulata in acciaio.

Location: Reggio Emilia, Italy

Architect: Santiago Calatrava

Cost: € 75 milion

Year: 2013

Client: RFI