The South Morang Rail Extension provides improved access to public transport services for Melbourne’s northern communities. The creation of two new stations (at South Morang and Thomastown) and the relocation and modernisation of a third (Epping Station) lie at the heart of this project, with all three forming key nodal points in a longer-term urban focus.
Project Name: South Morang Rail Extension
Studio Name: Cox Architecture
Project size: 32000 m2
Project Budget: $650000000
Completion date: 2012
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Photography: Dianna Snape
Each of the stations are clearly identifiable as three parts of a greater vision linking current and future activities. Their canopies operate as sculptural forms at a civic scale, folding and unfolding in response to site and functional contexts, while providing visual orientation via angled geometrical forms.
The design provides a sense of place for each of the stations, reflecting how users might engage with them. Form and materials speak of a robust and safe civic environment offering a warmth and scale suitable for community-focused public use. The stations are designed as catalysts for future renewal, including larger scale mixed-use developments and fine-grain projects harmonising with the station plazas.
These high-quality public spaces harness the vitality of public transport and interchange while providing venues for social exchange. Each was carefully devised to enhance local movement and provide legibility, linkage and activation to the existing urban form.
