Woods Bagot and John McAslan + Partners are the architectural partners delivering the Sydney Metro upgrade to Central Station, a key component of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest project. The renewal of Central Station is underway, with the NSW Transport Minister’s announcement of Laing O’Rourke winning the $955 million contract for the Sydney Metro City & Southwest upgrade of Central Station, including Central Walk.
The station is a key one within the $20 billion Sydney Metro project, Australia’s biggest public transport infrastructure project. Jointly leading a multi-disciplinary design team are architects Woods Bagot and John McAslan + Partners (JMP), whose bold, can-do architecture will give the station an entirely new functional and experiential vibe.
Key heritage qualities of the 112-year-old station will be emphasised along with the introduction of new architecturally-inspiring elements as part of a scheme that amplifies Central Station as a Sydney icon. Signalling a step-change in the station’s functional, urban and cultural contributions to the city, the project will trigger much higher levels of people-movement and energy, and wider civic and commercial renewal.
Below ground, the atmospheric qualities of volume, surface, and natural light characterise the design scheme for the Central Station upgrade. With respect to existing hierarchies of arches and materials, the proposal has a clear relationship with Walter Vernon’s architecture of the station above. While the interfaces between old and new will be quite distinct, they will be architectural segues rather than jump-cuts.
The Central Station metro upgrade includes the main concourse, Central Walk (connecting the Sydney Metro platforms to Chalmers Street), northern concourse (interface between the new metro and the existing station) and the metro box platforms. Central Station is the backbone of Sydney’s public transport network, with more than 250,000 people passing through the station every day. That number is forecast to grow to 450,000 in the next two decades.
Features of Central Walk include:
- A 19-metre wide tunnel from Chalmers Street, linking to new metro platforms under Central;
- New, easy access points to Sydney Trains platforms 16 to 23
- Escalators directly to suburban platforms for the first time.
As Sydney director Domenic Alvaro explains, the project is a significant win for Woods Bagot and the result of the firm’s deliberate expansion in the Australian transport sector. Source and images Courtesy of Woods Bagot.