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A New Solution to an Old Challenge
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.
65 Upper Queen Street
P.O. Box 6648
Auckland, New Zealand
Tel: 64 9 366 9626
Fax: 64 9 366 9629
E-mail: studio@jasmax.co.nz
Website: www.jasmax.co.nz
NZF Stainless Ltd.
8 Westfield Place, Mt. Wellington
P.O. Box 22 023 Otahuhu
Auckland
New Zealand
Tel: 64 9 573 2400
Fax: 64 9 573 2422
E-mail: sales@nzfs.co.nz
Website: www.nzfs.co.nz
For other recent Nickel Magazine articles on the use of nickel-containing materials in architecture, click here.
Visit www.stainlessarchitecture.org NiDI's
web portal devoted to nickel-containing materials in architecture.
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