Do not mind the gap • do wander
The Station as a City Layer: A Spatial Dialogue Between People and Trains
C.A. Pollet (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
Hrvoje Smidihen – Mentor (TU Delft - Building Knowledge)
J.A.A. Woertman – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / AE+T)
M.R. Grech – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / A)
M. Bilow – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Building Design & Technology)
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Abstract
The research explores the spatial and conceptual disconnect between human-centered spaces and train-centered infrastructure. It focuses on how architectural design can recalibrate the station environment so that trains are not isolated or hidden from the spatial experience but instead become visible and integrated elements of a broader urban and civic framework. Traditional station designs tend to compartmentalize functions, platforms for trains, halls for people, resulting in a fragmented spatial narrative. The design instead seeks to reconfigure the station hall as a shared domain, where the train enters into a human-scaled space rather than the reverse. In this way, the station transforms from a neutral transit shell into an inhabited and expressive civic environment.
Trains are brought visually and physically closer to users by treating the platform area not as a peripheral utility but as part of the main spatial continuum of the station. The design allows trains to enter the hall, not through concealed corridors but through an open and legible structure where their movement becomes part of the spatial experience. This strategy evokes the historical role of the station as a place of wander and fascination with machines, restoring a degree of spectacle and engagement lost in the contemporary functionalist approach.
The design creates a space where trains are present but do not dominate, where movement does not erase the possibility of pause, and where the public realm reclaims its place within a transit environment.