Dresden Train Station


Related people
Eric Haddenham (was created by)
Foster and Partners (architect)
Date
minimal delay from 2002 flooding;1997;2006
Description
The Dresden Train Station (Dresden Hauptbahnhof) is the central station of Dresden. It was originally built in 1898 and designed by Ernst Giese and Paul Weidner. It is one of the largest in Germany and one of the most impressive late-nineteenth-century railway stations anywhere in Europe. Linking Dresden with Berlin and Prague, the railway played a significant role in the citys industrial and economic growth in the first half of the twentieth century. During World War II, Dresden's station was destroyed in Allied bombing raids. Wartime destruction was compounded in the post-war period by poor maintenance, so that the building finally reached a state where remedial conservation was required. Foster and Partners (Norman Foster) renovated and expanded the station as part of a wider masterplan to revive the surrounding area. The station redevelopment removes various additions and alterations made to the building over the last hundred years in order to restore the integrity of the original design. Circulation within and through the station has been rationalised and the design allows for the future expansion of the station by extending the barrel-vaulted roof over the outer platforms by 200 metres, providing a cover for the new high-speed trains, which are almost twice the length of the old platforms. The central tracks have also been pulled back in order to create a large open space at the heart of the building, which can be used as a market place, or for cultural events. The first element of this redevelopment was carried out beginning with the reconstruction of the 30,000-square-metre roof, a task made more urgent by the degraded and unsafe state of the old steelwork. Originally the roof was partially glazed, but after the war it was covered with timber, admitting no daylight. The entire structure has now been restored to its original condition and sheathed in a translucent skin of Teflon-coated glass fibre. This new roof transmits 13 per cent of daylight and significantly reduces the stations reliance on artificial lighting. At night, light reflects off the underside of the canopy, creating an even wash of illumination throughout the station, while from outside the whole structure radiates an ethereal silvery glow.
Style/Period
2000s (2000 - 2009)
Modern
Material
canvas
steel frame construction
Source
Foster + Partners, (2011, October 18). From http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/0916/Default.aspx