Reggio nell’Emilia, capital of the Province of Emilia Romagna, is today a progressive and spacious city located on the ‘Padana’, a plain in northern Italy. In 2002, the Municipality of Reggio Emilia commissioned Calatrava to create a new gateway to the region from the north.
The project includes a comprehensive master plan that includes a new high-speed train station’ and other infrastructure improvements to facilitate access to the city.
Although the new station was developed within the constraints of the existing viaduct and the 500-meter-long high-speed railway line, the design brief called for the canopy and platforms to be built independently of the existing viaduct.
The module has a length of 25.4 meters and consists of a succession of 25 steel portals spaced approximately one meter apart. The repeated sequence reaches 483 meters in length, creating a dynamic wave effect. Both the ground plan and the wave lines in height create a three-dimensional sinusoidal volume.
The glass canopy is realized by inserting laminated glass between an aluminum frame and the portals. The canopy and facade cover the platforms.
The station is developed on two corridors along the viaduct. On the upper level are the railroad tracks and train platforms; on the lower level are the ticket and information office, regional train and bus line interchanges, and taxi stands. The station’s main entrance is marked by a projecting canopy. Surrounding the station also includes a landscaped piazza, 300 parking spaces and a ‘kiss-and-ride’ drop-off area situated in front of the station.
