Dealing with an imposing railway station: Lines/ Volume
The future station Stade de France is located in Saint-Denis. The site is conditioned by the aerial RERB train line that splits the urban landscape and pedestrian traffic into two parts. The new L15 metro station will be backed along the RERB which has an architectural vocabulary based in lines, beams and cables.
Contrasting with the high tech existing RER station, our project is conceived as an abstract glass volume creating a formal opposition without confrontation. It's an object serving the city with several uses distributed on the ground floor, 3 underground floors and accessible green roof.
Dialogue with existing building: monumentality/ domesticity
The monumental dimension of this infrastructure which is important in the functioning of urban public space, is facing existing buildings with moderate height. The project links monumental and domestic scale thanks to its facades and public spaces.
The position of the station defines two different public spaces: the public place of the station and the northern triangle place of Droits de l'Homme.
The public place belongs to the neighbourhood, opposing the large intermodality spaces in the North of the urban place. It’s creating a positive space where uses of the everyday life emerge.
Sculpted and light-bathed central volume: massivity/ lightness
The founding base in spatial organization of the station is equality between all travellers in a generous descent space bathed in light where everyone will represent the mobility concept.
The chosen materials are neutral reinforcing the central role of every traveller. The lightness and transparency of the glass contrasts with the mass and brutality of the concrete. Its neutrality accompanies the travellers till 20 meters of depth.
The transport equipment is a functional machine but more than this, it's the theatre of vibrancy linked to urban condition.