RSHP, Sener and ERRE win competition for Valencia Central Station

RSHP, engineering and technology group Sener, and Valencian architectural practice ERRE has been selected by Adif-Alta Velocidad Evaluation Committee to design the new Valencian Central Station.

The new station will be designed as an underground infrastructure integrated into the city, ‘weaving’ through the urban fabric with the aim of establishing a seamless connection between the new Central Station, the historic North Station and the future Central Park, creating a landscape axis with cycle lanes and pedestrian routes that will converge at a new Station Square.

Train services will operate as through services, moving beyond the current dead-end configuration. In this way, trains will be able to travel through Valencia from north to south without having to reverse direction, bringing the city in line with the model of major European rail hubs and improving operational efficiency and connectivity. 

The proposal will open up the underground station’s interior to natural light, fresh air and views. Spacious open areas will visually connect all levels of the stations.

As a new key intermodal hub for the city, the station will be compatible with the planned development of the Central Park, the ‘Access Canal’, project and the future through tunnel. The project also involves the refurbishment of the historic Valencia Nord station, which has been declared a Site of Cultural Interest, whilst fully respecting its architectural and urban heritage.

Ivan Harbour, Senior Design Director at RSHP, says: “Given the complexity of bringing multiple modes of rail movement together in one place with clarity and sensitivity, we have designed a station that will be unique to Valencia. It will be sensitive but bold, welcoming, uplifting and generous to experience, whether commuting day-to-day or for the first time visiting this great city.”

Simon Smithson, Director, RSHP, says: “The Valencia project brings together many of the most exciting aspects of the work of the practice over the past 40 years: transport, public space and urban regeneration. All in a city with an amazing quality of light, that loves colour and celebrates great architecture (and food). Richard Rogers would have relished such an opportunity.”

Ainhoa Abreu Diaz, Associate Director, RSHP says: “We propose a station for the future which is resilient, modular and optimises the use of nature’s finite resources, to create a naturally ventilated, light filled, welcoming environment. The aspiration is to deliver an energy-positive building with passive strategies proposed to minimise energy consumption and active ones for harnessing energy. 

Careful consideration has been given to reducing the presence of the station at ground level to offer Valencia a significant new plaza, whilst consolidating a new ecological corridor running South from Jardin del Turia to the Parque Central and beyond. An emblematic new station at the heart of a greener Valencia.”