TRANSPORTATIONHUBS

Villena, Grace Angelica C.ARC – 2101

DEFINITIONTransportation hub can be defined as a location which handles several transport modes.

Transport modes can be of various types like tramway, bus, automobile, ship, pedestrian, railway, metro or rapid transit, coach, truck, airplane and ferry. This can also be defined as a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include train stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stop, airports and ferry slips. Freight hubs include classification yards, seaports and truck terminals, or combinations of these. For private transport the parking lot functions as a hub. One can expect numerous advantages from transportation hubs. The transportation hubs offer high frequency of services in respect to other locations. The next advantage is the impressive development of an efficient distribution system simply because the transportation hubs can handle more traffic. Most of the transportation hubs make use of the shared transshipment facilities and so, the people can avail higher quality infrastructures at lower costs. Transportation hubs can be discussed in international, national and regional levels.

DIFFERENT TRANSPORTATION HUBSI. Public Transport HubsTrain Stations

A train station also called a railway station or railroad station is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or goods. It generally consists of a platform next to the tracks and a station building (depot) providing related services such as ticket sales and waiting rooms. If a station is on a single track main line, it usually has a passing loop to facilitate the traffic. Smallest stations are referred as stops or halts (flag stops).

The world's busiest passenger station, in terms of daily passenger throughput, is Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Japan. The station was used by an average of 3.64 million people per day in 2007. Ikebukuro Station in Tokyo is the world's second-busiest. The station was used by an average of 2.71 million people per day in 2007. As of 2006, the world's largest station was Beijing West station in Beijing, China. But today, many new stations are larger than Beijing West, Beijing South,

Beijing West Station in Beijing, China

Guangzhou South, Nanjing South, Shanghai Hongqiao, and Xi'an North all claim itself being Asia's largest. Rapid Transit Stations

Rapid transit station is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on elevated rails above street level. Outside urban centers, rapid transit lines may run on grade separated ground level tracks.

The biggest metro system in the world by length of routes and number of stations is the New York Subway, however by length of lines the largest are the London Underground and Shanghai Metro. The busiest metro systems in the world by daily and annual ridership are the Tokyo Metro and Moscow Metro.

Bus StationsA bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off

passengers. It is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can stop. It may be intended as a terminal station for a number of routes, or as a transfer station where the routes continue. The largest bus station in the world is Millennium Park Bus Depot in Delhi India. The largest underground bus station in Europe

New York Subway Philippine Light Rail Transit

Kamppi Centre Underground Bus Terminal

is KamppiCentre of Helsinki, Finland completed in 2006. The terminal cost 100 million Euro to complete and took 3 years to design and build. Today, the bus terminal, which covers 25,000 square meters, is the busiest bus terminal in Finland. Every day, the terminal has around 700 bus departures, transporting some 170,000 passengers. Bus station platforms may be assigned to fixed bus lines, or variable in combination with a dynamic passenger information system. The latter requires fewer platforms, but does not supply the passenger the comfort of knowing the platform well in advance and waiting there.

AirportsAn airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters,

and blimps take off and land. Airports can be towered or non-towered, depending on air traffic density and available funds. Due to their high capacity and busy airspace, many international airports have air traffic control located on site.

And, the top airline hubs of the world are;Atlanta- Hartsfield, Chicago- O' Hare, London- Heathrow,Tokyo- Haneda, Los Angeles, Dallas, Charles de Gaulle- Paris, Frankfurt Main, Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Denver, Madrid, New York, Phoenix, Beijing, Hong Kong, Houston, Bangkok, Minneapolis, Detroit, Orlando, Newark,San Francisco, London- Gatwick, Singapore, Philadelphia,Tokyo- Narita, Miami, Toronto and Seattle.

