OVT Centraal station

Rotterdam Central is part of the European network of high-speed railway lines and a nodal point in the city itself. This dual relationship, with the city and with Europe, gives the station and the station precinct a special dimension. At Rotterdam Central, European travellers enter the Netherlands and Dutch travellers enter Europe.

The old station by Sybold van Ravesteyn was out of step with current requirements with respect to size, layout and grandeur. What was needed was a new station, designed as one entity: the station hall now runs from Proveniersplein on the north side to Stationsplein on the south – in other words, the 250-metre-wide platform roof forms a whole with the main concourse and the train travellers’ tunnel. The result is that from the moment of arrival, train passengers have the sense of entering a building.

A salient feature of the location is the big difference in character between the areas north and south of the station. To the north there is a residential area. Here the new station roof makes a modest and transparent impression. On the city centre side the station exhibits a new grandeur that is in keeping with the dimensions of the imposing high-rise buildings that characterize the entrance to the city. Rotterdam’s urbanity is reinforced here by a metropolitan station architecture in which the building and the new station square merge. Here the station roof folds to create a welcoming and very spacious station concourse, which also provides direct access to the new metro station below.
[Source Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten]

Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten

Rotterdam is to get a new Central Station. This is to be re-anchored in the city centre and integrated in the European network of transport hubs created by the arrival of the high speed rail system (HSL). So a Grand Station of international standing is required.

In the design, the city is drawn to the new station by compacting the small-scale urban fabric round about so that railway zone and city become a single entity. The finer texture with its new sight lines and the mix of living and working will greatly improve the social climate of this zone.

On entering the tall light-filled station concourse, travellers have an overall view and see at once where the trains are. The sunken and widened passage beneath the tracks is a natural continuation of the concourse. Platforms have a largely transparent roof some 250 metres long spanning the entire track zone.

The entrance on Spoorsingel is a modest one in keeping with the low-key residential area there and the smaller passenger flow. In stark contrast, the tall glass and timber concourse on the city side is clearly the main gateway to the metropolitan city centre. The new building's shape expresses the internal logistics of this transport hub. Marking the onset of Rotterdam's 'cultural axis', the new Grand Central Station points the way to the city's heart.

In June 2004, Team CS, a collaboration of Benthem Crouwel Architekten, Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten, and West 8 urban design & landscape architecture b.v., has received the commission to execute the vision presented for the new Rotterdam Central Station. West 8 is involved in the team as architects as well as urban designers and landscape architects.

The design of Team CS for Rotterdam Central strives to embed the central station again in the center of Rotterdam. With the development of the High Speed Line (HSL), the design establishes the new station as a major hub in being a part of European transportation network. The new Rotterdam Central Station, in every respect, must be capable to match the efficiency, capacity, comfort, and style of other major stations such as Madrid, Paris, London, and Brussels.

For the Rotterdam Central Station, there is an issue of dealing with the different urban characteristics of the North and South side of the station. These characteristics serve as guidelines for the urban plan. The station’s north side, De Provenierswijk, is a 19th century green neighborhood that is nearly the provincial “face” of the Central Station. The existing station will be kept, renovated and expanded to the bicycle tunnel.

The South “city” side of the station forms Central Station’s new “Metropolitan” identity. The present situation doesn’t live up to this image. The existing station is distant and fairly isolated from the urban tissue of Rotterdam. A series of urban intervention is therefore urgent. The city’s development must focus itself towards the station area in order to “anchor” the new station and strengthen the new station surrounding.

The new hall of the station becomes a sculptural icon that begins in the city cultural axis. The façade of the station moves closer to the Weena Boulevard where an inviting “esplanade” leads the visitor to the Westersingel. This esplanade has a welcoming green character with tall trees of large crowns.

The sculptural quality of the new Central Station reflects the urban addresses of Rotterdam. The folding of the roof and facades anticipates the diverse view lines. The hall of the new Central Station is the pivot of the urban ambiance.

[source West8]