Railway Station Architecture

An exciting new generation of railway architecture has emerged in Europe and elsewhere over the past decade. This book explains the reasons for the renaissance of the station as a building type and the current changes it is undergoing. The functional, social and technical factors which shape railway architecture are examined. As stations are essential elements of sustainable development, the environmental benefits of railways are also discussed. Essential guidance is provided for those who design, commission or manage railway stations. By drawing on technical design manuals and examples of recent stations (many designed by leading architects) the book gives help and instruction to all those with an interest in the future of railway architecture.

Over 90 illustrations. Railroads transformed not just common means of transportation but cities, countries, and continents. Trains and their engines became emblems of a new era, as were the buildings which served as their departure points and destinations. This type of building presented an entirely new challenge for architects and engineers, for nothing like a railway station had ever been built, or needed, before. Not simply imposing examples of civic architecture, these structures also represent massive feats of engineering designed to enclose enormous spaces and accomodate thousands of travelers. This authoritative volume traces and celebrates the history and technical development of these hubs of t

This work discusses the planning, design and management of railway stations. It examines a range of stations. Commercial aspects and matters of image and branding are explored alongside technical and operational issues.

"Inter-city rail travel is one of the dominant facts of modern life. From the early nineteenth century, when the first train stations - "cathedrals of technology," buildings without precedent in the history of architecture - were constructed, these focal points of transportation have enjoyed a unique status in public life. They have come a long way from the simple wooden shed erected in Liverpool, England, in 1830." "In the wake of the rail renaissance of the 1980s and 1990s, new train stations, from the U.S. to Japan, must respond to increasingly complex challenges, as high-speed trains become more and more common and the next generation of magnetically levitated trains approaches. The state-of-the-art examples featured in Modern Trains and Splendid Stations are analyzed from several perspectives: as generators of urban renewal; as new architectural icons; and as connecting points from different means of transportation. Such internationally renowned architects as Helmut Jahn (in the United States), Nicholas Grimshaw (in England), and Arata Isozaki (in Japan) have all been involved in station design."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The railway station is one of England s most distinctive, characterful and best-loved building-types. Yet over the past century the nation s stations have often been overlooked or dismissed, and have suffered accordingly."

Profusely illustrated book chronicles evolution of station architecture in Europe and America, 1830s to 1950s. 231 views -- photographs, illustrations, floor plans and cutaways.