New intermodal transport hub to relocate train platforms underground
A team featuring RSHP has been named as the winner of a competition to design Valencia’s new Central Station.
The practice is working with engineering group Sener and local practice ERRE on the project, set to be a key transport hub in the centre of the Spanish city.
The work involves devising the construction works needed to relocate an existing station and tracks underground, creating new operational spaces including entrances and concourses, and linking the hub to other modes of transport.
The team’s design for the above-ground elements features four rows of inverted arches with pointed roof forms, allowing natural light and fresh air to penetrate down to the station’s underground areas.
RSHP senior design director Ivan Harbour said: “Given the complexity of bringing multiple modes of rail movement together in one place with clarity and sensitivity, we have designed a station that will be unique to Valencia.
“It will be sensitive but bold, welcoming, uplifting and generous to experience, whether commuting day-to-day or for the first time visiting this great city”.
The project is also set to include the refurbishment of the existing Valencia Nord station building, which opened in 2017,
Considered a significant example of Valencia’s Art Nouveau tradition, the existing station has been declared a Site of Cultural Interest with its refurbishment aiming to fully respect its architectural and urban heritage.
Jose Martí, Amparo Roig and M. Ángeles Ros, architect partners at ERRE, said the concept of the project “stems from the architectural significance of the Estación del Norte”.
“Our strategy is to intervene in the urban space without altering any of its façades, preserving its integrity and enhancing its heritage value,” they added.
The new station is seeking to provide a seamless connection to Valencia Nord and a future Central Park as part of a wider planned urban realm project which would create a series of new cycle and pedestrian routes converging on a new station square.
The station will operate as a through service rather than the current dead-end configuration, allowing passengers to travel from south to north through the city without having to change trains.
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