消失的美學

消失的美學

Aesthetic of Disappearance

克里斯托夫·英根霍芬和他在杜塞爾多夫的團隊早在1997年就開始做斯圖加特新中央火車站的設計，這么長的時間段也相稱于這個項目重大的城市及社會意義。

“斯圖加特這座城市，是國王下令建造在他的城堡旁邊的，”建筑師克里斯托夫·英根霍芬說，“我們不知道為什么國王喜歡這個山谷，但我們知道，這里并不適合建造城市。”斯圖加特，是德國南部最大的城市之一，如今正和過去一樣面臨出生率過低的問題。它處在一片狹窄的山谷末端、一塊由陡峭山崖環繞的狹小盆地之中。19世紀建造鐵路時，鐵軌從山谷的北部入口開始鋪設，穿過山谷后到達斯圖加特的中央火車站，接著又原路返回。鐵路分離了峽谷和城市，使斯圖加特淪為山谷的背面。城市從過去到現在都擠壓在山谷崖壁的縫隙之間。

郊區的火車站？

斯圖加特的地理缺陷無法糾正。不過我們也可以改變應對這種境遇的措施——例如，之前鐵軌的路線。盡端式火車站很難適應當代的高速火車體系，它們阻礙了旅程的高速接駁以及交通的流暢轉換。很多歐洲城市都像斯圖加特一樣擁有市中心的火車站，但有不少同時在郊區有另一個高鐵站。在法國，高鐵站一般位于城市郊區20或30km的地方，有時候周邊什么也沒有。克里斯托夫·英根霍芬并不同意這種想法：“火車站屬于市中心！火車相比飛機來說最大的優勢就在于，旅行者一出車站就是城市中心。”

隧道，而非山谷

他們為斯圖加特尋找一條解決之道，能夠克服地形上的困難而將高速鐵路帶入城市中心。早在1990年代初，當地政府、聯邦政府和鐵路公司一起提出了一項偉大的計劃：“斯圖加特21”。它提議讓火車經過隧道而非山谷到達市中心。隧道會從盆地的側面進入，經過地下，到達現在火車站所在的位置——由此消除山谷和市中心之間的隔閡。將鐵軌移入地下，能解放地面上很大的空間。在這片新的區域，可以容納11,000人居住、24,000人工作。無疑，“斯圖加特21”將是一個超大尺度的項目。

新的火車頭，新的火車站

新的鐵路系統意味著現存的火車站——由保羅·博納茲建于1914年的重要歷史建筑——將會被一座新車站所取代。一方面，新的鐵路將會以垂直于現有鐵路的方式到站；另一方面，新的鐵路將比現有的深8～10m。1995年，“斯圖加特21”的發起者開始籌備新火車站的設計競賽，并在1997年發布標書。最后，來自杜塞爾多夫的英根霍芬事務所贏得競標。克里斯托夫·英根霍芬一開始就確信，能夠用一種反傳統的解決方案滿足“斯圖加特21”帶來的挑戰。克里斯托夫·英根霍芬說：“你需要清除腦海中對于火車站的固有觀念——那種在鐵軌上建造巨型大廳的經典形式。火車站最初建于19世紀的時候，這種大廳的必要性在于讓引擎噴出的蒸汽迅速擴散。如今，蒸汽火車頭早已被淘汰，因此也不再需要這種大廳了。”然而，今天的火車站依然建得很高，從2006年夏天竣工的新柏林中央火車站中就可以看到。“他們的想法是讓到達火車站的旅客印象深刻，”克里斯托夫·英根霍芬指出，“不過如今，旅行者只想盡快出發、或是盡量便捷地換乘。火車站仍然具有一種經過性的特質。因此我們所尋求的方案，是不裝腔作勢的，也不會在將城市從舊鐵路的隔閡解放出來之后，再次將它隔離。”

不要洞穴

英根霍芬事務所的理念很明確：只有一座完全地下的火車站才會適應這種獨特情況。“我們問自己，要如何避免在火車站中產生一種地鐵站式的氛圍？一座地下建筑要如何成為擁有偉大城市價值的斯圖加特地標？我們不想建一座貼滿瓷片的地下洞穴！莫斯科人已經向我們展現，地鐵站也可以蔚為壯觀。我們的火車站不應成為一個洞穴。我們希望創造具有美學價值的空間——尺度為420m×80m。“英根霍芬事務所的資深建筑師辛里奇·舒馬赫回憶他和英根霍芬在項目剛開始去斯圖加特考察現場時的情形，”克里斯托夫·英根霍芬說，我們需要的火車站應該是完全地下的，擁有巧妙的采光——而不是某種在地表之上統攝一切的建筑。我們設計的基本理念在很早就已確立了。”

