Train station, Austria
22 juni 2022
Project: Central station, Vienna | Austria
Architect: Albert Wimmer, Ernst Hoffmann, Hotz Architekten, Vienna | Austria
Fabricator & Installer: ICC-Fassadentechnik GmbH, Mondsee | Austria
Façade System: Riveted, Screwed
Year of Construction: 2013
Product: ALUCOBOND® A2 Sunrise Silver Metallic + Smoke Silver Metallic
Photos: Helmut Pierer
ALL POINTS EAST
The city of Vienna started planning a new central station in 1995. Emperor Franz Josef had built the large terminus stations in Vienna at the end of the 19th century, believing that journeys would only ever start and end in the Hapsburg capital. So, the city of Vienna was the focus and centre point for several railway stations for over a hundred years. This changed with the opening of Vienna’s new Central Station a few years ago in 2014. The railway station is now actually set right in the middle of Vienna for the first time. The city no longer considers itself as the centre of the earth, but as a bridge linking East with West, and North with South. Today, Vienna Central Station is a hub handling over 1,000 trains and more than 100,000 passengers. It comprises three levels: rails and platforms are on the middle level, below them a shopping centre, and on the upper level there is the steel roof, which has already attained international renown and won architectural awards. It was designed by the architects Wimmer, Hoffmann and Hotz. Observed from a bird's eye view, the idea behind the iconic architecture becomes obvious: ten long steel bands, in sets of two, undulate rhythmically high above the tracks, dipping and rising in an offset woven pattern. They follow the tracks from west to east, symbolising the European axis from Paris to Bucharest. The roof is 430 metres long and measures 120 metres at its widest point. To illustrate the enormity of the dimensions, author Thomas Geuder writes: ?About 7,000 tonnes of steel were used in building the 37,000 m² roof structure, which is roughly the same amount as the Eiffel Tower in Paris.? The very size of the roof in itself posed special challenges for structural engineering, lighting the area below and fire safety. The construction consists of space frameworks spanning 38 metres. They are perforated by large, diamond-shaped skylights – 14 in total, making the interior area above the platforms a bright and support-free space. ALUCOBOND® panels are used as cladding on the underside of the folded bands. This is for both safety and design purposes: the composite panels, made of aluminium and a mineral core, fulfil the highest fire safety requirements and are also relatively light, an important factor for a roof of this size. An additional benefit is the special lighting effect the surface creates in the station: depending on how the panels are angled, the light reflected on the surfaces varies in brightness. For people passing by or passengers arriving at the station, the result is an exciting sequence of different light intensities, a special dynamic that makes Vienna, or rather its station, truly memorable even for people in transit who are just passing through.