Construction is in full swing at the Western Station, a multimodal transit hub being designed as part of Riyadh Metro development, with the underground parking, ground surface, and elevated tracks nearing completion.

The Western Station is being planned and designed as a neighbourhood destination, said Omrania, a major architectural and engineering consultancy practice based in Saudi Arabia.

It will offer not only light rail and bus rapid transit (BRT) connections but also public spaces and services for use by local families and commuters, said the project designer.

Omrania explained that the design concept of the station building is a modern interpretation of the “desert sand dunes”, where a cluster of dune-shaped, eart- coloured structures emerges from the site creating opportunities for station entries, light penetrations and pedestrian shading.

The general orientation of the dunes is related to pedestrian approach and urban vantage points, it stated.

On the project's progress, Omrania said the subterranean parking, concrete ground pad, and elevated tracks are in place.

The curving roof forms of the station halls - inspired by sand dunes - will be built with a steel structure and a panellised cladding system, it stated.

"An area that was once an open air vegetables market now has a sense of arrival and event that is spurring development for blocks," said a company spokesman.

"The new station will take that one step further in the design of its outdoor gardens, which celebrates entertainment and light rail simultaneously," he noted.

According to him, skateboarders and garden visitors will get to enjoy the sight of elevated trains pull in and take off over the gardens, effectively becoming almost like a “performance”.

'Visitors will experience hustle and bustle broken up into a series of high quality spaces. Iconic spaces will draw the tourist as much as the commuter. Use by non-transit riders is what adds that extra level of vibrancy to the open transit principles of design," stated the spokesman.

Combining a state-of-the-art transit station with complementary mixed-used development and year-round public space, the station will create a new emblem of civic identity and community pride in its mix of uses.

Ultimately it will create the first of a new generation of facilities to truly integrate transit and culture. It will draw commuters, tourists, shoppers, and casual observers, it added.-TradeArabia News Service