Due to its connection to Schiphol the South-axe is well connected with the world.
The ground floor of the station has astrong connection with the surrounding buildings, which all have there own ‘red carpet’.
The buildings at the Zuidas are icons, eyecatchers which are more or less self-sufficient; they do not need to interact with eachother. Station Zuid and the A10 are the reason they are here.
From a platform station threatened to be put underground to a highly visible infrastructure box, supplying all the needs of short and long distance travellers from the Zuidas to the rest of the world.
The power of infrastructure: Currently the South-axe is cut by the highway and the tracks of the train and the metro. This is seen as a big border which separates North and South. When you look closer to the nature of the Southaxe and its (financial) meaning for the country and the world a station and its infrastructure fulfill a very important role. Due to its location near Schiphol the station give quick access to the world and could even act as a ‘waiting-room’ for the airport. The current Central Station will stay the ‘cultural’ entrance and the new station south will be the ‘financial’ entrance of the city. The infrastructure can be seen as the veins of the economy and the station as its organs. As the infrastructure plays a crucial role for the economy one should not put it underground but rather keep it visible, to let people experience it when they use it. Black box Our proposal for the new station is to centre all the tracks into one box. The station as box does not want to make a connection between North and South. The South-axe is characterized by iconic buildings and companies. Hereby it is not necessary to connect North and South, but to make the station a final location or a start-point. Each company in the direct surrounding of the station will get a entrance on their own, a ‘red carpet’. The ground floor of the station will get a close relation with the public space between the buildings. The space inside the black box will function on its own as the ‘waiting-room’ for Schiphol, with program as hotels, clubs, offices and meeting. Here one can drive in, park his car, check in his luggage and can spend his time before he has to go to the airport to take his flight.
12.0
New Amsterdam Central
Assignment: Now the decision has been made to tunnel the A10 on the South-axe a new train station has to arise. During the master class we had to give an answer for the role the station should have and to propose a design. The master class took 4 and half day and was guided by Ton Schaap and Felix Claus.