Hardbrücke Railway Station Upgrading

Zurich, Switzerland

Photo © Roger Frei

Siteplan

Model

Stations

Architects: EM2N

Location: Bahnhof Hardbrücke, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland
Year: 2007
Client: Buildings Department - City of Zurich
Type of Commission: Competition
Competition: 2004, 1st prize
Start of construction: 11.2005 | 1st
Phase completion: 12.2007 | 2nd phase
Space Program: 3 illuminated panels, 1 gastronomy, refreshment | paintwork
Entrance space | square: 2‘600 m2
Basement: 850 m2
Perron: 200 m2
Bridge: 200 m2
Total floor area: 5‘650 m2

Around 3.35 million Swiss francs was available for upgrading Hardbrücke Railway Station. By means of selective interventions we attempted to give the station a new identity, to make it easier to find your way around and to increase the attractiveness of the front area. On two levels the railway is anchored in the urban fabric by means of large illuminated panels. At the level of the very busy elevated Hardbrücke transit road the panels create a visual relationship between the two bus stops opposite each other. Beneath the bridge the oversized panel directs pedestrians to the entrance to the railway station. The spaces inside the station were ‘tidied up’. They were given a clear visual appearance that orders the spaces and makes orientation easier.

The colours and signs are derived from the corporate design of the Swiss Federal Railways (FIS basic elements / colour trilogy red, blue, white). The area in front of the entrance ramp beneath the Hardbrücke was reformulated as a generously dimensioned railway station concourse. By reorganizing the parking lots and the access road we widened the pedestrian area, and upgraded it programmatically by adding a sandwich bar.