Station Design
The Outline Station Engineering Design Specifications 1.4.1 of Kaohsiung Metro specified eight important stations adjacent to important urban activity nodes (R4 Kaohsiung International Airport Station, R8 Sanduo Shopping District Station, R9 Central Park Station, O5/R10 Formosa Boulevard Station, R11 Kaohsiung Main Station, R17 World Games/National Sports Complex Station, R23 Ciaotou Railway Station, O9 Martial Arts Stadium Station) as "special stations". KRTC follows this concept and categorizes architectural renovation and public art as the focus of design planning that in turn created high-quality public spaces and display highly creative designs.
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R4 Kaohsiung International Airport
Kaohsiung International Airport is the international gateway to Kaohsiung. This station is located at the core location of the airport area. It connects to the international and the domestic terminals, and is a transportation hub connecting the land and the air. It also has the image function of been the international portal for Kaohsiung. It is truly a spiritual indicator for Taiwan's future development, and it showcases the broad-mindedness of the international community, so that visitors can deeply feel the unique charm of Kaohsiung's enthusiasm and vitality. The themes of the station contains "blue sky, ocean and Metro". The architectural design is based on the idea of the sky lighting, attracting the gorgeous light and shadow, providing the hall with natural light while integrating energy conservation into the station design, yet not affecting the visual effect and the security management as the surrounding landscape is Metro facility. All ground facilities are constructed with light-weighted, transparent materials, and the design spindle of flying and speed is used to show the theme of the “Portal Station” of the Sunshine City. In order to match the unique marine image of Kaohsiung, Lutz Haufschild used 10,220 pieces of 6mm emerald colored glass to show "strength and beauty" of the ocean making passengers within the station feeling like standing in the ocean waves or waterfalls, bringing public art to a different level.
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R8 Sanduo Shopping District
The Sanduo Shopping District Station is located in the economic and trade core of Kaohsiung City. In order to facilitate people to go shopping, in addition to linking Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department store, SOGO Department Store, and 85 Sky Tower, we also overcame the difficulties to co-constructed with Far Eastern Department Store to have created a new shopping paradise landmark. To fit the architecture characteristics of Sanduo shopping district, the concourse level of the station adopts open central design together with the radial metal ceiling and mosaic paving that created a visual image of the "eye of the Metro", symbolizing the centripetality of all things. Thanks to the Metro, this business district has become a new destination for leisure, entertainment and international commercial tourism in Kaohsiung.
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R9 Central Park
The Central Park Station is close to the President (Datong) shopping district and New Jyuejiang Shopping Area, and combines the renewal plan of the Formosa Boulevard and Yujhu Shopping Area to form a gathering place for the young people, together with the impact of multiculturalism and being on top of the latest information, shaped the characteristics of this area. Therefore, the theme of this station is "Modern Kaohsiung".
In order to make this site more special, the special committee invited the famous British landscape architect Richard Rogers to integrate the station into the overall planning of the Central Park, and bring the sun and tranquility into the underground station body, so that passengers can enjoy the forest-like freshness when they get to the station hall. Further to show the majestic momentum of the station, the entrances and exits adopted light weighted fabrication with metal material to demonstrate the structural mechanics and aesthetics, setting off the design image of "flying", as if it is to declare Kaohsiung City took off and thrived.
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O5/R10 Formosa Boulevard
The Formosa Boulevard Station is the intersection of the Metro Red Line and Orange Line. At the beginning of planning, the main design was to show the historical theme of the Red Line and the ocean theme of the Orange Line to create the ambition of becoming Kaohsiung's new landmark. The entrance/exit of the station is done by Japanese architect Takamatsu who outlined the overall concept on the heart of Metro with the theme of prayer. In addition to praying for the future of Kaohsiung, it also enables generations and generations to unite here working together to create a realistic future with hopes. In addition, the concept of the glass pyramid of the Louvre in France was also incorporated whereby golden lamps were used to illuminate the glasses on entrance/exit 1 and 3 to give a warm atmosphere, making the Formosa Boulevard Station a popular attraction for photos especially wedding photos.
The station is equipped with vast ground level facilities, with the aim to avoid the cold feeling of the Metro facilities can do to an urban jungle to the Kaohsiung citizens, the open ground plaza uses large and small sizes of cooling towers, ventilation shafts and disabled elevators imitating the shape a ship and the wave rhythm. When people stop here, they can feel the unique style of the port city of Kaohsiung while sense the characteristics of the cohesive and divergent Metro.
