Station Design

The railway station is a very special public space in contemporary geography. It's where the mobility axes that cross our territories meet, where crowds in transit meet, a melting pot of sociability, a "hyper-place", to use the expression of geographer Michel Lussault, which he attributes to spaces of concentration of individuals, spaces of density, of diversity. If there's one place where living together is embodied - today's political watchword - it's the station, where we rub shoulders with others, whether we like it or not. After a long period of eclipse during the 20th century, the station and its neighborhood have once again become key spaces in daily life and in the city, the focus of attention for designers and public authorities alike.

But what really is a railway station in this day and age? And what model is it evolving towards? By exploring the history of these fascinating places, and evoking their typological variations in time and space, this article highlights the functional and urban issues that characterize them, and outlines the technical and spatial design methodology that meets these challenges.

The design of stations is approached from the angle of the intersection of several disciplines: history, from which lessons must be learned; sociology, which qualifies the cultural context of the project; urban planning, which characterizes the station in an urban system; flow engineering, which justifies the sizing of spaces; technical studies in the fields of transport and building; and finally, architecture, which synthesizes the studies and proposes an organization of spaces suitable for ensuring the durability, proper functioning and enjoyment of the premises. Vitruvius would say that we must fulfill the three qualities of firmitas, utilitas, et venustas; in other words, a solid, useful and beautiful project (treatise De architectura written around – 15 and dedicated to the emperor Augustus).