SkyTrain Station Renovations

[flipper316]

Metrotown station kind of looks half assed. The open station entrances. The new glass that already looks old with stains scratches. Can anyone also explain why the mixture of old and new tiles on the ground. Joyce doesn't have that, it's all new tiles. How come there's no consistency?

[Waders]

Originally Posted by flipper316

Metrotown station kind of looks half assed. The open station entrances. The new glass that already looks old with stains scratches. Can anyone also explain why the mixture of old and new tiles on the ground. Joyce doesn't have that, it's all new tiles. How come there's no consistency?

Also it was 'snowing'(literally) inside the east station house for the last 2 days! Snow covered the fare gate, the escalator and the floor was wet and slippery. Whoever designed the 'open top' station house must have forgot Vancouver rains a lot and does snow in winter

Platform tile replacement is quite 'disruptive'. Joyce station went through a few months partial platform closure in order to have all the floor tiles replaced.

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by flipper316

Metrotown station kind of looks half assed. The open station entrances. The new glass that already looks old with stains scratches. Can anyone also explain why the mixture of old and new tiles on the ground. Joyce doesn't have that, it's all new tiles. How come there's no consistency?

Why be consistent when you can potentially save money each time an expansion is needed by going with a new designer/architect and fulfilling the on-paper capacity upgrades?

TransLink has a thing for Extreme Cost Cutting: Vancouver Edition which goes beyond the usual lack of funding they get (this partially everyone's fault for saying NO) and as a result we are not eligible to get streamlined or uniform station designs because doing so incurs extra cost. This again makes me bring up just how much I love the original Expo Line stations as the cost of making so many brand new stations was partially mitigated by using so many interchangeable parts that got cheaper to build by the dozen.

[SpongeG]

Most systems can look like a mish mash of styles, just look at London's tube. Cost savings and function are better than the final look.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Most systems can look like a mish mash of styles, just look at London's tube. Cost savings and function are better than the final look.

Yeah, it is nothing out of the ordinary. All the rail lines around my area are extreme mosh mashes of styles, age, station scale, etc...

[SpongeG]

well at least they have the extra platform now, sounds like commuter chaos with the snow.


twitter: @Kevin_Eastwood

[officedweller]

Function over form and superficiality.

[Waders]

A picture from CBC news. I am glad the new platform at Commercial Broadway station has opened in time for the snow weather.


Source: CBC

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by flipper316

Metrotown station kind of looks half assed. The open station entrances. The new glass that already looks old with stains scratches. Can anyone also explain why the mixture of old and new tiles on the ground. Joyce doesn't have that, it's all new tiles. How come there's no consistency?

Originally Posted by MIPS

Why be consistent when you can potentially save money each time an expansion is needed by going with a new designer/architect and fulfilling the on-paper capacity upgrades?

TransLink has a thing for Extreme Cost Cutting: Vancouver Edition which goes beyond the usual lack of funding they get (this partially everyone's fault for saying NO) and as a result we are not eligible to get streamlined or uniform station designs because doing so incurs extra cost. This again makes me bring up just how much I love the original Expo Line stations as the cost of making so many brand new stations was partially mitigated by using so many interchangeable parts that got cheaper to build by the dozen.

Originally Posted by officedweller

Function over form and superficiality.

you would think, though, that for the ultimate function and saving money would be just manufacturing prefab trusses/panels/etc using the same style as the original expo line. you could change out the perforated panels for glass, and just bolt on the new trusses.

it would keep the system uniform, and the original construction technique was designed to be cheap.

[officedweller]

That would be nice, wouldn't it?

[MIPS]

That too has been brought up, here even.
The modular and pre-fabricated pieces make it cheap but everyone insisted on something different because they didn't want to be stuck in the 80's, even though everything offered has been either incompatible or in the case of the Millennium Line, way too expensive than it was functional.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by MIPS

That too has been brought up, here even.
The modular and pre-fabricated pieces make it cheap but....

Extremely ugly and dated.

[MIPS]

I dunno. Berlin has done a great job keeping it looking appealing while occasionally upgrading the overall style.


UrbanRail.net


Markus Kaiser


Alamy Photos


Alamy Photos

[Galaxy]

They also design their stations to prevent problems like pigeons. Overall I love Berlins stations. Mass production stations could totally save us money for transit and even social housing...

[officedweller]

That first pic is totally similar to the Expo Line stations.

[Colin4567]

Originally Posted by officedweller

That first pic is totally similar to the Expo Line stations.

I read somewhere the SkyTrain stations on the Expo Line were designed to look like German train stations. They broke that with the Millennium Line when they asked like 6 different companies to each design 2 architecturally unique stations.

Source: Some document from years ago.

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by Colin4567

I read somewhere the SkyTrain stations on the Expo Line were designed to look like German train stations. They broke that with the Millennium Line when they asked like 6 different companies to each design 2 architecturally unique stations.

Source: Some document from years ago.

Expo Line stations were designed by German firm Architekten-Gruppe. The above and other portions of the U-bahn look so similar to our own stations because they both use the same design language. AG likely won the contract to design the Expo Line simply because they didn't need to draft all the framing and fixtures which brought down the cost. They just recycled what they already drafted.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by MIPS

AG likely won the contract to design the Expo Line simply because they didn't need to draft all the framing and fixtures which brought down the cost. They just recycled what they already drafted.

which is good since it gives us a cheap system to build. would have been better to just stick with that. cheap, no bird problems, and would prevent 3 decades of designs stuffed together without any of them complimenting each-other.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Expo Line stations were designed by German firm Architekten-Gruppe. The above and other portions of the U-bahn look so similar to our own stations because they both use the same design language. AG likely won the contract to design the Expo Line simply because they didn't need to draft all the framing and fixtures which brought down the cost. They just recycled what they already drafted.

They were from Austria (Buzzer corrected themselves when they mentioned the drawings)

Bonn



Bilbao



Even their works from the 2000s looks similar. Wien




http://www.agu.at/

[MIPS]

I stand corrected. Thank you for pointing that out.