Entering the underground station hall, for one to show the enthusiastic urban characteristics of Kaohsiung, the international glass artist Narcissus Quagliata was invited for the project. Through the special combination of glass, painting and lighting, he created a masterpiece with a diameter of 30 meters, named the “Dome of Light”. “Dome of Light” writes the perfect footnote for Kaohsiung citizens who walks under beautiful rainbow illumined atmosphere created by the Dome to also experience the great ambiance constructed by Kaohsiung Metro
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R11 Kaohsiung Main Station
Kaohsiung City has excellent natural resources and a great living environment. It integrates mountains, seas and harbors. Through the complete traffic route, it connects the various attractions and locations in all directions. The design incorporates the concept of one of Kaohsiung’s tourism spots, the Dragon Tiger Tower of Lianchihtan. The flow of crowd that enters and exits the Metro and the city demonstrate the spirits of the tiger and dragon. It is a kind of peace and a foothold of Kaohsiung station and the city history. It brings prosperity to the city and brings sightseeing enthusiasm to the place.
The portal image of the Kaohsiung landmark, the Dragon Tiger Tower of Lianchihtan and Kaohsiung Station is linking the symbolisms of Kaohsiung City. The base color for the station interior is green, yellow and white. Taking the rising sun as the benchmark, the left hand side of the station uses cool color of the green dragon, and the right side is based on the warm color of the white tiger. The concept carried out throughout the platforms from B4 platform level to B3 paid area of the station.
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R17 World Games
As the Metro passes the Banping Mountain, the vision would be wide and broad giving people a different set of feeling. First station that catches the eyes is the “Lion of the Sea”, R17 World Games/National Sports Complex Station. The east of the station is the Banping Mountain and the west is the Navy Port. This is in line with the local landscape and presents the overall atmosphere of “surf the wind and waves”. Therefore, the theme of the station body used the concept of “sail for thousands of miles” to form the pride of the marine capital. It is more representative of the characteristics of the station and the sustainable development of the city, which makes Kaohsiung the forefront of the international market, and integrates the concept of green building as a whole. The selection of building materials are highly recyclable steel, the internal space is designed with raised roof with sky lights to allow natural convection and natural lighting which indicates environmental protection and energy saving. In order to demonstrate the humanistic characteristics of the Zuoying area, the internationally renowned Ron Wood team was entrusted to integrate architectural design with public art. In order to integrate the architectural practice of public art in Taiwan, with ever-changing material properties, glass was used, bring-in natural lighting and assimilate in the shadow of the forest trees, while maintaining the spiritual sustenance and emotion between Banping Mountain and Zuoying area, creating the best subject for the station.
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R23 Ciaotou Station
The Ciaotou Station has been developed in conjunction with the local humanistic characteristics and the historical features of the Kaohsiung Sugar Factory. The theme of the station incorporated the 100-year history of the Taiwan Sugar Culture and that can be clearly seen on the concourse level, allowing passengers to enjoy the convenience of the Metro, this motivational trajectory for the development of Ciaotou can also deeply imprint the hardships of the ancestors. In addition, the architecture of this station combines artistic ideas with Public Relief Ceramic Murals shows the shape of the train, giving the endless motiving force, and expresses the eternal meaning of life on Earth while echoes the history of Ciaotou.
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O9 Martial Arts Stadium
The facilities around the Martial Arts Stadium Station include the stadium, martial arts stadium, international swimming pool and youth Sports Park. It is close to the Zhongshan Expressway. To demonstrate the representativeness of the station, the design is based on movement and vitality. The image of “Ocean, Sports, Vitality, and Metro” is the main theme. This area is the main area for large international sporting events in Kaohsiung City, so during the planning stage, that was put into consideration as large amount of people would be brought about by international competitions, so the entrance/ exits are connected to the ground level oval-shaped open landscape of the Ocean Sports Culture Sculpture Plaza. This style would reduce the impact on to the surrounding traffic. The ventilation wells adopt blowing method to reduce the structural volume. The overall modeling is combined with the light boxes and billboards that can be used as information guide for the activities / events at the park, and to avoid visual impact on the nearby landscape. Making the station the representation of health and vitality that can widely embedded in the hearts of the people.
With the MRT system, it has shortens the distance between locations, and draws closer interactions between people. In the overall planning, KRTC adopted advanced software and hardware facilities to ensure a “comfortable, convenient and safe” transportation indicator in the greater Kaohsiung region. It further penetrate into every corner of the city through Metro routes with public art series the cultural scenes unique to Kaohsiung.