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Architects: Just/Burgeff Architekten
- Year: 2016
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Photographs:Kirsten Bucher
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Manufacturers: Brinkmann Stahlbau Metallbau, Freiraum X, RINN, ST Vitrinen Trautmann, Trilux, Verkehrsgesellschaft
Text description provided by the architects. The heavily used local train service between Frankfurt city center and the district of Preungesheim is being upgraded to provide barrier-free access. Just/Burgeff Architect’s design for the “Glauburgstrasse” stop on the U5 line emerged from a design-and-build competition organized by VGF, Frankfurt’s public transport company. Informed by the particular urban situation of this stop, an idea developed that goes beyond simply providing a platform and shelter for the waiting passengers.
Separated functionally from the actual roadway, the offset platforms – for inbound and outbound trains – open up to the immediate environment: Steps and ramps unfold from the narrow confines to create an urban landscape, giving dynamism and harmony to the movement of passengers, pedestrians and local residents. Supporting this, the platforms with their subtle layering continue the surfacing of the pavement; green spaces and a tactile wayshowing system further enhance the user experience. The unbroken, owing transitions at this stop culminate in the slender canopies sheltering the waiting passengers.
Interacting with the triangular folding of the outer envelope of coated steel sheet, the steel frame works like two funnels raised up on stilts. The folded roof surfaces direct the rainwater down inside the columns, a panel of safety glass behind the seats provides additional protection from the elements.
This dematerialization dispenses with the conventional vision of a shelter with a front and a back, it fulfills its function instead with a sculpture-like presence that has both identity and high visibility. Accessible from all sides, this distinctive new urban furniture becomes part of a newly modulated public space – the stop, the pavements and the immediate environment become a single entity.