3 網格殼體的入口/Gridshell entrance

車站實驗

2006年夏天，在無數次修改和接近10年的深化之后，設計大致呈現如此：鐵軌由一個420m長的、極簡的混凝土薄殼結構覆蓋。這個有拱頂的薄殼結構由28支“光眼”支撐。這是一種有機而建構的柱子，柱子往上升騰張開，在頂部是反向凹入的玻璃蓋，自然光從這里灑入室內。這些結構以及整座建筑的幾何學都是極為復雜的，覆蓋車站的混凝土薄殼中，最薄的地方只有8cm。“我們希望這層外殼盡量纖薄。”克里斯托夫·英根霍芬回憶道，“一開始我們的設計采用張拉膜結構。在經過一段時間的實驗之后我們發現，不，這個外殼必須是混凝土的！”傳奇的德國工程師弗萊·奧托——如今已經超過80 歲i，幫助測算了盡可能輕盈的拱形結構。“實際上，這層薄殼給人的感受，就好像是從水下世界往上看一樣。”英根霍芬說。由于巨大的孔洞為車站室內引入了充足的光線和新鮮空氣，而且混凝土薄殼帶來充沛的漫射光，因此在室內幾乎不需要供暖、空調和照明。冬季，這座車站的溫度不會低于10℃；夏季則不會高于25℃。

4 城市整合/Urban integration

5 新火車站將連接現在被分割開的城市肌理的兩部分/The new station will link two parts of the urban fabric that have previously been divided.

6 橫剖面/Cross section

輕如鴻毛，千絲萬縷

新斯圖加特火車站設計是高度可持續性的，不僅是從節能角度來說。這座大型結構的材料消耗壓得很低，空間浪費也極少。由于混凝土屋頂結構能夠承受步行交通，因此車站上方的整個地面都是可用的。殼體的頂部和地面層一起形成了新的斯特拉斯堡廣場。地下車站也幫助保留了一處重要的城市綠地：地段東側的皇宮綠地，如果車站放在地面上它將會部分受損。1914年博納茲設計的老站房也會成為新車站的一部分——它的大廳仍會繼續使用。不過所有這些，都不會像新車站的獨特美學那樣讓未來鐵路乘客印象深刻。渲染圖展現的設計擁有極高的和諧、自然適應性和整體性。建造的復雜性并不會體現在表面。由于鐵路處在坡地上，因此28個采光柱的高度都不相同——由8～13.5m不等。整座建筑看起來輕如鴻毛，似乎是簡單拼湊起來的，幾乎沒有重量。

“讓建筑更輕”

這種輕盈感是英根霍芬事務所的典型風格。克里斯托夫·英根霍芬說他致力于實現“消失的美學，讓建筑更輕”：“建筑不應該如此復雜，或是如此裝腔作勢。每個項目中，我都努力找出最必要和恰當的——以及對人們最有幫助的事物。這并不意味著我們希望創造某種樂善好施的建筑，但我們不希望建筑的存在只為了建筑本身。我們腳踏實地，努力以一種實用的方式，理智而出色地建造。”那么克里斯托夫·英根霍芬是否就支持簡單的功能主義呢？全球豪瑞可持續性建筑金獎及歐洲區銀獎獲得者微笑地說，“恰恰相反。當你面臨的問題十分緊迫，你就會達成高度契合的解決方式。在我們的作品中也存在大量的情感和戲謔。”有人曾告訴他，英根霍芬事務所的建筑沒有任何多余之物，當你拿走什么，就會留下一個空洞。“那恰是我所追求的！找到并分開表達兩種不同的事物，對我來說遠不如將兩件事結合為一個整體的設計來得讓人興奮。就像斯圖加特車站中的采光柱一樣，它結合了多種功能：不僅是結構柱，又是建筑殼體、光線傳播器，以及更多。”

