The team consisting of Foster and Partners and Arup has won the international competition to design a railway station in the heart of Florence to serve the new high-speed network.
The jury, presided over by the Italian architect Gae Aulenti, selected ten architects to submit detailed proposals for the second stage of the competition before selecting the winners. Second and third places have been awarded to Arata Isozaki and Santiago Calatrava.
The new 45,000 square metre subterranean station will connect with the existing Santa Maria Novella station via a new tramline and will cost approximately 240 million euros. The platform level will be 25 metres below ground and the station chamber will consist of a single volume 454 metres long and 52 metres wide, using cut-and-cover construction techniques similar to that at Canary Wharf station.
Because of the volume of station traffic, the guiding design principles are clarity of passenger movement, durability and ease of maintenance. The design will employ a simple palette of hard-wearing materials: fair-faced concrete, stainless steel and glass. Passengers will move from platform to ground level by lifts, escalators and inclined travelators.
