Through an article in SupChina, “This renovated railway station is currently China’s social media hotspot“, I learned about the beautiful Jiaxing Railway Station, which was recently reopened after major redevelopment. The station has been transformed into a stunningly futuristic structure integrated with a breathtaking park.
Situated in the center of Jiaxing, a connecting hub between Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou in southeast China, the reimagined station is largely underground, with a pair of sunken waiting halls lit through skylights and glass curtain walls built on either side of overground platforms. A long-awaited replacement of the previously aging and undersized facility, the futuristic station — gleaming and white in polished engineered stone — features three platforms serving six tracks. It is able to serve more than 5 million passengers per year and host 2,300 people per hour at its peak.
This renovated railway station is currently China’s social media hotspot
While the increased capacity provides a much-needed upgrade of Jiaxing’s transportation infrastructure, it’s not what makes the station a sensation on Chinese social media. Stunning in its own right, the solar panel-topped station is only part of a major design that has transformed an area of 87 acres into an urban oasis, which is described by many visitors as the perfect backdrop for beautiful photographs.
I enjoyed looking around for more on the station, and found “MAD’s ‘Train Station In The Forest’ In Jiaxing To Be ‘Borderless Park’ In The City” at World Architecture to be another light read about the station.
MAD Architects, the firm that designed the project, has a gallery of renders from it.
