Em2N Architekten Berlin GmbH

Extension Railway Service Facility

Extension Railway Service Facility
© Roger Frei

Extension Railway Service Facility

EM2N

PHOTOGRAPHS
Roger Frei

AREA
13000 M²

YEAR
2013

LOCATION
Herdern, Switzerland

CATEGORY
Train Station

Text description provided by architect.

The new maintenance facility being built at Zurich-Herdern will allow SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) to handle future trains of up to 400 metres in length with ease.

Extension Railway Service Facility
© Roger Frei
Extension Railway Service Facility
© Roger Frei

SBB will be able to clean and repair entire intercity train compositions without disassembling them, since the entire train can enter the facility.

We decided to concentrate on the southern façade and concentrate design effort and money there.

Extension Railway Service Facility
© Roger Frei
Extension Railway Service Facility
© Roger Frei

The repetitiveness of the inner structure led us to work with modular elements.

Due to the sheer size of the building and the danger of it looking like a featureless stretched box, we arrived at the idea of a three dimensional modulation of the façade.

Extension Railway Service Facility
© Roger Frei
Extension Railway Service Facility
© Roger Frei

The curvature of the fiber cement elements frees the endless façade from its flat monotony and renders a play of light and shadow.

The modulation extends across several elements to form a pattern that fits the enormous size of the building.

The curvature and cantilever of the rounded elements is limited at ground level due to restrictions given by the fire truck lane.

Extension Railway Service Facility
© Roger Frei
Extension Railway Service Facility
© Roger Frei

At 4 m above ground, both curvature and cantilever increases to produce an increased threedimensional cushion effect.

Both ends of the service hall with their huge entrance doors are treated as cuts, where the spatial façade is cut flat.

The less northern façade is clad with regular undulating fiber concrete cladding elements.

Extension Railway Service Facility
© Roger Frei


Extension Railway Service Facility
Section
Extension Railway Service Facility
Section


Extension Railway Service Facility
Elevation


Extension Railway Service Facility
Floor Plan

Em2N Architekten Berlin GmbH
T +49 30 585834630 F +49 30 585834632
Em2N Architekten Berlin GmbH
Brunnenstraße 9, 10119 Berlin, Germany