GHENT | Project Gent-Sint-Pieters | 90m | 276ft | 22 fl | U/C

[Puinkabouter]

Some views from a distance of the tower that's U/C next to the station:



1.

With a nice summery sky. Notice the skyline of the western parts in the middle of this view and the historical skyline to the right.

2.

The western skyline of Ghent

3.

Focus on Saint Peter railway station.

4.

And now on the tower itself. The height of the crane is at 60m right now, but material has been delivered to make it climb up to 120m next week. The tower itself will peak at 90m, so the facade is about halfway up.

[Jongeheer]

From an observation deck in the city center:

Originally Posted by Jongeheer

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[Jongeheer]

I took the liberty of translating and editing your post Puinkabouter, I hope that's ok?

Originally Posted by Puinkabouter

1.

Directly to the right of the tower (that reached slightly over half of it's height), they have started the construction of the arm that will embrace the transportation hub.

2.

This is the entrance to the underground kiss-and-ride

3.

To give an idea of the arm's dimensions: the red steel girder is suspended at approximately half of the buildings height. The wing will be slightly higher than the modernist neighborhood that surrounds it.

4.

Those girders are quite impressive by the way, this picture gives an idea of their size when delivered to the site.

5.

The core of the L-shaped wing. It used to be a concrete box, but it's soon to become the backbone of a building. A process that will repeat itself a lot of times in the coming years: the terrain directly behind the building is littered with these 'stumps'.

6.

The crevices in the lower left of the picture will be future retail, bars, etc. for the users of the train station. Maybe entrances or amenities for the residences on top.

7.

This little patch of grass will be the future floor of a slightly bigger retailer, I think.

8.

The soon-to-be esplanade, or walkway between the development. Still working on the tiling, this 'street' isn't going to pick up it's definite function for a few years, so no stress

9.

According to what can be deduced from official documents, the spot on the left of this picture is going to be filled with social housing.

10.

The cladding panels, straight from the Netherlands!

11.

Back to the rumor mill [sic ]: a residential bank headquarters is going to be built on this spot. The designers are Asymptote Architecture, and it should have a respectable height.

Asymptote Architecture is no stranger to this development area: they were one of five contenders in the design contest of the building currently under construction. If they had won, the Link would be a white box with angled squares as windows.

12.

This is the future home of the twin towers.

13.

I hadn't noticed this earlier: there lies quite a big gap between the elevated train tracks and the twins.

14.

15.

In a few weeks, this traffic sign isn't the only thing that will indicate that you've just entered the urban area of Ghent

16.

17.

This is going to be a nice sight when the development is done.

18.

Click the picture for a bigger size

A city-scape: the three medieval towers slightly off to the left, and to the right our new addition settling quite nicely between the Boekentoren and the Saint-Peter Abbey.

19.

From the nearby campus.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

View from the end of the Clementina Avenue

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

[WC_EEND]

Photo update from today by me.

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 08.59.49 on Flickr
The new railway viaduct for platform 12

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.02.10 on Flickr
The viaduct again, with the "De Link" tower under construction in the background.

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.03.05 on Flickr
A pole which will support the roof.

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.03.45 on Flickr
One of the 4 support poles for the new back of the station, freshly delivered.

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.06.53 on Flickr
Some more work on platform 12

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.08.52 on Flickr
More work on platform 12

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.09.06 on Flickr
Overview of the new platform (also note the elevator under construction)

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.12.53 on Flickr
"De Link" tower (will be 90m) under construction

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.13.39 on Flickr
Laying the new tracks for platform 12.

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.15.16 on Flickr
A "decorated" train.

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.19.25 on Flickr
The new bus station

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.20.59 on Flickr
Construction on the arm of "De Link"

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.21.25 on Flickr
Construction on the arm of "De Link"

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.23.33 on Flickr
The same construction from a different point of view.

image hosted on flickr

2012-08-22 09.23.56 on Flickr
A new pedestrian bridge.

