CHINA THE PROJECT FOR THE NEW JIAXING RAILWAY STATION
MAD Architects has now completed the Jiaxing Railway Station, its first reconstruction and expansion project for a transport infrastructure. Located in the centre of Jiaxing, a historic city 100 kilometres southwest of Shanghai, the project aims to replace an old railway station that stood on the site between 1995 and 2019, covering an area of only 4,000 square meters, and that is now inappropriate for a rapidly expanding city.
MAD’s design stands out from the typical Chinese monumental railway stations, reproducing on a large scale the original old railway station that stood on the site in 1907, to which a suspended metal roof was added, with solar panels to power the building. The new railway station is designed to be both more ‘human’ and more efficient. To pay tribute to the city’s history, several architectural experts and scholars analysed a great deal of data to accurately rebuild the old railway station.
Approximately 210,000 red and green bricks were made using the mud from the nearby lake, and the other materials also came from local sources. The minimalist interior was clad with honeycomb panels made of anodized aluminium in the waiting room, on the ceiling and on tunnel walls to deaden noise. By 2025, the total passenger capacity is expected to reach 5.28 million people per year, with an hourly capacity of about 2,500 people at peak passenger traffic. Underground, several transport modes have been reorganized and integrated to connect efficiently to the entire urban system.
From
: Domusweb
PH Credits: MAD Architects