Christchurch Railway Station

The design for the new Christchurch Railway Station explores the concept of layering – a strong central building viewed and approached through a series of structures or landscape features. The brief was to create a new rail gateway to the city, with a strong identifiable building that incorporated the adjacent historic water tower as part of an overall masterplan and marketable image for New Zealand Rail and the city. Located on a clean flat site, cleared of old railway sheds and buildings, the new development had to be vibrant and modern but with clear references to the past.

The design solution was in carefully handling the volume and shape of the outside space, much of which became a carpark, a strong central building, a series of office “containers” and the creation of an elegantly curving wall connecting the tower to the grand waiting room. The form of the building is dynamic with a strong intention to create movement and connections through shapes, landscape features and the water tower (campanile). It leans forward like a sprinter poised to start a race.

The main building comprises an elegant, curved, floating roof (using over 200 steel beams) over the main waiting hall, connected visually and physically to the 22 metre high water tower by a curved ‘garden’ wall; together creating a strong three dimensional composition. The building’s clear linear shapes are designed to express movement, and the choice of materials, some similar to those used on trains, further enhances the quality associated with rail travel. A waterway, clad in rusting steel plates sourced from on-site, connects the main building and the water tower. As you approach the railway station a succession of huge boulders continue the suggestion of a moving train.

The spacious waiting hall echoes the notion and feeling of walking into the grand hall of a traditional European railway station. Its roof curves parallel to the railway platform, and is accentuated at night by up-lighting. Sandwiching the steel-framed waiting hall and offices are two dramatic stainless steel boxes reminiscent of railway trucks or shipping containers, which enclose offices, storerooms and restrooms. From the exterior of the building their tilted faces intentionally suggest movement and travel.

Beyond the waiting room, the feeling of movement is continued with flowing water in a stainless steel trough which runs parallel to the 140 metre covered platform.