Gare de Mons Station, Belgium
Swathes of glass and steel make up the sinuous exterior of the new Gare de Mons station in Belgium, which has been designed by Swiss-Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Located along the international Paris to Brussels train line in Mons, the station's sculptural structure is organised around a raised gallery volume that stretches 165 metres across the site. Conceptualised by Calatrava as a "monumental bridge", its volume traverses a series of 350-metre-long platforms and bus stops that extend outwards from the gallery's underside.
Externally, the station's flowing glass and steel form is crowned with a sloping roof that rises to a peak. Glass canopies extend from the gallery roof at both its north and south entrances to shelter central staircases that lead up to the station's interior. An operable skylight lined with wooden supports runs along the gallery's peak to both draw daylight and ventilation through the space.
Within the station, the structure's large triangular truss structure is left exposed, with curved, glass entrances to platforms, shops and other facilities framed by its structural curves. Sheltered beneath roofs extending from the central volume are seven passenger tracks, along with 29 bus stops and taxi stands complete with built-in wooden benches. Other spaces include offices, back-of-house facilities for staff and a unit for a childcare facility.
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