astoc

station "Mitte"

The superior residential quality offered by this town in the region of Bergisches Land is shown, among other things, by the stream of commuters seen using public transport here on a daily basis. Associated with the structural transformation taking place in Solingen, hence, are measures designed to develop public transit services, for example the laying out of the new Central Station, and the new construction of Grünewald Station.
The Grünewald stop lies along the stretch of rail to the south of Solingen center. The station “Bahnhof Mitte” serves the inner city, while Grünewald Station offers connections to the Zwilling Factory, as well as to the newly-established Design Center that is housed in the former train station building. On the one hand, the concept offers an optimization of transport routes, the “victory of the shortest path” for pedestrians. On the other, the striking roof provides a point of orientation within the urban fabric, and also became an essential component of the project “Regionale 2006.”
The roof of the station is configured as a simple steel girder construction set on columns. It is composed of multiple layers which are separated according to function: above is the transparent covering, composed of polycarbonate twin-wall sheet, and beneath these the main and subsidiary girders, the technical levels with electrical cables, lighting fixtures and rainwater drains, and finally the dropped ceiling of the roof. The underside and the flanks of the roof are clad entirely in rib metal mesh. The special feature of this material is its variable permeability to light depending upon angle of view and orientation. In connection with the reflections on the aluminum surface, this results in highly varied luminous phenomena involving the interplay of light and shadow in a way reminiscent of a leaf canopy. Beholders are confronted by a perpetually shifting image which alternates between the striking shape of the roof and its airily glinting envelope.

Awards:
2007 "Renault Traffic Future Award"
2009 Verzinkerpreis, Recognition

Typology: Infrastructure
Project no.: 0211

Client and location: The town of Solingen, represented by the Sanierungsgesellschaft südliche Innenstadt Solingen GmbH & Co. KG and the Vermögensbetrieb Solingen
Planning period: 04/2002 – 11/2003
Construction period: 04/2006 – 03/2007
Size: Mitte Bus Station (3,600 m2) and Grünewalder Strasse Station, in each case with connections to the regional train station located below
Services performed: competition 1st prize, LP 1-9
Participating offices: Lighting planning by licht/raum/stadt, Wuppertal, Höhler + Partner, Aachen, landscape architects Lützow 7, Berlin
Participating colleagues: Niels Frerichmann, Lena Hocke, Norbert Philippen, Jörg Schatzmann, Ansgar Schmidt, Bernhard Schumann, Ulrich Weingärtner

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