Architecture

Station Design Guide | Architectural Design Considerations

by

Design of Rail Stations | Architecture and Design

In our previous article, “HSR Station design Guide“, we listed out some of the core station areas and discussed the design considerations to be taken while designing “Station Crossings” and “Platform design”.

Important Station areas to be designed:

Now we will move on with our discussion on the design considerations to be taken for the following station areas (elements):

  • Platforms doors and screens
  • Entrances and Exits
  • Direction of the opening of doors

Design of Platforms doors and screens

Modern metro systems have incorporated glazed screens along the edges of the platform.

This system of designing screen doors was incorporated in cold countries in order to maintain the temperature of the station.

These kind of screen door systems have been used in Europe and America. The underground station in London is pretty popular. The extension of the underground station has been worked on with a point to introduce the platform screen doors. See the picture of the Canary Wharf station in London.

Design of Station entrances and Exits

The width of the entrances and exits should be large enough to allow efficient circulation of a large number of passengers in and out. They must be designed keeping the emergency conditions in mind.

Every country has its own safety codes for the design of entrances and exits.

Apart from concentrating on the width of the entrances, it is necessary to remember that we are architectural designers and making the entrances aesthetically appealing is also our aim.

The number of entrances have to be carefully designed so as to cater for the different sides of the railway route and at the same time, the design should be economical. It should not exceed the calculated budget.

Read more

HSR Stations design guide | Architectural Design

by

Design of High Speed Rail Stations

India has a huge railway network. The length and spread of railway networks is amazingly vast. India ranks first in the length of railway network in Asia and second largest in the world.

Development of High Speed rail Networks is catching up a lot of speed in Europe. USA government is taking initiatives in order to develop HSR stations and enhance their public transport system.

HSR Station design by Santiago Calatrava
HSR Station design by Santiago Calatrava

United States of America is now realizing the importance of the nature of railroads and the power and speed of trains. It was seen that the number of road accidents had considerably increased. It was found that the increase in the number of road accidents was directly proportional to the decreased use of railways.

Indian Railway Ministry has ambitious plans for the development of railways for the year 2020.

Being able to design Railway Station keeping in mind today’s needs is very important. This article is dedicated to the basics of design of High Speed Rail Station. This will give the readers an insight on the design of HSR/Metro Stations.

Let us first understand the importance and function of a Station.

Stations are places where passengers check in and check out of the train. Station is the first point of contact between the passengers and the railway. It is to be understood that stations should be well designed, comfortable, aesthetically appealing, functionally efficient (efficient layout and planning of station will ensure efficient circulation).

My entire purpose for writing an article on the Design of HSR Stations is to help you understand all the design considerations that are to be importantly incorporated.

We would be discussing the design considerations for the important station areas so that designing could get handy.

Important Station Areas:

Energy Efficiency | Sustainability

by

Sustainability and Design | Energy Efficient design techniques

In one of our earlier articles, we made a questionnaire on “Energy efficient Techniques”. In this article, we will discuss the answers to each of those questions.

Energy Efficiency Questionnaire

Achieving Energy Efficiency through Urban Planning

Hong Kong | Urban Planning Setup
Hong Kong | Urban Planning Setup

What is Energy Efficiency? Define Energy Efficient Architecture.

Energy Efficiency implies on using less energy to required for various products and services without compromising on the need of the usage.

“Energy efficiency” and “energy conservation” are not similar.

Let us study with the help of examples:

Examples of Energy Efficiency

When the walls and roofs are insulated, the use of air conditioners and heating systems is reduced while still keeping the indoor environment comfortable.

When a refrigerator or washing machine is replaced by the same appliance that require lesser amount of energy to carry out the same function is called “energy efficiency”.

Examples of Energy Conservation

When a tube light is switched off during day time, it can be termed as energy conservation.

 For what purpose is the significant amount of energy used in homes?

Energy is mainly used for cooling and heating purposes. Air conditioners and heating systems require extensive amount of energy for its functioning.

Hence, designers must design the house in such a way that the use of air conditioners and heating systems can be minimized without compromising on the comfort.

What is to be done in order to avoid the extensive use of air conditioners for cooling?

The orientation of the house/any building should be taken into consideration. Climatological aspects of the place have to be studied before designing the structure.

Read more

Development of Architecture | Bases of Evolution

by

Development of Architecture

On the Concept of Life:::
Love and Hope always exist in life and are an indispensible part of life. Death is the ultimate stage of life.

The study has showed that the development of architecture took place on the basis of Life, Love, Hope and death. This might sound a little philosophical but that is how architecture has been born and developed.

Life

Sounds interesting…! Let us open up our imagination and give it a thought. How did architecture actually develop? What was the primary reason for its development?

All of us have read History books in school where we learnt about the stone age man and his gradual evolution to becoming an intelligent creature.

In earlier times, man lived in jungles with the wild beasts. He knew that he had to protect himself from the harsh changing weather and the wild animals around him since he wanted to survive and live safely.

Initially man started looking for ready made dwellings (nature made).

Ggantija Temples | Neolithic Age
Ggantija Temples | Neolithic Age --- Some of the world's oldest free standing structures

For example: Rock cut caves, dolmen etc.

Early man did not have a permanent shelter. He kept wandering from place to place for food. Wherever, the rock cut caves were not an option, he started using reeds for building huts and saplings for making tents sheathed on bark.

Gradually, the ancient cave man started advancing by trying different building materials for the construction of homes.

And today, all of us are aware of the amazing constructions happening around the world. Various mansions, palaces, skyscrapers, various types of buildings. The advancement in technology has changed the scenario of architecture.

Read more