CASE STUDY : BEIJING SOUTH RAILWAY STATIONANUSHPRA SINGH A/2155/2009 | PRASHANT KUMAR A/2160/2009 SNEHALATA A/2150/2009
overview
“one of the largest roofs in the world to create column free spaces for the platforms at the railway station”
NAME: BEIJING SOUTH RAILWAY STATION
LOCATION: BEIJING, CHINA
TOTAL FLOOR AREA: 144190M2
CONTEXT:
• one of the capital‟s six major rail station• lies between the second and the third
ring roads in Fengtai district• some 0.5km from the old station that it
supersedes• new station is lies within one of these
“square” grids on 94ha of gazette railway land
• lies roughly 3km south-west of the temple of Heaven complex, the proximity of which was to have a bearing on the visual appearance of the main canopy roofs.
BSS is one of the China’s (and Asia’s) largest railway stations, it caters for suburban trains within greater Beijing, regular-speed trains to numerous mainland cities, two underground mass transit lines, and high-speed trains to other cities as far as south as Guangzhou and thence to Hong Kong. Accommodating 450m high-speed and 550m suburban trains, the roof covers some 12500m2 – Beijing National Stadium would be easily contained within the footprint.
FUTURISTIC DESIGN
• design has strong cultural origins
and adheres to the axes of Beijing’s
planning which fit well within
• the largest station project in China
• design concept comes from the
Chinese decorative knotted cross,
an important cultural object
• Its shape and colour have
influenced every area of the design
concept, maintaining an idea that is
wholly cultural and wholly Chinese.
• the original cultural concept, to
the selective use of colours and the
subtle borrowing of traditional
Chinese architectural
Weston Williamson Architects
a large railway station (mainly serving high speed trains) in Fengtai
District, Beijing, about 7.5 km (4.7 mi) south of central Beijing, between
the 2nd and 3rd ring roads. The station in its present form opened on 1
August 2008 and replaced the old Beijing South station, originally known
as the Majiapu Railway Station, later renamed the Yongdingmen Railway
Station, which stood 500 metres away. The old station was in use from
1897 to 2006.
The new Beijing South Railway Station is the city's largest station, and is
the one of the largest in Asia. It joins the main Beijing Railway Station and
the Beijing West Railway Station as one of three main passenger rail hubs
in the Chinese capital. It serves as the terminus for high-speed trains on
the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Rail and the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed
Railway, which can reach speeds up to 350 km/h (217 mph). Some CRH
night sleepers to and from Shanghai also depart from (or arrive at) this
station.
The station integrates a Beijing Subway station, bus hubs (including an
airport shuttle bus), and taxi stands, into the same building, and includes a wide variety of restaurants in the station itself.
INTRODUCTION
design
CONCEPT
The „Hall for Prayer for a Good Harvest‟
in the Temple of Heaven complex,
built during the reign of Emperor
Zhengtong (1436-1449). Elevated on
three white marble circular terraces,
the temple has a triple set of conical
roofs over a round building – a form
unique in Chinese architecture. The
new roof shape for BSS gained MoR
approval, and TSDI/TFP set about the
challenging task of preparing the
overall station design for rapid
completion in time for the 2008
Olympics.
FORM
TSDI/TFP had conceptualised the roof
to follow the “Temple of Heaven” motif.
This kept the overall oval shape, split
into two halves by the separate large-
span flat-topped roof over the central
departure hall area, with each half
reflecting the Temple of Heaven
silhouette by being made up of three
long-span separate roofs with tilted
planes. With a metallic ribbed cladding,
this shape and surface was intended to
reflect the blue glazed tiled conical
roofs of the “Hall for Prayer for a Good
Harvest”.
An elevated road encloses the central check-in and departure hall and
serves as the arrivals and drop-off route for road transport. Beneath, at
street level, are 11 island and two side platforms giving 24 platform
edges, designed for a passenger throughout reaching almost 105m per
year by 2030, equating to daily flows of 286500 and peak hourly flows of
33280 passengers. Flexibility in the overall planning allows for increased
peak flows at festivals such as Chinese New Year and Golden Week.
Beneath the platform zone at the first basement level is the interchange
hall, catering for some 87000 people per day transferring to other
transport modes such as taxis, buses and private cars. These are 52 taxi
pick-up and drop-off bays with 138 queuing spaces, 38 bus bays with 48
queuing spaces, and a 909-space car park.
Below again are two mass transit lines, each with a 120m long island
platform arrangement skewed to the at-grade railway lines.
FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS
concept
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION TRANSPORTATION
The terminus occupies a 32 hectare site in Fengtai. The enormous oval-shaped
station was designed by the British architect firm of Sir Terry Farrell and Partners in
collaboration with the Tianjin Design Institute.[5] It was built from more than 60,000
tons of steel and 490,000 cubic meters of concrete by 4,000 workers in less than
three years. The glass ceiling is outfitted with 3,246 solar panels to generate
electricity. The structure spreads out like a ray or trilobite and covers 320,000 square
meters, more than the Beijing National Stadium's 258,000 m2. Its 24 platforms have
the capacity to dispatch 30,000 passengers per hour or 241,920,000 a year. The
251,000 m2 waiting area can accommodate 10,000 passengers.
On the elevated departures concourse, there are designated waiting areas and
VIP lounges (with better seating and, in the lounges, free food and snacks) for
passengers travelling in CRH Business Class, and a number of restaurants and
corner shops. There are also a number of ticket counters (where nationwide
ticketing services are available) and an increasing number of retail stores and fast
food stalls. Ticket machines are available to holders of the PRC ID card and sell
tickets for trains departing from this station. 23 boarding gates despatch
passengers onto trains. The arrivals level is underground, with 8 arrival gates
situated in the immediate vicinity of the Beijing Subway station concourse. To the
sides are two taxi stands, and separated West and East parking lots for private cars
(including a mezzanine level). Express entrances have been built, and are
presently in use for all C trains to Tianjin, as well as some trains to Shanghai. Ticket
machines and a few ticket counters are also available at the arrivals level. As with
the departures level, a variety of restaurants and corner shops are also available at
the arrivals level. Two floors below the arrivals level are the platforms for Lines 4 and
14, respectively, with only Line 4 services available at present. Construction began
immediately after services ended at the old station. The station was complete for
the 1 August 2008 reopening. In 2011 and 2012, new restaurants, fast food stalls,
and corner shops were added. To cut queues, traditional counters at the arrival
level were replaced with ticket machines.
The entire transportation system is integrated with the station itself.
Beijing Subway: Beijing South Railway Station - Line 4.
Beijing Bus stops:
Beijing South Railway Station :381 458
Beijing South Railway Station North Square: 20 84 102 106 203 458
Beijing South Railway Station South Square : 72 208 529 652 665 特5 特8Beijing Airport Bus: Route 10
Bus routes in bold have a terminus at the stop.
The current Line 14 services do not yet call at this station; they end at Xiju
station.
As of 2012, Beijing South Station is the terminal for two CRH railway lines.
The Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway has frequent service to Tianjin (C trains).
The Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway runs G and D trains
to Ji'nan, Nanjing, and Shanghai, with several trains continuing
to Hangzhou and Ningbo, and one (G55) to Fuzhou. This railway also has
services to Qingdao (via the Jiao'ao–Jinan branch) and Hefei (via the Bengbu–
Hefei branch). Since July 2013, travel time to Hangzhou has been cut by one
hour for services that skip Shanghai.
Beijing South services the world's third fastest train (after the Shanghai Airport
Express Train and some faster trains of the Shinkansen).
TRAINS
construction