What if stations are more than just quick transit hubs?

Nowadays, stations are primarily designed for efficiency and consumption, functioning as practical transit hubs. But they can be much more: vibrant, social intersections where employment, economic, social, and environmental interests converge. How can they be designed in such a way?

Stations can be essential, value-driven crossroads of social interaction

Decision-makers, and rail engineers always have to consider a range of economic and technical constraints that often overshadow the societal function of a station. Softer and qualitative values are especially difficult to prioritise in this process. To imagine a new type of station, we must start with different principles—principles that value the social role of the station and its place within the broader region.

This is no easy task. To assist decision-makers in making strategic choices, Studio Kornelia Dimitrova and Massif Architects, together with experts from Sweco, developed four future scenarios. Each scenario presents a unique vision of how stations could evolve. What if Eindhoven, for example, became the Silicon Valley of the Netherlands? To illustrate their potential, the scenarios are accompanied by four speculative station impressions in the ​Publication.

​The future scenarios were developed using the ‘Future Scenario Method.’ Based on trends that could significantly shape society in the future—and, by extension, the role of train stations—four distinct future scenarios were created to reflect different values.

​How can we start today thinking differently about train stations as public space?

At Dutch Design Week 2024 (DDW), we presented a photo exhibition that invites visitors to explore new ideas for how stations can be used, serving as a starting point for forward-thinking design. 

From the hairdresser who’s opened shop at the lockers area, to the morning yoga group and badminton enthusiasts in the main hall, to the family who’ve decided to have a picnic on the platform, each photo makes us question - what is the function of this space? Can it be more than mobility? And is that a future we would be excited for?
Photos by ©Bram Petraeus

This design research was developed in the What if Lab program, commissioned by Sweco Nederland, ​Studio Kornelia Dimitrova, a spatial design and research practice specialising in value-driven transformations, joins forces with Massif Architects, led by Aukje Goossens and Aleksander Tadic, combining their past experience with spatial visions and speculative scenario design.

More about the project:
Sweco - Stations-van-de-toekomst
Dutch Design Week - What if stations give back?