Subway Station for Hamburg Line U5-OST

4th Prize

Client: Hamburger Hochbahn AG

Place: Hamburg, Germany
Restricted Competition: 2017

Type: Transport (metro station U5)

Area: 4108m2

Budget: 17.3 milion euro

AZPML

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Maider Llaguno-Munitxa, Ivaylo Nachev, Amaya Luzarraga, Carlos Orihuela

Studio WITT

Jan Pietje Witt, Christoph Palmen

The central concept behind our proposal for the T5 Line Haltestelle Steilshoop consists in a design which will intensify the perception of the train movement, magnifying the dynamic effects of the movement on the surfaces of the platform enclosure. Our solution is based on the design of the tunnel ceiling like a kinetic surface composed by small aluminium flags which will produce changing organic patterns in the surface when being blown by the air movement produced by the trains in the tunnel.

The aluminium flags will be acting as reflectors, sending the light from the lighting systems into multiple changing directions, and producing a flickering effect that will intensify when a train is arriving or departing. The reflected light will be then reflected on the striated surfaces of the walls, which are proposed as a reflective surface, so that the train movements will constantly produce a flickering effect in the walls too.

This effect will not be simply restricted to the reflection of light, but also to color effects: the aluminium tiles in the ceiling will be laminated with a dichroic film, which will not only produce changing reflections of the light, but also constant color changes as the dichroic film will change color constantly, depending on the angle at which the surfaces are seen. The dichroic film will be applied also to the vertical surfaces of the walls, which are proposed to be built with undulated glass with dichroic film laminated in the back. The dichroic film will be also laminated on the surfaces of the platform screen doors, so the flickering effect of the air-powered ceiling will be reflecting on all surfaces simultaneously, creating a constantly changing rainbow effect.

We would like to refer to the work of artists like Ned Kahn with his wind-powered kinetic surfaces, and the work of Hiro Yamagata with his use of dichroic films as examples of the type of changing rainbow effects which we are seeking in the project.