Led by Ma Yansong, MAD Architects’ “Forest Train Station” — Jiaxing Train Station, held its opening ceremony on June 25, 2021. The renovation and expansion project is one of the key projects of Jiaxing in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. It started construction on June 23, 2020. The station’s design consists of a ground floor and multiple underground floors, making it the first fully sunken train station in China. The project is located in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, in the heart of the city’s main urban area and the core of the Nanhu District, the old city center. On August 3, 1921, the delegates of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China arrived at Jiaxing Train Station along the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway, and then boarded a cruise ship to Nanhu, completing the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China and declaring the birth of the Communist Party of China.
The old Jiaxing Train Station, built in 1995, is no more than 4,000 square meters. The old station building had insufficient capacity, aging passenger facilities, and faced the typical dilemma of transportation infrastructure in cities. The traffic hub, which provides services only for transportation function, creates a disconnect between the area and people’s daily lives. It causes urban problems such as poor traffic conditions. In 2019, Jiaxing city began upgrading the train station and surrounding areas, hoping to achieve the vision of urban renewal, which aims to improve the travel environment for citizens, enhance the quality of life for urban residents, and improve the city’s appearance.
In response to the project vision and needs, Ma Yansong said: In Jiaxing, a city with special significance, we should rethink and redefine the spatial pattern. Can we break away from those commonly pursued grand monumental buildings, and let them become urban public spaces with traffic functions, natural ecology, and cultural life. Citizens are willing to go, stay, meet, and enjoy the beauty brought by life. MAD’s design envisions the renovated Jiaxing Train Station area as a “Forest Train Station” with multiple dimensions, a new type of urban public space that is daily, open, green, and humanistic. People’s Park is upgraded and renovated, extending the green nature of the park to the wider forecourt, returning nature to citizens and travelers. Following historical information, the old station building is rebuilt. A new station building is designed and built, introducing natural light, bright and efficient, comfortable and comfortable in scale, breaking through the inherent form of domestic transportation hubs. The main traffic and train station supporting commercial functions are placed underground. The south square introduces cultural business formats, integrating the station and the city, improving the efficiency of the district’s operation, and enriching the forms and levels of people’s daily lives.
The original chaotic traffic hub in front of the station is moved underground: buses, trams, subways, social vehicles, operating vehicles, etc. are scattered in various places in the north and south underground areas, connecting with the sunken city roads to ensure convenient travel for citizens and tourists, and also meet the passenger transport needs generated by the influx of new commercial functions. The station and city are integrated. Facing the future, the south square in front of the station, which is still under construction, resembles rolling green hills, containing seven buildings with humanistic commercial, hotel functions, and a central lawn covering about one hectare adjacent to the new station building. The seven buildings, scattered on the green hills, are like emerald rings floating above the earth, with a futuristic feel. The central lawn will be a great place for outdoor activities such as concerts, art festivals, and community markets. It will be the most important humanistic and commercial public space in the Jiaxing Train Station area.
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