Presenting Project Gent-Sint-Pieters, a multifaceted railway station renewal and urban development project featuring a tower built for the Flemish government that will be 90m (276 ft) high. The projects architects are Jaques Voncke (station), Alain Marguerit (landscape) and Popocini&Lootens (tower). With 45.000 embarking passengers on an average day, Ghent Sint-Pieters is – depending upon the measure used – the second or third busiest railway station in Belgium. It lies on a major connection point for multiple intercity train lines. The infrastructure hasn't really caught up with the recent growth of rail traffic. Outdated cargo platforms occupy much needed space. The light rail service is heavily congested and tracks run between the entrance and the main square, hindering pedestrians. An important traffic connection ran through the station neighborhood. A big area was left underused and the buildings looked old and grimy. These buildings have now been demolished. The biggest underground carpark in the Benelux (2 800 vehicles, 10 000 bicycles) was built, featuring the foundations for a strip of redevelopment along the tracks. The light rail station will be enlarged to feature twice the amount of traffic and will be relocated beneath the platforms, diagonal to the rail tracks. The bus station, which was divided by the rail tracks, will also be integrated to this transit loop. The tower, housing Flemish government agencies, will feature a low-rise arm to engulf and embrace mobility in the top of this area.
Location
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province. With 240,191 inhabitants in the beginning of 2009, Ghent is Belgium's second largest municipality by number of inhabitants. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 1,205 km2 (465 sq mi) and has a total population of 594,582, which ranks the fourth most populous in Belgium.
History
The origins of the railway station is a small station on the line Ghent-Ostend in 1881. At that time the main railway station of Ghent was the South railway station built in 1837. At the occasion of the 1913 world exhibition in Ghent, a new Sint-Pieters railway station was built. It was designed by architect Louis Cloquet and finished in 1912 just before the World Exhibition.
The station is built in an eclectic style with a long corridor dividing the building in its length which provides access to diverse facilities. A tunnel (designed by ir. P. Grondy) starting from the income hall provides access to the 12 platforms. This gives the station its cross-form design. The original waiting rooms for second and third class are now serving as a buffet and restaurant. The station was classified in 1995, this means the original building from 1913 is protected. Since 1996 the station is being renovated, with in 1998 the renovation of the interior of the western wing. The car traffic corridor was closed. An alternative connection to the city's ring way, that also opened up acces to the college. In 2007, the tower at the entrance of the station has been renovated. In 2008 a new glass canopy was placed at the main entrance. In 2010, the murals of the main entrance hall have been renovated.
Images
The narrow existing corridor will be engulfed by a contiguous space beneath the tracks. Elevators and escalators in both directions (only one elevator direction per platform and one (!) elevator for the whole station currently). The commercial surface area of the station will also be enlarged considerably.
The backside of the station will get a decent acces to the station and a new square. Attached to the glass exterior facade will be colored panels, representing a platform. When a train has arrived, the corresponding panel will light up. This theme will return in other locations throughout the project area.
The station building itself is a reserved monument and has been renovated for a large portion.
Concept images of the open corridor beneath the tracks.
By removing the redundant cargo platforms between the passenger platforms, every platform can grow a couple of meters.
Glass wil be installed along a strip of the platform floor, allowing light to pass through all the way to minus 1, the bicycle storage level.
By relocation the railroad, light rail and bus station in the environment, all transfers between these methods of transport will occur around a single location, named 'The Magic Triangle'.
In the future, all light rail lines servicing the main station will stop underneath it in stead of dispersed in an area over 20,000 square meters or 5 acres.
Right next to the station building, there will be a bus station accommodating 24 articulated busses beneath a steel canopy.
Video
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Frequently updated photostreams
- the Belgian thread about De Link: 1 2
- the Belgian thread about Project Gent-Sint-Pieters
- JumpV: De Link | Project Gent-Sint-Pieters
- Lander_V: De Link
History in
Construction of the massive car park, look at left side of the screen for reference
Current situation
Dancing construction worker. :cheers: