Rotterdam Central Station

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Photo © Jannes Linders

Photo © Luke Harley

Photo © Jannes Linders

Stations

Architects: CROSS Architecture

Location: Stationsplein 1, 3013 AJ Rotterdam, Netherlands
Year: 2014
Client: ProRail + Stadt Rotterdam
Architect: Team CS (Benthem Crouwel Architects, Meyer en Van Sch
Building services: Arcadis and Gemeentewerken Rotterdam
Structural engineering: Arcadis and Gemeentewerken Rotterdam
Building physics: Arcadis and Gemeentewerken Rotterdam
Landscape architect: West 8
Interior Design: Team CS
Gross floor area: 50,000 m²
Awards: BNA Gebouw van het Jaar 2015, Nederlandse Bouwprijs 2015, Brunel Award 2014, Dutch Design Award 2014, Rotterdam Architectuurprij

Rotterdam has a new Central Station. This public transport terminal is re-anchored in the city centre and integrated in the European network of transport hubs created by the arrival of the high speed rail system (HSL). A grand station of international standing is created. In the design, the city is drawn to the new station by compacting the small-scale urban fabric round about so that railway zone and city become a single entity. The finer texture with its new sight lines and the mix of living and working will greatly improve the social climate of this zone.

On entering the tall light-filled station concourse, travellers have an overall view and see at once where the trains are. The sunken and widened passage beneath the tracks is a natural continuation of the concourse. Platforms have a largely transparent roof some 250 metres long spanning the entire track zone.

The entrance on Spoorsingel is a modest one in keeping with the low-key residential area there and the smaller passenger flow. In stark contrast, the tall glass and timber concourse on the city side is clearly the main gateway to the metropolitan city centre. The new building's shape expresses the internal logistics of this transport hub. Marking the onset of Rotterdam's 'cultural axis', the new Grand Central Station points the way to the city's heart.