The new train station in Duesseldorf Gerresheim sees itself as an important link in-between the northern and southern parts of Gerresheim a city quarter of Duesseldorf. The underground train station will be accessed through two plazas at the north and the south end where bus and tram stops, taxi drop off and bicycle parking is located. The new space underneath the train tracks and bypass street links these two urban situations in the best way. A light, friendly and secure train station is developed simplifying and easing the connection between all necessary programmatic parts. Through the architectural conception and the design the crossing of the train tracks becomes a pleasurable experience. The underground train station is not conceived as an underpass but rather like a series of bridges that are connected trough a glass roof. The result is a space that is flooded in daylight. At night, the sidewalls are illuminated creating a similar mood of a very bright space preventing vandalism and adding security to an otherwise problematic situation. The graphic print on the glazing of the sidewalls is designed by the artist Stefan Sous.
“The space of the train station is expanded in a double sense. The sidewalls of the underground crossing are covered with large scale extracts of the Duesseldorf city map. An impression of an infinite perspective depiction that vanishes towards the horizon is achieved trough projective modifications of the plans. The location of the train station determents the printed motive of the mural. This means that the particular pane of the map projected on the wall is corresponding to the actual location of the respective part of the city. Therefore, the depiction can only be at this actual place and in this actual setting.
Inside the space the city map completes itself. Not virtually like the usual navigation or even by no means, like the creased, torn and flittering paper map but rather like a architectonic texture propagating in front of the spectator. Based on ones one location, one can dive into the spreading abstract information landscape. The walls of the underpass seem to tilt horizontally the curtain rises, the view urges into the distance. The feeling of entering an open space is created. A world opens, the city map enfolds in front of us. We walk through it like our finger travels over a map. The more we are curiously wandering through this world, the more physical is the experience. It is not only a mural, it is a document of reality that we will soon reenter.
The passenger in the passageway situation absorbs a puzzle picture in a playful way. He will gain a feeling for the tracks, the route and for the city - the connections become clear. Elsewhere, the traveler holds the plan in his hands and twists and turns it to match his location and orient himself. Here, one is able to twist and turn oneself.
The underground train station is transforming into a space of a new experience that sensitizes the relationship and exposure towards art and subtly enforces the theme and discussion of urban cohabitation “the city surrounding us”” – Text by Stefan Sous
Project Team: architecture - MCKNHM architects Mark Mückenheim | Artwork: Stefan Sous | urban planning - 03muenchen | landscape - GTL Kassel