FerryHarbors which are handling several ships and cargo would also be coming under the category of transportation hubs. Harbors can be of two types, natural and artificial. Natural harbors are usually large and can accommodate a huge number of ships. San Francisco Bay in California is a natural harbor. Artificial harbors are made with jetties and piers to make space for the larger ships. The port of Trondheim in Norway is also another transportation hub as far as the busy harbors of the world are concerned. The harbors which allow the ships to load and unload cargo are usually combined with ports. Harbors are the most economically significant form of transportation hubs as

Ninoy Aquino International Airport

any nation can carry out international trade through ports and harbors which have got the adequate infrastructure to accommodate large number of ships. It is quite evident from this brief discussion that transportation hubs can facilitate trade and promote tourism all over the world. It is ala bout managing more traffic in an impressive manner.

SANTIAGO CALATRAVA

Liège Guillemins TGV Station (Liège, Belgium)

Liège Guillemins Station is a major node in the European high speed rail network; an indispensable link between London, Paris, Brussels and Germany.

Calatrava's new Liège Guillemins Station links two very distinct areas of Liége, previously divided by the railway tracks, the north side towards the city, a typical run-down 19th century urban area, and the Cointe Hill to the south, a landscaped residential area.

The concept for the design was transparency and an urban dialog with the city. Transparency is translated by the monumental vault, constructed of glass and steel, with its soaring canopies extending 145 meters over the five platforms. The huge glass building replaces

the traditional facade and establishes a seamless interaction between the interior of the station and the city.

Photo © Thomas Mayer Photo © Thomas Mayer

The station is organized vertically: Towards the Place de la Gare the rail platforms and the access footbridge stack over 3 levels. Towards Cointe Hill, ten meters above, there are five levels; three parking levels, a vehicular access deck linking with the footbridge, and a raised pedestrian walkway.

At the Place de la Gare level, reinforcing the urban streetscape, is a continuous strip of commercial units. Pedestrian bridges and walkways under the tracks allow for fluid

communication between the two sides of the station. The grand Passenger Hall and the SNCB ticketing area are located on the main axis.

Photo © Thomas Mayer Photo © Thomas Mayer

Photo © Thomas Mayer Photo © Thomas Mayer

Photo © Thomas MayerPhoto © Thomas

MayerThe project has no facade in the traditional sense, since the interaction between interior and exterior is seamless. The monumental roof becomes, in effect, the project’s facade. To an observer on the hill, the roof reveals something of the inner organization of the station. To an observer within the station, the structural arches of the roof frame the views to the outside. From any vantage point, the sensation of

transparency prevails.

Drawing courtesy Santiago CalatravaSite Plan Sketch courtesy Santiago Calatrava

Model photo courtesy Santiago Calatrava

Model photo courtesy Santiago Calatrava

Construction area: 49,000 square meters (including roads)Overall length: 488 metersTotal area of Glass Roof: 33,000 square metersCompleted: 2009

Client: SNCB Holding, Infrabel and Euro Liège TGVArchitect: Santiago Calatrava

"My goal was to create a building that reflects the new stations potential significance as a high speed inter-urban link between Europe’s cities.I imagined a building without facades with a soaring roof above offering protection from the elements (particularly the ever present rain of the Belgian Winter). This could maintain the views through and of the station. The vaulted shape was a natural development of this vision while the soft (perhaps feminine) undulating curve of the roof was selected to mimic the graceful rise and fall of the Cointe hills beyond.I felt that there was no better way to celebrate the technological achievement of the TGV trains than to expose the working platforms and the dynamism of the moving ensemble of passengers and trains."

The Pont des Guillemins, also by Santiago Calatrava, connects the motorway that crosses Liège to the 800 space parking facility at the Liège Guillemins TGV Station.

Like the Campo de Volantín Footbridge in Bilbao, the design of the Pont des Guillemins consists of a rectilinear torsion tube, to which the bridge elements are welded, radiating to

form the arc of the circle described by the plan of the deck. The arch is made of a steel tube welded at each end to the torsion tube of the deck. The combination of the curve of the deck, and the straight lines of tube and vertical projection of the arch, emphasizes the effect of suspended movement.

