25 years later - Arnhem Central Station
There are almost 25 years between the sketches and the photos from our visit last week.
It is always exciting to be back inside spaces that once only existed inside your head. Arnhem Centraal is special because when we first imagined these spaces, they were unlike anything we had seen.
The real spaces still keep that sense of wonder, which is testament to the effort a large group of colleagues, consultants, contractors, and public servants – too many to mention, many of whom became friends.
Main Hall with Twist
The Arnhem Public Transport Terminal took a long time to materialize.
It started when transferring a Rhino 1 model required tens of disks and the easiest way to show a digital model rendering was to photograph the screen to use in a (physical) slide projections. Yet, just a couple of years later, we were carrying around large digital projectors and printing 3d models.
The project benefited from many tech advances happening its lengthy development phase.
Main Entrance
The flowing surfaces of the station present the user with clear views across the several public transport modes (train, trolley buses, buses).
They also help reconcile the different levels of the underground parking and the elevated Office Square while creating unobstructed diagonal sightlines between these spaces and flooding the interior with daylight.
Secondary Entrance and Access to Bus Station
Behind its apparent free-form surfaces lies a deeply informed shape.
Despite the fluidity of its lines, the structure relies on precise control of its shape. This is necessary not only to touch predetermined and limited points of support underground but also to optimize shell curvatures that allow for the large spans required.
Originally designed as a concrete shell, the contractor proposed using a shipbuilder to build it as a monococque hull. This proved to be the better solution considering factors as budget, time and site logistics.
Under the City Balcony
For me sketching has always been a tool on par with modelling, scripting and coding. Contrary to a rendering, the goal of a sketch is not to illustrate the building or visualize a certain iteration of one idea.
The aim is to explore the space, to discover relations, to test, to reason and to counter, to get familiar with an idea, to think. Not to close in on one outcome, but to open possibilities.
Exploratory Sketches
design by UNStudio
photos and sketches by Nuno Almeida