Kraaiennest Metro Station

Upgrading an urban metro station with detail, pattern and vivid materials. Kraaiennest Metro creates a contemporary  entrance in the form of a beautifully laser cut steel box allowing playful natural light to filter play during the day, whilst glowing from within at night, acting as a marker.

The metro station entrance is located 11 metres above ground and its location on the street called for thoughtful design. We developed a uniform scheme that has no backs, and is attractive on all sides as a response to the constraints of a large technical space, reuse of existing platform and entrance towards the street (Karspeldreef) turned away from the market square.

An Urban Lantern

The technical spaces are collected in a closed box underneath the escalators, giving access to the platform. The second box has a cut-out decorative skin to prevent graffiti and to let light through. Both sunlight and artificial light exploit the patterned panels thus creating an ephemeral environment, both inside and outside. This assemblage forms a lantern-like object that adds quality to the public realm and creates a safe environment that interacts with the market. The program forces the access system to be in the middle of the platform, disconnecting the station from its canopy. Through materialization and proportions, we have created a common language to unite the disparate elements, therefore creating a seemingly simple and clear object in the middle of a dynamic neighbourhood in Amsterdam Zuidoost.

Client: DIVV, Stadsdeel Zuidoost and GVB
Project Type: Transport Infrastructure
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Status: Completed 2012
Size: 2,260m2, platform length 170m
Photography: Luuk Kramer

Award
RIBA Awards 2014