After 19 years, the Arnhem Central Station masterplan will finally be complete with the public opening of the new transfer hall tomorrow. Since UNStudio won the competition in 1996, the journey to construct the urban development in the Dutch city of Arnhem was an arduous one filled with “an enormous amount of setbacks and disasters”, as principal Caroline Bos commented during a recent public lecture. The station is a meeting point for six modes of transportation and it accommodates about 55,000 travelers every weekday.
Collaboratively designed by UNStudio and Arup, the new transfer hall has an extensive program that includes multiple above-ground levels consisting of local and regional bus terminals, taxi stands, service areas and corridors linked to train platforms, office and retail spaces, and a spacious entrance lobby. Bicycle storage and vehicle parking is also available both above and below ground level.
A key aspect of the terminal's design was to enable passengers to move as swiftly and "intuitively" as possible through the structure. Following substantial interdisciplinary research, UNStudio and Arup developed a column-free structural design. Gentle inclines, carefully staged lighting, and curving "twists" to facilitate the flow of passengers.
'The integration of masterplanning, architecture and engineering was major to the design, which could only be realised in an integral team of specialists in design and execution,' stated Joop Paul, project director of Arup. 'Every phase of improvements were made and after a span of 19 years, the project is finished. The team is proud and excited!'
4 Comments
This is one of the first projects I have seen, where the "folded plates" approach actually makes sense...
Wow. Finally some decent architecture to look at here. UNStudio should be getting more hype than they do.. kind of an improved version of the Saarinen TWA Terminal
I would have liked to be there during the construction...that form work must have been pretty crazy...
No wonder it took 19 years.
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