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
| Nov 11, 2011
AIA: Engineered Brick + Masonry for Commercial Buildings
Earn 1.0 AIA/CES learning units by studying this article and successfully completing the online exam.
| Nov 11, 2011
How Your Firm Can Win Federal + Military Projects
The civilian and military branches of the federal government are looking for innovative, smart-thinking AEC firms to design and construct their capital projects. Our sources give you the inside story.
| Nov 10, 2011
BD+C's 28th Annual Reconstruction Awards
A total of 13 projects recognized as part of BD+C's 28th Annual Reconstruction Awards.
| Nov 10, 2011
Grousbeck Center for Students & Technology opens doors
New Perkins School for the Blind Building is dedicated to innovation, interaction, and independence for students.
| Nov 10, 2011
Skanska Moss to expand and renovate Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport
The multi-phase terminal improvement program consists of an overall expansion to the airport’s footprint and major renovations to the existing airport terminal.
| Nov 10, 2011
Suffolk Construction awarded MBTA transit facility and streetscape project
The 21,000-sf project will feature construction of a cable-stayed pedestrian bridge over Ocean Avenue, an elevated plaza deck above Wonderland MBTA Station, a central plaza, and an at-grade pedestrian crossing over Revere Beach Boulevard
| Nov 10, 2011
Thornton Tomasetti’s Joseph and Choi to co-chair the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s Outrigger Design Working Group
Design guide will describe in detail the application of outriggers within the lateral load resisting systems of tall buildings, effects on building behavior and recommendations for design.
| Nov 9, 2011
Lincoln Center Pavilion wins national architecture and engineering award
The project team members include owner Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York; design architect and interior designer of the restaurant, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York; executive architect, FXFOWLE, New York; and architect and interior designer of the film center, Rockwell Group, New York; structural engineer Arup (AISC Member), New York; and general contractor Turner Construction Company (AISC Member), New York.