[Puinkabouter]

Most people here have very little notion of what this project is about, where it comes from or where it is headed. A few words of complementary explanation with your pictures could be useful

[WC_EEND]

That's a very good point actually (I basically just copy-pasted my post from the thread in the Gent subforum), I edited the descriptions in now though.

[Puinkabouter]

Some pictures taken on tuesday 28-08-2012:



1.

A view from the U/C office tower next to the station.

2.

A soaring piece of fine engineering.

3.

Little bonus: the other end of the station square.

4.

Overview of the old station complex, including the historical station building (°1912).

5.

A strip of concrete has been poured in this inclination. It's not definitive, as this is bound to become a garden (cf. renderings in the first post of this thread). It will be used to access the underground bicycle depot. The permanent access to that depot will probably be finished next year, as it is temporarily swallowed up by the construction yard of that tower.

6.

The elevator shaft is quicky being wrapped up in concrete. It's a very fast progress: this picture was taken yesterday evening, but this morning the whole thing was covered.

7.

New railway viaduct between the former tram and pedestrian tunnels.

8.

Now this still feels like the outside of the station, but pretty soon this area will lie behind a glass facade and be part of the interior of the complex.

9.

Old & new

10.

A future corridor.

11.

On to the steel framework: the first fragment of the big canopy that will be built over all the platforms in the next years. Notice that the lower tubes, that will carry the facade, are already taller than the average house in that area. The canopy will reach even higher. It's going to stand out, that's a sure thing.

12.

It takes some imagination to see it, but in time this patch of land will become a second station square at the rear side of the complex.

13.

14.

The perspective from some of the streets in the area will change heavily because of the new canopy. Instead of a discrete grayish-brown brick wall with a dilapidated green shelter on top, there will be a remarkable construction in steel and glass at the horizon.

15.

For the time being, the station looks even more underwhelming to the average traveler than it used to. It consists partially of containers...

16.

Platform 10.

17.

Compare the size of that thing to those guys at work

18.

[Jongeheer]

Pics taken during crane jump two months ago

Originally Posted by svendebiscop

[Puinkabouter]

A selection of pictures from an update, made yesterday 2012-10-31:



The Station:

The south facade is coming along nicely. All of the steel framework has been put into place. It's already hard to imagine this used to be little more than a brick wall with a small door!




I found this kind of quirky. Along the entire length of the facade there are green straps attached to a big steel beam, and at one point, there are weights hanging on them. I don't have the technical expertise to explain this.




Platform 12 will be the first new platform in use, by the end of this month. There is no platform 11 for the moment, and platform 9/10 allows us to make a comparison between the old and the new.




Old vs. new!




As Ghent is a city with lots of students and it is pretty flat, bicycles are a very popular mode of transport to and from the station. A lot of temporary measures have been taken to provide space to put these vehicles, like here, at the south side of the station.




A new underground bicycle parking will be built underneath the station. Most of it will only be available when the entire station is finished, around 2020... But one part has recently opened to the public. To get there, cyclists have to use this tunnel. It is not its definitive function: it was designed for cars, and leads to and underground Kiss & Ride / Taxi zone. Cyclists will have their own, separate slope underneath that office building in the background, but it's not accessible as long as construction on that building hasn't finished.




That's the underground K&R/Taxi area.




And this is the new bycicle parking. It will extend a lot deeper in the future, all the way to level -1 beneath platform 12, but for now it ends where the railway bundle begins (above ground).


This was a selection of pictures. More can bee seen on the Belgian section. Comments are mainly in Dutch, but it's open to everyone, in any language: CLICK!

The Office Building

As seen from the opposite side of the station square (Maria-Hendrikaplein).




Since a long time before the project, the inner area of the station square has been a nice park-like area with a circle of trees. This will not change.




