Rotterdam Central Station
- Burkhard Franke
The new central station, consisting of two quite different sections, has a uniform design and is well integrated into the heterogeneous urban surroundings. The rectangular platform hall, a restrained low-rise structure, opens on to a small-scale housing district to the north, while the roof over the main entrance rises in a spectacular gesture to the larger-scale city centre. The level beneath the platforms, which is lined with shops, is daylighted via floor glazing on both sides of the lifts. Broad openings for escalators draw the eye up to the brightly lit station hall above, enclosed within a fully glazed outer skin. Along the northern edge, the sloping strips of the glazed roof merge with those of the angled facade.
