Foster + Partners to Design High-Speed Train Station in Galicia, Spain

Architizer News

Foster + Partners to Design High-Speed Train Station in Galicia, Spain

December 22, 2011

Foster + Partners has recently released another set of dreamy renderings for a transportation hub, this time in Galicia, Spain. The London-based firm has received the commission for a high-speed train station in Galicia called Ourense AVE Station, teaming up with Cabanelas Castelo Architects and engineers at G.O.C. to once again attempt to redefine the reach of public transportation in the city. Read on.

For their next transportation mega-structure, Foster + Partners has envisioned a massive series of arcing lightweight roofs, sheltering the train platforms below. The roofs will be uniformly interspersed with linear gaps to let in streams of natural light, which will in turn shine off the reflective paneling on the underside of the canopy to provide a brightly lit interior. The station will also be enclosed with transparent and glazed facades, framing views to the mountains for those in transit to ponder.

The station is strategically located above a parking area and bus station, providing a multi-level system of public transit as so deftly executed in New York’s beloved Beaux-Arts landmark, Grand Central Terminal. Ourense also takes on the ambitious task of doubling as a public park, extending out into a green space with a network of pedestrian pathways that echo the urban grid. The design seeks to reconnect the city district, integrating a range of transportation means into a streamlined hub and introducing a microcosmic version of Lord Foster’s grand vision for England’s infrastructural overhaul.