A New Solution to an Old Challenge
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THE MAGAGINE DEVOTED TO NICKEL AND ITS APPLICATIONS |
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A DIESEL LOCOMOTIVE approaches the platform in Auckland, New Zealand's new Britomart Terminal. |
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DESIGNERS USED S31603 stainless steel throughout the $100-million terminal. Visible here, is the
porous stainless steel mesh that forms a canopy for the station. |
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ELEVEN STAINLESS GLOBES along the ceiling reflect light into the station below. |
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VENTILATION FANS push fresh air into the station through these perforated stainless steel tubes that line
the platform. They are three metres tall. |
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COLOURED LIGHT reflects from various stainless steel elements to create visually interesting patterns
throughout the station. |
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ATRIUM EXTERIOR: 23-metre-high structural pillars are clad in textured stainless steel elements designed
to look like the bark of native trees. |
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ALONG THE CEILING, eleven stainless steel globes, each a metre in diameter, are suspended inside
recessed concrete cones. |
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ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS: Signage uses stainless steel elements. |
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PDF of this article (570 kB) |
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For other recent Nickel Magazine articles on the use of nickel-containing materials in architecture, click here. |
Auckland's new underground railway terminal showcases S31603 stainless steel. By Dean Jobb
Nickel magazine, October, 2003 -- The designers of Auckland's futuristic underground
railway terminal faced a surprisingly old-fashioned challenge: how to deal with soot.
The station, which opened in July 2003 as the commuter hub of this New Zealand city of 1.2 million, had to stand up to grime from the exhaust of countless diesel locomotives. On top of the potential cleaning nightmare, levels of sulphur in the fuel could lead to an elevated risk of corrosion.
The gritty reality of coping with the diesel exhaust dovetailed neatly with the architects' vision of a bright, consistent look and the city's desire for a low-maintenance facility. The result was a decision to use S31603 stainless steel throughout the Britomart terminal, creating a bold mix of surfaces, textures and colours in what is hailed as the world's first underground rail station designed to handle diesel engines.
The soot was "the main driver" behind the decision to use the highly durable grade, says Todd Lindsay of Auckland-based NZF Stainless Ltd., a major supplier of metal for the NZ$100-million terminal. The diesel fuel used in New Zealand is relatively high in sulphur, so the concern was that diesel soot, if moist, could be slightly corrosive. But also, if sulphur-containing exhaust gases, were to condense to sulphurous acid, this would be even more corrosive.
JASMAX Ltd., the Auckland firm that designed the terminal in a joint venture with California-based architect Mario Madayag, worked with Spanish metal weaver Codina to develop a S31603 mesh for the 6,500-square-metre canopy above the station platforms. The weave was custom-designed to provide a surface that's 70 per cent open, enabling the ventilation system to draw off the fumes. Any soot that accumulates can be easily washed or wiped away.
Although stainless mesh has been used in other buildings, the Britomart terminal may be the first to employ it as a ceiling surface. "Normally it's used vertically and hangs like a veil, whereas this time we actually made it go against its own gravity by holding it up in the air," says Gordon Brown, architectural project manager for JASMAX. The mesh panels curl down to meet the wall on either side of the platform, adding a graceful contour that belies their vital role in the ventilation system.
"Because the station was basically a hard concrete box," he notes, "what we tried to do with all our [architectural] elements was to put curves on them to take some of the hardness away from the edges. In effect, we humanized the station by adding curves."
For the remainder of the terminal, the designers opted for a robust environment. They observed that various forms of local volcanic rock had been used to give a consistent look to other parts of the NZ$210 million transportation centre - a waterfront redevelopment that includes a bus depot, ferry dock, shops and renovations to a post office built in 1912 - and this consistent appearance gave the architects their cue. "We got the idea: Why can't we do that with stainless steel as well?" says Brown.
Wall cladding, handrails, grates, ventilation tubes, even toilet partitions were crafted from S31600 stainless, much of it low carbon (S31603) for enhanced corrosion resistance of weldments. Most components, including the mesh, came from the factory in bright annealed finish, with the remainder polished to a No. 8 mirror finish.
The architects took full advantage of this sea of reflective surfaces. Coloured lights play on the metallic surfaces, while some walls feature panels of coloured stainless flooded with white light. Along the ceiling, eleven stainless globes, each a metre in diameter, are suspended inside recessed concrete cones and reflect light into the station below. Lined up along the platform are scores of three-metre-tall perforated tubes that pump in fresh air, each one bathed in coloured light. "As you walk up and down the station, there's different colours," says Brown. One tube appears pink, another blue, followed by a green or red one. "You get them all in different colours, but they're all just bright annealed stainless steel."
NZF Stainless contracted United Kingdom-based Rimex Metals, which also worked on the refurbishment of the London Underground's Jubilee line, to supply five tonnes of coloured panels, gratings, pipe and other structural elements.
Perhaps the most innovative use of stainless is found in the two-storey atrium that covers the main entrance to the terminal. New Zealand artist Michael Parekowhai was commissioned to design a covering for structural pillars that range in height from five to 23 metres. Using computer-scanned photos of the trunks of trees native to the island, Parekowhai created three-dimensional templates of the bark that Rimex turned into textured sheets of S31603 stainless.
The cladding, five tonnes in all, was then wrapped around the poles to create stylized tree trunks that catch the eye of commuters as they come and go. "Some people think they're looking at tinfoil," Brown notes with a laugh. "The artist is very pleased with that -- he wanted an intrigue, he wanted people to go up to them and touch them, and that's exactly what's happening."
And some, no doubt, will look up and be intrigued by the shiny mesh that inspired this showcase of
stainless in so many forms.
Dean Jobb is a freelance writer based in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
PHOTOS: courtesy of NZF Stainless Ltd.
 JASMAX Ltd. NZF Stainless Ltd. |
