The challenge was to integrate a new underground station with Eusko Tren’s corporate HQ and commercial space, to create a new civic landmark for Durango. The new building would meet more than the company’s physical needs; it would articulate Eusko Tren’s new identity and image and symbolise its economic growth and expansion, across the region and around Europe.
In that sense, it was to become a symbol not only for the company, but also for the citizens of Durango and, beyond that, a catalyst and a focus for the transformation of the town centre.
The overall concept is based on the conjoined design of buildings emerging at the head of the site from reformed land. Existing rail tracks at ground level were removed and replaced with a new network of underground tracks across Durango, allowing the land to return to public use. Foot paths were re-established across the site, forming a connective urban tissue with a network of open public spaces each graded by topography and enclosure. The paths now connect the park directly to the station and commercial space.
The subterranean car park provides permanent parking for nearby residents and visitors with access and egress to the building at key points along its length. Vertical access routes are also generated where higher levels of pedestrian and car circulation flow across the car park’s premises.
It was important to plan the relationship between the site’s public and private spaces, so our architectural proposal accentuated these areas with regular circulation strips. This included the converging circulation of public domains and the position of private domains adjacent to the planned residential areas.
Topographic differentiations and ground level changes were then used to create self-separation and allow programmatic connections across the site to the car park, buildings and adjacent streets.