Lyon-Satolas TGV Station (Lyon, France)

The Lyon-Satolas Station is the terminus for the TGV trains connecting the airport to the city of Lyon, 30 kilometers to the south. The almost forty meter tall steel and concrete structure refers to the metaphor of a enormous bird with spread out wings.

Arriving by car you enter the Main Hall through a "Gateway" formed by a concrete V-shaped abutment that join the ends of four steel arches.The center pair of arches follow the line of the roof

to form a spine, the outer curved beams span over two glazed symmetrical concourse wings.

In the triangular Main Hall the central spine is formed by three arches braced together by diagonal beams. Two large cantilevered balconies penetrate the space. The adjoining concrete service building is fitted with a steel and glass window wall that overlooks the Main Hall.The spine is supported by a concrete mass on the east and two supports, integrated with lift towers, on the west. The uppermost arch of the spine is a steel box of triangular section while the two lower arches are composed of steel tubes. The cross bracing members vary in size and are assembled four by four along the central tubes.

From the Main Hall, where all the station's and airport services are positioned, two vaulted glass and steel concourse wings connect to the train platforms.Cast on site concrete elements support the platform roof and visually complement the roof modules in the main terminal area. The roof is either glazed or filled with prefabricated concrete sections.

In the main Hall, opposite the entrance, a 180 meter long Gallery connects the station to the airport terminal. The Gallery can also be accessed directly from the overnight parking area.

Main Hall: length 130 m, max. width 100 m, max. height 39 mConcourse Hall: length 450 m, width 56 m,

Height tracks to raised central walkway 8 m, to roof 17 mCompetition Winner: 1989Completed: 1994

Clients: French Railways (SNCF), Region Rhône Alpes,Lyon Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIL).Architect: Santiago CalatravaProject Architects:Alexis BourratSebastien MametProject Team:

Dan BurrDavid LongWork supervision:Planitec DTXMajor contractors:E.I.-G.F.C.-M.SEiffel; Berretta-Girardet-InstaluxLeon GrosseG.T.M.Baudin-Chateauneuf

Sondika AirportBilbao, Spain

With his design, that is both visually striking and structurally daring, Calatrava puts the joy back into contemporary travel.The steel and concrete structure , nicknamed La Paloma (the Dove) because of its resemblance to a giant bird about to take flight, is integrated into the hilly green landscape in the Txoriherri Valley in close proximity to Bilbao.The aluminium skin of the Central Terminal sweeps across the 140 meter long terminal entry, providing cover for multiple levels of arrival and departure.

The passengers reach the aircrafts by way of the Departure Hall, a soaring structure awash with daylight, and the four-storey Departure Gallery beyond that connects to the concourse,an aluminium wing reminiscent of an aircraft skin, that contain twelve passenger terminal gates.

The Departure Hall, with its ribbed concrete wings, is clear of visual clutter. Struts and wires cast changing patterns of striated shadows on the walls and granite floor.

The layout was designed to limit the impact of auxiliary buildings on the vista of the main building. An elegant four-storey parking structure, with a skylit walkway leading to the Terminal Building, is tucked into a grassy embankment.

Sondika Bilbao Airport, designed by Santiago Calatrava, opened to traffic on November 19, 2000.

Drawing courtesy Santiago Calatrava Drawing courtesy Santiago CalatravaGround Level Plan Site Plan

West Elevation Section

Client: Aeropuertes Nacionales de BilbaoCalatrava also designed the Bilbao Zubi Zuri, or "white bridge," over the Nervion River, that links a rundown but rejuvenating commercial area with an elegant residential neighborhood. The glass deck is illuminated from the underside at night.

Photo: arcspace

Sources: http://www.hubs.in/transportation/ http://www.wikipedia.org http://www.nileguide.com/blog/2009/12/08/top-10-coolest-train-stations-from-around-the-world/ http://www.arcspace.com/architects/calatrava http://imageshack.us arcspace