吸收多少？排放多少？

克里斯托夫·英根霍芬來自一個建筑師家庭；他自己也有5個5～18歲的孩子——這無疑標志著他對于世界未來的信仰以及為之貢獻的渴望。他如何協調他的大項目和大家庭之間的關系？“我的工作當然很忙。不過一方面，我不會把周末花在辦公室；另一方面我相信，如果我的孩子能夠理解我的項目，如果他們覺得它好，那么他們應該更能接受我的缺席。”他感覺孩子們都支持他所做的：可持續地建造。克里斯托夫·英根霍芬說：“可持續性這個詞來自林學：你砍伐的木材不能超過在下次需要之前就能長好的數量。可惜在建筑施工中，這個概念并不如此簡單。我們看待可持續性的方式可以有很多：也包括將材料運抵工地需要耗費多少能量？你越是深入細節，它就變得越發復雜。在我做項目時，我試圖將可持續性問題簡化到一個問題：建筑需要吸收多少，又排放多少——能量、水、廢物、廢棄、廢熱等等。這些獨立指標相對容易控制，這樣你就可以減少能量損耗和廢物產生。我認為最好的建筑是盡可能自給自足的。” 克里斯托夫·英根霍芬將他自己的住宅作為可持續性建造的試驗場。他盡其所能在這座核心家庭住宅中實現最大程度的自治性：例如，雨水回收、地熱能和太陽能使用，以及高效保溫。他的住宅正在建設之中：“作為備用取暖，我們也設置了一個燃燒木屑棒的壁爐。木屑棒是一種很好的燃料，它所產生的微粒排放物能夠用一種新型過濾系統來吸收。”英根霍芬在談到他的自宅實驗時的興奮，展現了一絲戲謔的態度——他前進了一步，挑戰現有的體系。不過并不是政治或社會體系，而是建造體系。他并不受意識形態的困擾。英根霍芬不是一個替代性的環保主義者。

環境敏銳——但不過度敏感

1980年左右，當他在亞琛工業大學求學之時，一股生態浪潮席卷德國，這主要是反核能運動所帶來的結果。“我的同學中大約有1/3都盡可能追求綠色；那是彼時的潮流。他們生活的格言是‘纖維代替塑料’，穿著工裝褲——總體上說，就是為一切尋求最為生態的解決方式。我覺得這樣的生活哲學很有趣，但并不實際。你無法控制一切！你永遠不知道有機農場主實際上用什么喂養動物——最終你永遠能夠從一切地方找到謬誤。”那些工裝褲環保主義者如今被新一代環保主義者所替代，他們不再堅持唯一的意識形態。在德國，綠黨也已經成為政治體系的一支力量。克里斯托夫·英根霍芬說：“德國有著優良的科技傳統，我們為此而自豪。我很支持將這種傳統與當下對環境的擔憂相結合。如果你有某種制作精良之物，同時又滿足環保要求，那么你就會被嚴肅對待。不過環保準則不應以教條的方式應用。我佩戴了一輩子的表不一定需要是可回收的！如果砍伐一棵柚木，建造一座可以使用100年的房子，那也是可以接受的——但是用柚木制作火柴就不可接受了。我們要明辨在不同場合采取適宜的態度。”我們知道，辦公樓的使用也可以很快改變。你可以建造一座只能使用10年的辦公樓，或是建造一座能夠適應變化的經久結構。“只要看看我們的事務所。這座建筑可以永遠使用下去。如今我們占用的1600m2的空間，也可以改作20間公寓，或是大學的研究所。我喜歡這種高度靈活的建筑，我也喜歡翻新的策略。”建筑可以看作是不斷進化的生物體。“它們蛻下舊的部分，長出新的。”

Christoph Ingenhoven and his team in Düsseldorf have been working on their design for the new central train station in Stuttgart since 1997 – a period of time commensurate with the urban and social significance of the project.

"Stuttgart is a city which a king ordered next to his castle," says architect Christoph Ingenhoven. "We don't know why the king loved this valley, but we do know this place is not well suited for a city." Stuttgart, one of the largest cities in southern Germany, suffers as it were from a birth defect. It sits in a constricted basin with steep sides at the end of a narrow valley. When the railroad was built in the 19th century, the tracks were laid from the open north, through the valley, to the main station in Stuttgart, and again back out of the valley to the north. The tracks divided valley and city, forcing Stuttgart to the backside of the valley. Te city was and is effectively squeezed against the valley walls.

Train stations in the suburbs?

Te geographical defect of Stuttgart cannot be corrected. But one can change what has developed from this situation – for example the previous routing of the tracks. Dead-end terminals are poorly suited to our age of high-speed trains; they prevent rapid continuation of the journey and hinder smooth traffic flow. Many European cities have a centrally located terminal like Stuttgart, and many have also a station for high-speed trains in the outskirts. In France the stations for Trains à grande vitesse are sometimes 20 or 30 kilometers outside the city centers, somewhere in nowhere. Christoph Ingenhoven can only shake his head: "Train stations belong in the city center! One of the greatest advantages that trains have over airplanes is just that – travelers arrive directly in the center."