All four tram lines in the city are currently interrupted because of either works at the station or elsewhere. Lines 1 and 4 are currently the only ones to be spotted around this station. Line 1 will resume its route beyond the station to the expo area, and doing so, it will pass underneath the low-rise arm of the office building. The line was cut short to allow the construction of the building to start.

In the future, all tram lines that pass by the station, will pass underneath the building.




This is the low-rise part of the building. It was erected in about 3 months. The dense forest of steel columns that supported it have recently been removed.




The overhead tram cables have been installed, anchored in the ceiling/floor of the building.




The rear side. These are stairs that lead to the underground bicycle parking I showed earlier in this update.




Let's take a more distant view to look at the tower section of the complex. The facade hasn't grown in 6 or 7 weeks, but I believe the core has reached its final height. There are two reasons for this: most of the builders were put to work on the low-rise, to reduce the time period in which tram line 1 had to be cut. And the other reason is that in september, some steel cables that stabilize the building have snapped. Not many details have been shared with the world, but apparently the issue should be resolved and the facade will start growing again sometime this month.




From the opposite side of the tracks.




This tunnel was built as a temporary (well, 10 years at least) deviation for trams. It will later be incorporated in the hall underneath the platforms.




For now, the tower is very visible from the platforms, but this will change when the canopy is finished. After that, it will only be sporadically be visible from the inside of the station.




Another entrance point to that underground bicycle/K&R/Taxi zone. This is a temporary ramp for cyclers. In the future, this will be a garden, only to be used by pedestrians.




Bonus: the office tower as seen from an elevated location deeper into the city center. The other tower in the background is the recently completed KBC-Artelde Tower (119m). Both at the railway station as around that taller tower, more tall buildings will appear in the next two decades.



This was a selection of pictures. More can bee seen on the Belgian section. Comments are mainly in Dutch, but it's open to everyone, in any language: CLICK!

[Puinkabouter]

News about the grounds next to the station:

Behind the office tower that's U/C in the pictures above, an app. 1 mile stretch of land will be developed, with a mixture of functions and building types, gradually changing from an urban to a more suburban typology.

Individual projects will be built at the pace of the real estate market, not necessarily all at once. They will be individually designed, but under supervision of the city's planning authorities.

Two more towers will be built directly behind the first one. It was recently decided that one will be 60m, the other will reach up to 90m. The drawing only illustrates these general dimensions, not the design specifics. It is rumored that one of these towers will have a public top floor.

Both towers will be residential, but with offices at the base. The roof area of their 'pedestal' will most likely be a garden for the inhabitants. They will be built here:

I expect an actual design to be published somewhere in 2013

Two more project will probably go U/C in 2013, are a workshop for the national railway company, and regional headquarters for a bank. The railway workshop, that will also include offices, will reach 55m, but will probably have a pretty bland design. No detailed renderings have been published.

The regional bank HQ will be around 40 meters, and is designed by Asymptote Architecture (cf. Yaz hotel in Abu Dhabi):

That's the boxy volume on the far right of the first picture. This is the location, as photographed in august:

Foundations for all these buildings were already built along with an underground parking garage.

[Puinkabouter]

More detailed renderings of the twin towers. They'll be 65m and 90m tall and residential, with offices in the shared base:

[Jongeheer]

Thanks!

[Puinkabouter]

A small update:

The Station


There are hardly any visually striking advances in the construction process of the station to be reported since the last update in this thread (oct. 31 2012, cf. supra), as most works since then have been preparatory to the excavation of tracks 9 and 10. One thing that did change is the introduction of the brand-new platform 12 into regular service:





It's only half a platform right now, as it will be shared with track 11. For that track, a new viaduct has to be constructed first, which will happen in the course of this year. Until then, this is only a glimpse of what the future will bring for Belgium's third-busiest railway station. This picture was taken in november. It has undergone some more finishing since then.

This is the gap between platform 12 and platform 7/8. Tracks 9, 10 and 11 are missing:





And underneath platform 12, there have been works on the underground level of the station - practically entirely meant to become a bicycle depot (for 10.000 bicycles).

