Southern Cross Station Roof Design

The design focus of southern cross station is the dune like roof that covers an entire city block.

Southern cross station roof design.

The steel structure gestures in the direction of travel. Construction began in october 2002 and was completed in late 2006 with the majority of the transport facilities finished in time for the 2006 commonwealth games. The massive roof floats freely above the platforms to allow connections to nearby venues. Development in melbourne for civic nexus.

The undulating structure was developed to assist with the extraction of diesel fumes and other air contaminants by way of a louvred natural ventilation system. The roof was specially designed to allow the diesel fumes hot air and exhaust gases to move upwards and be dispelled through louvres using the force of the existing winds. The wavy form developed from studies of exhausting train fumes. Southern cross was redeveloped by the civic nexus consortium following an innovative design by grimshaw architects and jackson architecture which features an undulating roof.

Southern cross station is popular for its undulated trapezoidal roof system covering an entire city block of about 60 000 square metres. Harmful gases gather in the domes and exit. It is 23m at its highest point. Southern cross station melbourne stretching an entire city block melbourne s elaborate station features an undulating roof that rests on a series of y shaped columns.

The soaring roof allows excellent visual connection from the collins street concourse through to the bourke street bridge concourse and engages spencer street with the use of an expansive glazed façade. The undulating structure was developed to assist with the extraction of diesel fumes and other air contaminants by way of a louvred natural ventilation system. Southern cross station has a roof area of 34 000m which gives this excellent potential for storm water recycling. A key design feature of the station is the iconic large span wave form roof an australian first.

The wave roof is the first of its kind in australia and the country s largest undercover concourse spanning an area of 211 x 180 metres one of the most challenging aspects of the project s design and construction was building a complete roof covering the entire southern cross station site over a live operating rail station. Grimshaw architects designed the cross station. The roof s form plays a crucial role as part of the environmental envelope ensuring that it is symbol of sustainable architecture developed in response to the hot external climate and the internal need for diesel extraction and ambient cooling via natural ventilation.