Haramain High-speed Railway Stations, Saudi Arabia Building, KSA Rail Project Design

Haramain High-speed Railway Saudi Arabia

Haramain High-speed Railway Development design by Foster + Partners / Buro Happold

17 Nov 2011

Al Haramain High Speed Rail – Construction Start

Location: Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and KAEC, Saudi Arabia

Architect: Foster + Partners

image © Foster + Partners Buro Happold Joint Venture

Construction due to start on first Haramain High-speed Rail stations in Saudi Arabia

Designs by the joint venture (JV) team Foster + Partners and Buro Happold, in collaboration with local architect Dar Al Riyadh, have been revealed for four major new stations along the state-of-the-art Haramain High-speed Railway (HHR), providing a vital new service for the millions of pilgrims travelling between the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah during the Haj. The HHR is a major new infrastructure project for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, connecting the cities of Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and the developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).

images © Foster + Partners Buro Happold Joint Venture

The stations are conceived not only as gateways to their respective cities but also as civic social centres, filled with places to meet, shop, eat and shelter from the sun beneath their rhythmic arched roof canopies. Each station uses the proposed modular design in different ways, with variations in colour, to signify the four cities served while remaining emblematic of the HHR system.

Altogether, the large, flexible stations will cover an area more than 30 times the size of London’s Trafalgar Square and will accommodate an anticipated 60 million passengers by 2012 – approximately six times the number of passengers that take the Eurostar from St Pancras each year. This is expected to increase to 135 million passengers by 2042.

The two termini and two through stations are designed to provide a comfortable, uplifting experience for passengers. Climate-controlled concourse spaces provide respite from the desert climate. The design concept draws on Islamic architecture and takes the traditional gateway arch form as the basis for its roof design.

The design, common to all stations, features a sequence of 25-metre-high arches rising from the concourse, complemented by smaller 9-metre-high arches at platform level. Supported by freestanding structural trees, repeated on a 27-metre square grid, the arches connect to form a flexible vaulted roof that can be configured to deal with passenger flows from all directions and which can be extended in the future if required.

images © Foster + Partners Buro Happold Joint Venture

Mouzhan Majidi, Chief Executive of Foster + Partners, said: “The HHR project is remarkable, especially when you consider the fast-track programme – we are aiming to complete four major new stations in almost four years. The Foster + Partners and Buro Happold joint venture was appointed at the end of March 2009, by the beginning of April we had mobilised a team and set up a joint office, the scheme went to tender in spring 2010 and will be on site imminently. This has been helped by our excellent relationship with the client, who has shared our vision to create an exceptional series of buildings.”

Jerry Young, Buro Happold’s Project Principle for the Haramain project, said: “While this has been one of the most exciting and challenging projects for the practice, the collaborative working methods adopted by the joint venture team from the outset have been instrumental in the JV meeting the quality, cost and time targets set by the client and should be a model for the future design of similar projects.”

Haramain High-speed Railway Stations images / information from Foster + Partners

Previously:

Haramain High-speed Railway Stations

Category: Future Projects – Infrastructure

Location: Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and KAEC, Saudi Arabia

Architect: Foster + Partners

WAF Entry: 2010

Award: World Architecture Festival 2010 – Shortlisted

images : Foster & Partners

Haramain High-speed Railway Stations Saudi Arabia

The Haramain High-speed Railway is a major infrastructure project for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, connecting the cities of Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and the developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC). The stations, which have been designed by a Foster + Partners and Buro Happold joint venture, with local architect, Dar Al Riyadh, are conceived as gateways to each city, filled with places to meet, shop, eat and shelter from the sun.

The modular approach to the stations’ design is complemented by variations in colour, which signify the four cities while remaining emblematic of the HHR system. The terminal stations of Medina and Makkah are characterised by a rich colour palette: Makkah Station references the gold leaf of the decorated Kab’ah and the city’s significance as a holy site, while Madinah Station’s vivid green colour draws inspiration from the Mosque of the Prophet.

Jeddah Station features a shade of purple which has a particular resonance with the city and KAEC’s station is a futuristic blue and silver, representative of its role as a modern new city. Drawing on Islamic architecture, the design concept takes the traditional gateway arch form as the basis for its roof design. The design, common to all stations, features a sequence of 25-metre-high arches rising from the concourse, complemented by smaller 9-metre-high arches at platform level. Supported by freestanding structural trees, repeated on a 27-metre square grid, the arches connect to form a flexible vaulted roof.

By following the direction of the trains, the arrangement of spaces helps passengers navigate the stations intuitively, with few level changes and the interior spaces provide respite from the heat of the desert. Following the ‘kit-of-parts’ approach, each station has a combination of different facades according to their orientation – solid facades are used where visibility is not essential, in order to reduce solar gain.

The glazed entrances to the concourse and the platforms are concealed behind a combination of external mashrabiya and the deep overhanging roof canopies, which provide additional shade. Each station is oriented according to the path of the sun, turning from Madinah Station, which faces east, to north-facing Makkah Station.

Their changing position is articulated through openings in the roof, through which light tubes draw daylight down to the concourse level and animate the space. At night, spotlights between the perforations give the impression of stars in a night sky. Spherical chandeliers, suspended between the arches, provide focused lighting, mediating between the scale of the roof and concourse level and accentuating the rhythm of the structure.

Haramain High-speed Railway Stations Saudi Arabia images / information from FD

Previously:

22 Apr 2009

Haramain Railway Stations

Foster + Partners and Buro Happold joint venture to design four stations for Saudi Arabia’s new Haramain High-speed Railway

Foster + Partners and Buro Happold joint venture has been appointed to design four stations along a new high speed railway line in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which will link the cities of Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah. The Haramain High-speed Railway (HHR) is a major infrastructure project, conceived to forge new social and economic links by dramatically cutting journey times between the cities in western Saudi Arabia and by providing a new transport option for many of the pilgrims making the journey to the religious cities of Makkah and Madinah.

Passing via Jeddah and the King Abdullah Economic City, the new HHR service will be operated by state-of-the-art, high-speed trains, capable of reaching speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour. By providing an attractive alternative to the use of private vehicles, the scheme will considerably lessen the future impact of these journeys on the environment.

The HHR’s fast-track construction programme has led to a modularised approach to the station design with a high degree of prefabrication. While all stations will share a common planning strategy, each will have a distinct identity and building envelope to respond to the respective cities they serve. All will provide extensive facilities and a high quality passenger experience, with generous circulation spaces and segregated arrival and departure zones. The public areas – including platforms – will be environmentally controlled to enhance comfort and will have filtered natural daylight throughout.

Mouzhan Majidi, Chief Executive of Foster + Partners, said:
“The Haramain High-speed Rail project represents a major investment in sustainable public transport by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with potentially far-reaching social and economic consequences. The project will foster new social and cultural connections across the Kingdom’s western cities, and the design of the four new stations will support and symbolise this progressive approach.”

Martin Walsh, Project Director at Buro Happold, said:
“The HHR is a genuinely exciting and challenging project and one of the most important transportation initiatives in the Kingdom. The innovative scalable modular approach to the design of the stations will enable the speedy delivery of high-quality station buildings – fast-track in every sense.”

Haramain High-speed Railway Stations images / information from Foster + Partners

Haramain High-speed Railway Station design : Foster + Partners

Location: Makkah, Madinah, Saudi Arabia