This month Arnhem Central Station has opened to the public.
The area includes a temporary transportation terminal, an underground bicycle parking facility, a ground level shopping area and a road which crosses the building's roof.
An average flow of around 55,000 passengers a day is expected to pass through the station, with most of them using the terminal to change their mode of transportation.
The public transport terminal, designed by UNStudio, facilitates the intricate flow of passengers to minimise crossing traffic.
Arup has been the lead advisor for masterplanning and structural design and has been involved with other services such as lighting design and information management.
“We are proud that after many years of construction on other parts of the total masterplan finally the project has reached the stages where our pieces of the puzzle will be added to the project.”
– Joop Paul, Arup director
Fluent space and clear lines
The next phase of the project will be finished by 2014. This includes the most spectacular part of the project – a large and naturally-lit terminal building with a free-form roof structure.
The geometrically fluent space of the terminal provides passengers optimal orientation possibilities. This is reinforced by daylight entering the building at crucial locations, such as the entrance of the platform tunnel and the bicycle garage.
“A basement structure seems a piece of cake for construction. However, Arnhem can by proud of this bicycle parking basement, because the engineering challenge is far more complex than imagined.”
– Jeroen Coenders, Arup project manager
Openness by integration
The openness is maintained through the high level of integration between structure, routing and installations. An absence of regular building elements, such as straight beams and columns, intensifies the experience of space and shows how structure and architecture can become one.
Because the commercial functions are located on the edges of the transfer zones, cluttering of the hall and obstructing views has been prevented.