International High-speed Rail Stations—‘Airports’ in City Centers

Abstract

This paper seeks to create awareness of the international High-Speed Rail (HSR) station, a new building typology of airport significance. Due to the ongoing planning of the Pan-Asian Railway (PAR) (South-East Asia), it is beneficial to understand the international HSR developments in Asia and Europe to date, as well as to study built examples of the international HSR Station. The PAR network will be introduced and a summary of the HSR networks within the United Kingdom (UK)/Europe (EU) and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR)/China (CN) will be given. The St. Pancras International Station (SPIS) in London (UK) and the West Kowloon Station (WKS) in Hong Kong SAR (CN) are selected as precedents for investigative purposes, to further understand the features of this new building typology. International HSR stations comprise of a complex building program and are expensive to construct. Consideration should be given at the outset of the project, to determine the exact building requirements and desired aspirations for the level of architectural status (iconic landmark/standard design). International HSR Stations act as a catalyst for urban redevelopment [(King’s Cross Central Development) (KCCD) (UK)] and development [(West Kowloon Cultural Development) (WKCD) (HKSAR)], thus creating new destinations within cities of a contemporary yet forwarding image.