Archinect - News

LAX’s modernization project is starting to come together

2022-01-05T13:58:00-05:00

The airport's $5.5-billion Landside Access Modernization Program, or "LAMP," saw the completion of several of its major components in 2021, as well as construction milestones for the automated people mover that will serve as its centerpiec

Among the more important elements of the highly-publicized program, the Automated People Mover (AMP) system, is now 67% complete, according to Urbanize. This includes a new Metro station and elevated monorail track, which is reportedly 87% complete. A new car rental facility adjacent to the airport and 405 freeway is also 77% complete.

Additional renovations are expected to bring the total cost to approximately $14.5 billion and are slated for completion ahead of the city’s turn as host of the 2028 Olympic Games. Urbanize Los Angeles has more on the upgrades here.

'Starry-eyed' Berlin's new Museum Island U-Bahn station is turning heads

2021-07-13T13:58:00-04:00

A theatrical new subway station is gracing the Berlin stage after a dramatic opening Friday.

The new Museumsinsel U-Bahn station is part of an expansion of the U5 that will connect the line into an area of the city called Museum Island.

Swiss architect Max Dudler is behind the transformation, which was inspired by theater sets built by the great 19th-century German designer Karl Friedrich Schinkel.

The final stage of the €500 million ($590 million) project was unveiled last week following lengthy delays that have set back Dudler since winning the competition for its design in 1998.

Photo: André Carré, via @BVG_Kampagne/Twitter

Starry-eyed Berliners can now embark on their journeys underneath a deep blue ceiling vault dotted with over 6,000 points of light that runs almost the entire length of the 180-meter station. A dark-grey main concourse takes riders through a colonnaded hall composed of granite from the Fichtel Mountains to evoke a classical feel. The new station, along with ...

UNStudio designs 37 stations for Doha's new driverless metro system

2020-09-08T13:29:00-04:00

International architecture firm UNStudio has completed work on a collection of subway stations for a new driverless metro system in Doha, Dubai.

The stations are designed according to an "Architectural Branding Manual" created by the firm that provides "an extensive set of design guidelines, architectural details and material outlines to assure the spatial quality and identity of the network," according to a project statement.

Describing the project, UNStudio's Ben van Berkel explains,“We are going to move differently in the future. Mobility is changing fast, from the introduction of autonomous vehicles to urban cable cars and the Hyperloop."

Van Berkel adds, "The mobility hubs of the future have to respond to and cater to these changes. In order to encourage the use of more sustainable forms of transport, these stations not only have to ensure smooth passenger flows, but they need to truly appeal to the public; to be places they want to visit and return to."

The stations are des...

Arup and COBE design two new metro stations in Copenhagen

2020-06-19T19:06:00-04:00

As a part of the Nordhavn metro line extension connecting Copenhagen's docklands to its city center, Arup and COBE have teamed up to design two new metro stations, Orientkaj and Nordhavn. A defining feature of this project is that one of the stations, Orentkaj station, is above-ground, and the other, Nordhavn station, is underground.

Orientkaj Station.

The above-ground station holds a brutalist inspiration, drawing from the historical aesthetics of the industrial docklands. The underground station takes its inspiration from the recently opened Cityringen metro line, in which Arup led the architectural design, and uses a distinctive red cladding present and other transfer stations.

Nordhavn Station.

"Nordhavn is a city of sustainable mobility, where it is easier to walk, bike or use public transport, than it is to drive your own car. The two metro stations unlock the potential of this new Copenhagen city district enabling more efficient and sustainable transport between the individual ...

SOM completes three new Brightline Florida rail stations

2018-06-06T16:08:00-04:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) together with Zyscovich Architects and Rockwell Group, have completed three new stations for Brightline, Florida's new public transit rail service.

The largest private infrastructure development in the U.S., Brightline focuses on revitalizing downtown Miami while connecting nearby cities. Its three stations (Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Miami) are all now in full operation.

The three terminals consist of spaces to shop, eat, and meet with interiors designed by Rockwell Group. The firm aimed to unify the stations’ designs by exposing their structural V-shaped bracing, and by bringing in natural light through ample use of glass.

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HASSELL, Rogers Stirk Harbour, Weston Williamson design five new Melbourne metro stations

2018-05-31T15:54:00-04:00

Melbourne has consistently been ranked the world's #1 most livable city (often sharing the top spot with rival Vienna), and city planners hope to strengthen this position with a new metro tunnel set to open in 2025.

Five new stations, along with bicycle facilities, new parks, open spaces, and public plazas, will dot the tunnel line and boast architectural design that is the result of a collaboration between Australian architects HASSELL and UK firms Rogers Stirk Harbour and Weston Williamson.

The new stations are:

North Melbourne Station

North Melbourne Station

Project description: "North Melbourne Station has an impressive large-scale brick arched entrance to reflect the area’s industrial heritage and skylights to enable natural light to filter down on the platforms and concourse."

Parkville Station

Parkville Station

Project description: "In Parkville, a glass feature roof at the Grattan Street entrance provides passengers visiting this world c...

Man Writes 91 Songs About the Washington, D.C. Metro System

2017-06-13T17:28:00-04:00

It took six years, but every subway station in the Washington, D.C. area is now immortalized in song. For musician Jason Mendelson, it’s his magnum opus.

The Magentic Fields wrote 69 songs about love; professional tax manager and sometime musician Jason Mendelson has managed to record 91 songs about the Washington, D.C. Metro system, with one song for each subway stop.

Map of the Washington, D.C. Metro.

While music critics will not be equating these two works anytime soon, it's rare for an entire transportation system to be memorialized in song (although [Get Your Kicks On] Route 66, along with Kraftwerk's Autobahn, come to mind). It's worth noting that Mendelson doesn't play favorites: in the video accompanying the article, he proclaims that "There are no boring commuter stops."

Paris launches international competition to redesign 31 underused sites including 3 old metro stations

2017-05-31T12:20:00-04:00

They are known as the ghost stations: 16 stops on the Paris Métro system barred and padlocked nearly 70 years ago. In the past seven decades, many ideas for their reinvention have been floated, including turning one into a swimming pool and others into bars and nightclubs. None have come to anything, but their allure remains. Now, Paris city hall has put three of the phantom stations into an international competition to develop unused subterranean space.

Dubbed 'Reinvent Paris', the initiative aims to transform a total of thirty-four sites owned by regional authorities into economic, cultural or social spaces. The three unused metro stations are at the Champs de Mars in the 7th arrondissement, the Croix-Rouge in the 6th and Saint-Martin, between the 3rd and 10th arrondissements.

Architects and developers should submit their proposal outlines by November and a shortlist will be made in 2018. Final selection will happen in November 2018. Head here for more information.