Kengo Kuma and Associates have designed the new Saint-Denis Pleyel Train Station in Paris as part of plans to expand the city's transportation network. The goal was to create more open and interactive spaces within the station to make the waiting experience more pleasant compared to typical closed train stations. The design includes four stories above ground for the train station and four below for the metro, with abundant daylight, natural ventilation, and integration with the surroundings. Conceptually, the design aims to merge the station with its context through vertical layers that bring in streets, emphasizing the passage of time and history.

1. 3/11/2016 Saint­Denis Pleyel Train Station | Kengo Kuma & Associates ­ Arch2o
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Saint­Denis Pleyel Train Station | Kengo Kuma &
Associates ­ Arch2o
As part of Paris’s plans to renovate and expand its current transportation network, Kengo Kuma and
Associates have won the architectural competition of designing the Saint­Denis Pleyel Emblematic Train
Station. The station is said to be “…The first stone of a future global urban project in the site of Saint­
Denis Pleyel. It will enable the site and the city to increase its metropolitan scale significantly“, according
to the firm.
The firm aimed at altering the stress of the closed spaces usually used for train stations with open,
interactive spaces. Therefore, The main goal was to change the daily experience of waiting for
transportation into a more pleasing experience.
The station is composed of several subsequent spaces that form the main body, surrounded by spaces
that complement the purpose of the building being a terminal. Using open spaces, unified slab levels,
Courtesy of Kengo Kuma & Associates

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and bold transitional elements, the firm has put a lot of effort to provide a relieving interior for the station,
whether in the four stories above the ground functioning as a train station, or the other four stories below
the ground functioning as the underground metro station.
Light and ventilation are always key elements in the design of such public venues. For that purpose, the
design is flooded with daylight, naturally ventilated, and well integrated with its surroundings. The
elevations are largely transcendent, and the project is divided into two separated sections in order to
provide natural light and breeze even to the lower basements. Such approaches along with others ­like
the green roofs­ assure the building will be a sustainable landmark of the city.
Courtesy of Kengo Kuma & Associates

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Conceptually, the project has proved itself in its merger with its surrounding, being evident when taking a
more thorough look into its inner anatomy. The firm explains: “Multiple levels continue in spiral, so the
station functions as a complex that brings in streets in vertical layers. Steel frames that evoke rail tracks
are used in the curtain wall and many other parts of the structure, to emphasize the passage of time and
history. This approach will make people be aware that the station is theirs and give them pleasant
passing­by every day, connected with the network of the city.“
By: Hazem Raad
Courtesy of Kengo Kuma & Associates