Rotterdam Centraal

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Info: Team CS

Photography: Jannes
Linders; courtesy Benthem Crouwel Architekten

The new Central
Station of Rotterdam is an interesting yet simple exercise in distinctly metropolitan
station architecture.

At Rotterdam
Central, the old station by Sybold van Ravesteyn, which consisted of a station
hall, pedestrian tunnel and open platforms, each with its own canopy, was out
of step with current requirements with respect to size, layout and grandeur.
What was needed was a new station, designed as an 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.

Rotterdam Centraal by Sybold van Ravesteyn

The station and
its surrounds are designed by Team CS – cooperation between Benthem Crouwel
Architects, MVSA Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten and West 8, who have
maximized the stark difference in
character north-to-south of the station to create a discerning environment at
each end.

Towards the
north, which opens to a residential area, the station manifests as a
transparent hall that matches the character of the late nineteenth-century
Proveniers district. Major extensions are avoided here and the green
landscaping is enhanced. The new station roof makes a modest and transparent
impression on this side.

Towards the
south, 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. Here, the building and the new station
square merge and the imposing station roof folds to create a welcoming and very
spacious station concourse, which also provides direct access to the new metro
station below.

With the trams
relocated to the east side of the station square, the public space in front of
the station now offers arriving travellers a genuine entrance to the city, free
of criss-crossing traffic. The enormous
scale of the new station is mitigated by the choice of wood as cladding for the
gigantic roof.

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