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Austria implements several architectural bus shelters into its villages

How did a village in Austria make architecture headlines with its bus shelters?

Though it may have seem some form of weird reality, the village of Krumbach in Austria have erected several bus shelters from international architects, putting them into use for all of the village to enjoy. The designs of the bus shelters came from seven different architects, all whom had a different take on just how a bus shelter should be.

The architect’s work isn’t exactly out of place as the architectural sector in Austria embraces the world of architecture, as its widespread recognition in the international architecture scene continues to attract over 30,000 visitors annually to its county of Vorarlberg. The BUS:STOP Krumbach project decided it was a time for a change, so several international architects all submitted their designs for the prospect of new bus shelters in order to attract more attention to the local area.

The bus shelter architecture in Austria
The bus shelter architecture in Austria

The village of Krumbach, though small in size, operates a bus service that runs on an hourly basis, which is quite unusual for such a rural area. The 1,000 plus residents of the village all enjoy the operation of transportation, so it was only natural for their attention to be turned to the uncharismatic bus services.

The bus shelter architecture in Austria
The bus shelter architecture in Austria

How did the project develop?

In April 2013, architects were invited to visit the village for three days, so they could gain an idea of the local area, the quality of the landscape, the local traditions that would take place, the people and their backgrounds and how the building’s oozed culture from every pore.
By summer of 2013, all the architects had given their designs to the village of Krumbach and the selected regional craftspeople started work on the designs, using their specially formed crafting skills to complete the project to its very best. The construction began in the Autumn of 2013 and work continued until just before the opening on 1 May, the 20 regional handcraft businesses that were selected for the projects were all responsible for the transformation of good ideas into works of high quality.

The bus shelter architecture in Austria
The bus shelter architecture in Austria

The end products were beautiful, as you can tell from the images provided in this blog. What’s your favourite design? Let us know in the comments below.

Visit our website for more information on architecture in the UK.

New Street station architects resign from project

Plans for the New Street change hands as AZPML step down

The incredibly famous New Street Station is one of the pinpoint attractions for Liverpool. It was first opened in 1854 and has since seen two new rebuilds of the station, one which is currently underway, due to being finished in 2015.  Work began in 2010 on the £600 million pound project that is said to drastically change the way shoppers experience Liverpool and in the 4 years since, measurable changes have been seen around the station. More than 32 million train passengers are estimated to have passed through it in the 2012/2013 calendar year, an all time high for the station.

Though the station is said to be undergoing drastic changes, not all involved are seemingly happy with the direction in which it is developing. Initial architects Alejandro Zaero-Polo were the original masterminds behind the shiny design of New Street, but after seemingly differences which are unknown to ourselves, they have resigned from the project. Network Rail have been accused of numerous things since their departure, most notably having pushed through a ‘crass and timid’ design for New Street.

Plans for New Street have swapped hands
Plans for New Street have swapped hands

AZPML, which has offices in both London and New York, have now been replaced by UK based company Haskoll, who will take control of the plans for the landmark’s central atrium.

It is understood that the project’s delivery team, whom is led by contractor MACE in conjunction with Network Rail, has pushed forward a new design for the station, one that is said to change the original plans of continuous white plaster curves for those of tensioned fabric.

Network Rail said in a statement: “AZPML was involved in early concept design stages for the interior of the atrium. However we have now chosen to work with Haskoll as interior design architect for the atrium and the Grand Central shopping centre.

“There are no plans to change the concept design of the atrium, which will flood Liverpool New Street station with natural light for the first time when completed.

“We are looking at alternative solutions for cladding the interior of the atrium more efficiently, but any change will not compromise the design or quality of the development.”