An estimated three million car trips will be eliminated from the Southeastern United States each year—one of North America's region busiest with visitors, thanks to sunny weather and theme parks. At least, that's the plan for All Aboard Florida, the country's only privately owned, operated, and financed railway project.
The 235-mile rail network will connect South Florida to Orlando by utilizing the existing Florida East Coast corridor infrastructure. Global leading architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) was invited on board as architect and planner for the Fort Lauderdale station.
The design, unveiled yesterday, is lightweight and luminous, which SOM Design Partner Roger Duffy says "responds to its setting and creates a striking infrastructural icon for the city."
“Fort Lauderdale is a dynamic city whose leadership understands the importance of creating new opportunities and solutions that keep up with the needs and demands of our increasingly mobile world,” says Michael Reininger, President and Chief Development Officer of All Aboard Florida. “As with our other planned stations in South Florida, All Aboard Florida will not only set a new standard in passenger rail, but will revitalize Fort Lauderdale’s downtown core fueling job and business growth, reducing road congestion, increasing tourism, delivering state and local tax revenues, and contributing long-term environmental benefits.”
The 27,500-sf station will be situated in northern downtown Fort lauderdale on 4.8 acres adjacent to existing Florida East Coast Railway tracks. The building will rise above surrounding buildings, serving as a powerful urban focal point.
A press release from SOM describes how a day in the station would be like:
The plan for the station itself is open and intuitive. Arriving passengers will enter a glazed ticketing lobby at grade level, with dedicated vehicular drop-off and pedestrian links to the city. Travelers will then ascend up an escalator to a bridge over NW 2nd Street, and enter a departures lounge, elevated 30 feet above the station platform.
Additional banks of escalators will take waiting passengers down from the floating lounge, onto the shaded platform, and into their trains. The use of glass throughout this sequence of spaces provides a constant visual connection to the city as well as approaching trains. Viewed from a distance, the station’s stacked, dynamic form evokes a feeling of movement.
Related Stories
| Aug 26, 2014
Ranked: Top industrial sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Stantec, Jacobs, and Turner top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest industrial sector design and construction firms, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 26, 2014
High-rise concept uses 'sky street' to link towers [slideshow]
The design for a new complex in Shenzhen’s bay area consists of highly reflective glass towers, expansive garden space, and a horizontal glass structure that connects the buildings.
| Aug 25, 2014
Restoration of quake-ravaged Atascadero City Hall affirms city’s strength [2014 Reconstruction Awards]
The landmark city hall was severely damaged by the San Simeon earthquake in 2003. Reconstruction renewed the building’s stability, restored its exterior, and improved the functionality of the interior.
| Aug 25, 2014
Ranked: Top cultural facility sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Arup, Gensler, and Turner head BD+C's rankings of design and construction firms with the most revenue from cultural facility projects, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 25, 2014
Tall wood buildings: Surveying the early innovators
Timber has been largely abandoned as a structural solution in taller buildings during the last century, in favor of concrete and steel. Perkins+Will's Rebecca Holt writes about the firm's work in surveying the burgeoning tall wood buildings sector.
| Aug 25, 2014
'Vanity space' makes up large percentage of world's tallest buildings [infographic]
Large portions of some skyscrapers are useless space used to artificially enhance their height, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
| Aug 25, 2014
Photographer creates time-lapse video of 1 WTC using 30,000 photos
Choosing from 30,000 photos he took from the day construction began in 2006 to the day when construction was finished in 2012, Brooklyn-based photographer Benjamin Rosamund compressed 1,100 photos to create the two-minute video.
| Aug 25, 2014
Glazing plays key role in reinventing stairway design
Within the architectural community, a movement called "active design" seeks to convert barren and unappealing stairwells originally conceived as emergency contingencies into well-designed architectural focal points. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Aug 25, 2014
An easy trick for minimizing construction delays
About one out of every three construction projects is behind schedule or over budget, according to the Construction Industry Institute's Assessment of Owner Project Management Practices and Performance survey. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Aug 22, 2014
Before & After: Hospital upgrade shows shifting needs in healthcare construction
Community Hospice of Northeast Florida took an outdated 10-bed inpatient hospice unit and created a space that would meet the needs of patients receiving end of life care by creating a place that felt like home.