The Office Tower


Just a couple of pictures from december and january

Lot B1 (ING HQ - Asymptote Architecture)


Building permit for ING regional HQ has been declined. This means that the following building will not be built - at least not in this form:



The reason being it's "too large-scale". The surface of 20.000 sq. metres exceeded the stipulated maximum of 17.000 for this lot. There was also a negative comment about the concrete sheds, which would claim too much public space.

A whole bunch of drawings and renderings can be found in the following document, along with plenty of explanation in English (it's drawn by Asymptote, an American architecture firm): CLICK!

[L e o n i d a s]

Sorry for the double post.

[L e o n i d a s]

The tower looks like it's an old bitch from the 60's ready for demolition. It's almost an achievement to be able to design a building that looks terribly dated already. A waste, because the plans around it seem quite decent. I'm still unsure whether the old facade of the station (which is beautiful btw) will keep it's charm.

Ghent deserves so much better than this imo.

[Puinkabouter]

Opinions are very varied on the Belgian section, ranging from similar to the above to rather satisfied - like me. Here's another update about the tower, which is topped out since about a week or two:



De Link / Virginie Lovelingtoren (Office - 90m)

As seen from the nearby Citadelpark.




From Maria-Hendrikaplein, the station square.




Along the Koningin Fabiolalaan. Not very visible due to all the construction stuff, but the 0 level is open, and already functions as a corridor for buses and trams.




From plot B1, where ING planned to build their new regional HQ with a design by Asymptote, which was declined by the city's planning bureau due to "too massive". The Queen towers (see below) will be built right in front of De Link when seen from this perspective.




From the other side of the railway station. As you can see in this picture, the colored-glass sound barrier along track 12 of the station is finished, and platform 10 has been demolished.




Cladding on the lowrise part of the complex is nearly finished. Most of the complex is cladded in bricks in different shades of grey, but the inner part has a different cladding in architectonic concrete.




The edges seem a little rugged at this time. An elevated esplanade is still underway here, as the entrance to this building will be situated at the +1 level.

And as this one tower has topped out, new renderings have been released about the 'twin towers' that are to rise up behind it after this one is completed. They will be 90m & 65m tall residential highrises with office space at the base. Their name has been changed into "Queen Towers", a reference to its proximity to the Koningin Fabiolalaan, named after Belgium's last queen.



Queen Towers (mixed-use, 90m & 65m)

An introduction in English!

[Puinkabouter]

The station on 19-03-2013:

A view of the esplanade west of the station. It's surrounded by, well, nothing really. But in it will be surrounded by new developments soon, as it will not remain limited to just that one office tower (cf. the post before this one).




The rear side of the station where most of the action is taking place.




The old rail embankment, where track 10 used to be, has been dug away between the temporary tram tunnel and the old road tunnel.




Most of it is still there, though. They're still putting a pile wall in place to keep the old platforms in place. They're still in (intensive) use!




Steel beams have been jammed into the ground and now they're shoving piles between them. Once that's finished, they will start digging out what's left of the embankment.




Meanwhile, there's also construction going on underneath the new-built (and in-use) platform 12. You can see that one of the current projects is an entryway to the -1 level, the future bicycle depot. It will run underneath all 12 tracks, and grow along with them, until it reaches the underground depot that already exists on the other side of the station (cf. supra).




As I mentioned, and even though it's only in a half-finished stage, platform 12 is already in use for trains running from Brussels to the sea.




More stuff going on behind the station. Don't really know what, exactly.




Fresh soil has arrived in what will soon become the sloping garden between the front of the station and the -1 taxi-/Kiss & Ride/Bicycle drop-off zone.




This part of the square, between all those tram rails, will also be incorporated into the already existing green core of Maria-Hendrika square.

[G-4-Ever]

Update tower (mobile photos) on 24-04-2013