The new Newmarket railway station was a unique project that demanded an innovative approach, writes Steve Hart.
Designing a bright modern steel and glass railway station for the Auckland suburb of Newmarket required an innovative approach so the trains could run while major works were carried out.
Among the challenges faced by those involved in the redevelopment of the station was to be as creative as possible in a restrictive plot of land that's essentially just 20m wide and 600m long. They decided to build upward.
The designers have delivered a building featuring lots of glass to make the most of the natural light. But by far the biggest obstacle has been designing something that could be built while the station remained operational. To overcome this, the station was planned from the ground up to be erected in two phases.
Work on the site meant undoing a lot of local history as they would be replacing buildings up to 100 years old. These were removed in 2008 and put into storage at a cost of $5 million.
There has been a rail terminal on the site since 1873 and today more than 3500 passengers cross its airy concourse every day. Newmarket is the second busiest station in Auckland after Britomart and by 2016 - when passenger numbers are expected to hit 17,000 people a day - the station will be running electric trains.
The focal point of the new station, which opened in January, is a 1000sq m concourse 5m above the tracks. Here, travellers come together from four entrances to access lifts, stairs or escalators to reach any of the four 180m-long platforms.
Stefan Geelan, senior architectural designer at Opus Architects, used a mixture of coloured glass in the concourse area and louvred windows to improve ventilation in the $35 million OnTrack and Auckland Regional Transport Authority joint venture project.
"The louvres promote natural ventilation," says Geelan. "These windows will also help should there ever be a fire at the station - smoke would be drawn out the building."
The louvre windows allow noise, such as that created by diesel trains, to escape, and reduce sounds reverberating inside the building.
"But working in a constrained thin and narrow site was hard," says Geelan. "We had to have the whole site live during the entire project. We didn't get a clear run at this project at all - we were building the station and upgrading its lines at the same time. The design had to take that into account.
"One third of the station was operational while we worked on the other two-thirds. Once that was completed we started work on the final third."
Geelan says it was an undesirable site says in that it has the backs of buildings on one side and apartments on the other.
"The station is covered in shadows all the time, and that was a challenge, to provide an environment that was pleasant for its users. While we used lighting - some of it modern LEDs - there was a strong desire to use glazing so as much natural daylight as possible could get in - particularly with the main concourse, although there is glass in the roof as well as the sides of the building."
Glass is also used in the sides of a 5m wide enclosed bridge that connects the Remuera Rd entrance. Most passengers wouldn't give the glass a second thought, but designers knew it would need to be cleaned and installed a hinged system so the panes can be swivelled open. It means staff standing safe and secure on the bridge's pedestrian walkway can clean both sides of the glass.
"This also meets the health and safety requirements for the future electrification of the network," says Geelan. "We won't have people stepping out and buzzing themselves - so that was a bit of innovation there."
Future-proofing the station was a key consideration as it is now serviced by diesels, but electrification is on the horizon. The station had to accommodate overhead cables.
"Every single metal object used at the station - from handrails to window frames - had to be earthed," says Geelan. "From an architectural point, it was very challenging."
The free flow of people was also a key factor. Giving travellers obvious signs and subtle clues as to where to walk was important.
Signs were placed cleverly, so people should walk in and see where they need to go - be it the lift, ticket office or something else.
Although the station opened only a few months back, it isn't completed. A glance around shows there are large vacant areas that appear to be missing something. This is where the automatic ticket gates will go once the electric trains come into service.
"I have watched some people come in to the station and look a bit lost because not all the visual clues are in place yet, but once the turnstiles are fitted everything will come together. That is an important part of the design, putting all those elements in so that people naturally know where to go."
However, Geelan says he and the Opus team are pleased with their work.
"With any project like this you can have an idea but when it comes to fruition it can come out a little different to what you expect, or not go ahead.
"What often happens with buildings is that you have an idea that really works but then the budget is cut and you end up with something less than the original intent. But with the Newmarket station, the client didn't reduce the budget so dramatically that the original intent was lost."
