MAD has completed the renovation and expansion of a historic Jiaxing Train Station in Jiaxing, China. 

Named Train Station in the Forest, the 330,000-square-metre project was envisioned as a new sunken train station featuring a floating metal roof and an urban infrastructure in the city.

Located at the center of Jiaxing, a historic city 100 kilometers southwest of Shanghai, MAD's renovation project replaces a dysfunctional train station that had stood at the site between 1995 and 2019.

Image © CreatAR Images

The project represents MAD's first transportation infrastructure reconstruction and expansion project completed so far.

"As the urbanization of China in recent years has recently developed, so too has the hardware and technology development related to transportation infrastructure," said MAD in its project description.

"The corresponding transportation facilities buildings, such as railway stations and new airports, however, have not improved their spatial and architectural qualities at the same rate." 

"Train stations have instead grown far beyond the human scale, standing like imposing palaces in Chinese city centers surrounded by wide main roads, viaducts, and vast empty squares," the firm added.

Image © AC

A new sunken train station designed with a human scale

The original Jiaxing Train Station was first built in 1907 and was destroyed over half a century ago. 

A new station was built in 1995 to replace the original station, but it had an area of only 4,000 square metres. It contained old passenger facilities as it was unsuitable for a rapidly growing city.

Avoiding from the usual pursuit of monumental transportation structures with a full-scale recreation of the original 1907 station, the new station is covered by a floating metal roof lofted above, expanding the site. The roof is equipped with solar panels that power the station. 

Image © Aogvision

MAD stated that "to pay tribute to the city’s history, architectural experts and scholars analyzed a large amount of historical data (much of which was located in the Jiaxing City Archives) to accurately reconstruct the old station house." 

"The approximately 210,000 red and green bricks of the reconstructed station house are made of mud sourced from the nearby South Lake and other locally sourced materials," the studio added.

Image © CreatAR Images

"We can break away from the common pursuit of grandiose monumental buildings"

"We should rethink and redefine the spatial patterns of such transportation infrastructure buildings in China," said Ma Yansong, founder and principal of MAD. 

"We can break away from the common pursuit of grandiose monumental buildings and make them urban public spaces with transport functions, natural ecology and cultural life, where citizens are happy to go, stay, meet, and enjoy," he added.

The new train station was imagined both more humane and efficient than its predecessor. 

Image © AC

In the interior design, a spacious glass facade clearly expresses the difference in height of the two buildings from the entrance and continues the dialogue between old and new with the recreated 1907 station.

The interiors, featuring  minimalist touches, are clad with anodized aluminum honeycomb panels in the waiting hall, ceiling, while tunnel walls help to absorb excess noise, and are lit by flood lights rather than the usual top lighting. 

The exhaust vents, broadcasting system, and underpass light strips are all subtly embedded into the walls.

Image © CreatAR Images

The underground coonsists of the building's entry, exit platforms, waiting halls, and major transport and commercial functions. According to the studio, this approach breaks traditional concepts and gives birth to the “train station in the forest” design.

The renovated railway station has been expanded from three platforms and five lines to three platforms and six lines, with two arrival and departure lines on each of the upstream and downstream main lines. 

MAD expects the full passenger capacity to reach 5.28 million people/year by 2025, with an hourly capacity of about 2,500 people at the peak of passenger traffic.

Image © Aogvision

In addition, the studio organized a variety of transport modes underground to efficiently interconnect throughout the entire system. 

"The original traffic hub in front of the station has additionally been moved underground to connect with the sunken city roads to ensure convenient travel for citizens and tourists, as well as to meet the passenger demand generated by the creation of new commercial functions across the southern portion of the site," the studio added.

Image © AC

An urban oasis for citizens

To expand and connect the existing park, the studio placed the busy transport hub underground. 

Over 1,500 trees, including beech, camphor, osmanthus, maple, sebifera, sequoia, and cherry blossom were planted across the site. 

Creating a spiritual axis, which contains the recreated 1907 building, this axis is emphasized with beech trees that, when fully formed, will create a canopy across the entire north square in front of the station.

Image © AC

The south square contains seven buildings with different functions for culture and commerce, as well as a central lawn of about one hectare that are together shaped like rolling green hills. These functional spaces, scattered above and below the hills, appear as floating rings above the earth, while the center lawn will become a venue for outdoor events such as concerts and art festivals.

"Our design prioritizes the emotional and spiritual needs of citizens, brings in natural landscapes, and integrates urban spaces and building volumes into nature," MAD said. 

Image © CreatAR Images

"Through careful traffic planning and employing a vertical use of space, MAD’s scheme meets the station’s existing passenger demand while leaving room for future sustainable development and expansion." 

"The emphasis on connectivity with the surrounding environment will also help to increase its use among the local residents by enhancing the social attributes of the district and ultimately injecting new life into the old city center," the studio explained. 

According to MAD, this project becomes an example of a model for urban revitalization for Chinese cities undergoing major infrastructural development.

Image © AC

Image © Su Shengliang

Image © Su Shengliang

Image © AC

Masterplan

Axonometric Diagram

Axonometric Diagram

Concept sketch by Ma Yansong

MAD first revealed conceptual images for Train Station in the Forest in 2021. 

MAD recently unveiled design for a new art center with porous and floating canopyresembling "a continuous wave of water" in Foshan city, Guangdong in China. 

In China MAD has another project, which is currently under construction, a new culture and arts center that is hidden beneath white metal roofs scattered like "bamboo leaves" in Anji, China.

Project facts

Project name: Train Station in the Forest

Architects: MAD 

Location: Jiaxing, China

Site Area: 354,000m2

Building Area: around 330,000m2

Principal Partners in Charge: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano
Associate Partners in Charge: Liu Huiying, Tiffany Dalhen            
Design Team: Yao Ran, Yu Lin, Cao Chen, Chen Nianhai, Cheng Xiangju, Reinier Simons, Fu Xiaoyi, Chen Wei, He Shunpeng, Li Zhengdong, Cao Xi, Zhang Kai, Li Xinyun, Kaushik Raghuraman, Deng Wei, Huang Zhiyu, Huai Wei, Sun Mingze, Dayie Wu, Hou Jinghui, Yin Jianfeng, Claudia Hertrich, Liu Zifan, Xie Qilin, Alan Rodríguez Carrillo, Qiang Siyang.

Client: Jiaxing Modern Service Industry Development & Investment (Group) Co., Ltd.
Executive Architects: Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd., China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co., Ltd.
Heritage Consultant: Shanghai Shuishi Architectural Design & Planning Corp.,Ltd
Landscape Consultant: Z’scape Landscape Planning and Design
Lighting Consultant: Beijing Sign Lighting Industry Group
Signage Consultant: NDC CHINA, Inc.
Interior Design Consultant: Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Decoration & Landscape Design Research Institute Co., Ltd.
Structural Consultant: LERA Consulting Structural Engineers
Façade Consultant: RFR Shanghai
Construction Contractor: China Railway Construction Engineering Group, China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group, China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Co., Ltd.

Top image in the article © AC. 

All images © CreatAR Images, Su Shengliang, AC, Aogvision.

All drawings © MAD. 

> via MAD 

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