Lantern for a Station

This design for an open entrance hall and a series of platform canopies in Zwolle is developed as a Paris Proof station, conceived within a strict CO₂ framework and aimed at drastically reducing embodied carbon and energy use over its lifetime, building upon the existing station area as an extension of an already functioning system rather than a new object. The project treats the station as infrastructure that organises flows of people, energy, water and materials, aligning the lantern hall in scale, proportions and atmosphere with the understated monumentality of the historic station building and the utilitarian logic of the existing platform structures, while new interventions follow and extend the existing framework so that canopies are retained, adapted and expanded, allowing the station to evolve without demolition. Circularity is the starting point, with materials from the existing canopy reused in an upgraded form, timber as the primary structural material combined with rammed earth bases and reused glass and aluminium, resulting in a continuous material cycle rather than a finished composition. The lantern hall functions as a spatial organiser within the station, visible from all directions and softly illuminated at night, marking the entrance while remaining open and permeable, providing orientation, shelter and calm without separating inside from outside. Vegetation, solar panels and native planting are integrated across roofs, platforms and public areas to contribute to a cooling microclimate and support biodiversity, reinforcing the station’s role as part of a wider urban landscape. Light in appearance, the structure is robust and low-maintenance, with a timber frame resting on rammed earth columns to form a durable system designed for long-term use and adaptation, strengthening connections to surrounding green streets and extending the public ground of the city into the station area. The project positions Zwolle as a prototype for a new railway architecture defined by performance, reuse and continuity, a station understood as an evolving system that is resource-aware and embedded in its context.