The scheme provides an all-in solution to the station zone, which is on the way to being the largest transport junction in the country. New features of this brief for an urban node for pedestrians include an underground track (IJ-rail) to the new development on the banks of the IJ; a deeper-lying North-South line from Schiphol Airport to Amsterdam-Noord; and a subterranean bus terminal. Finally, the train station itself gets an extra pair of rails.

In its developed state the design conceives the island on which the station stands as a traffic machine set in the waters of the IJ. The transport lines are opened up showing the trams, buses, trains and underground to be its moving parts.

However, the machine is subservient to the spatial qualities of the concourse between station and inner city. This concourse has therefore been cleared to stress the typical Amsterdam ambience. Trams, canals and Central Station mark out a scene in which Amsterdam as a whole can be discerned.

Meanwhile the world underground avoids catacomb effects by being a brightly-lit space whose features include clarity of organization, a sense of space and height and discriminate daylight penetration.

Place of education: TU Delft
Tutors: Arne van Herk, Wilfried van Winden, Arie Krijgsman & Gerard Nieuwenhuyzen
Specialization: architecture