Through the mountain instead of through the valley

A solution was sought for Stuttgart that would bring the high-speed trains into the city center despite the difficult topographic situation. Early in the 1990s the county, the federation, and the railroad company presented a spectacular collective project: "Stuttgart 21." It proposed that the railroad should reach the center not through the valley but through tunnels. The tunnels would pass through the sides of the basin and then run underground to the site of the present station – thus eliminating the division between valley and city center. Moving the tracks underground would free the immense area they occupy today. In this area 11,000 people would then live and 24,000 would work. No question: "Stuttgart 21" is a project of grand scale.

Other locomotives – other stations

The new rail routing would mean that the current railway station – an architecturally significant building from 1914 by Paul Bonatz –would be replaced by a new one. On one hand the new tracks would come in perpendicular to the existing ones; on the other the new tracks would lie 8 to 10 meters deeper. In 1995 the initiators of "Stuttgart 21" started to work out a competition for the new station and announced it in 1997. The winner was ultimately the Düsseldorf firm Ingenhoven Architects. Christoph Ingenhoven was sure from the start to be able to meet the challenge of "Stuttgart 21" with an unconventional solution. Christoph Ingenhoven: "You have to clear your head of all preconceived notions of train stations – the classical giant hall over the tracks. When the first stations were built in the 19th century, these halls were necessary so that the steam from the engines could rise. Today steam engines are no longer in use – nobody needs halls anymore." Nevertheless train stations are still being built to great heights, as evidenced by the new Berlin Main Station inaugurated in the summer of 2006. "The idea has always been to impress arriving passengers with the station," says Christoph Ingenhoven. "But today travelers just want to move on as fast as possible, to change trains as smoothly as possibly. Train stations have something transitory about them. So we sought a solution that is not pretentious and does not divide the urban fabric anew after freeing it from the separating barrier of the old tracks."

No cavern

For Ingenhoven Architects it was clear: only a totally underground railway station would suit this special situation." We asked ourselves, how can we avoid having a subway atmosphere in our station? How can an underground building be a landmark of Stuttgart with great urban merit? We didn't want a ceramic-tiled subterranean void! The Muscovites have shown us that subway stations can be splendid. Our station should not be a cavern.We wanted to create a space with aesthetic value – 420 by 80 meters in size." Ingenhoven's long-time employee Hinrich Schumacher recalls how he and Ingenhoven went to Stuttgart at the beginning of the project in order to appraise the situation on site. "Christoph Ingenhoven said we need something that stays underground and has controlled openings – not something that dominates at ground level. Te basic concept of our design was born very early on."

Station experiments

In the summer of 2006, after uncounted revisions and nearly ten years of refinement, the design looks like this: The tracks are covered by a minimalistic concrete-shell structure 420 meters long. The vaulted shell is supported by 28 "light eyes." These are sort of organic-tectonic columns that flare and open as they rise, ultimately opening into inverted bells through which daylight flows inward. The geometry of these structures and the entire building is extremely complex; at the thinnest point the concrete shell spanning the station is just 8 centimeters thick. "We wanted the shell to be as thin as possible," recounts Christoph Ingenhoven. "First we designed tensile structures. After experimenting for some time, we realized –no, the shell must be concrete!" Legendary German engineer Frei Otto, now more than 80 years old, calculated vault structures that looked as light as possible. "And in fact the shell gives the impression that the observer is underwater looking up at the water surface," says Ingenhoven. Because the gigantic openings allow daylight and fresh air to flow into the station, and because the concrete shell reflects the light, very little energy is required for heating, cooling, and lighting. In winter the station is never colder than 10, in summer never warmer than 25 degrees centigrade.

7 車站大廳的支撐結構是拱形的無縫混凝土殼體結構/The supporting structure of the station hall is a vaulted, seamless concrete shell structure

8 新軌道將與地下東西軸線而非南北軸線對應，釋放巨大的城市空間/Instead of north-south, the new tracks will be aligned on an underground east-west axis – freeing up enormous space for the city

用在必要的地方

英根霍芬堅持認為，在可持續性建造中我們應關注必要的事情。比如這些問題：建筑可以使用多久？它會占用多少土地？“土地利用是一個關鍵性問題，因為高密度的城市就是節能的城市。丹麥首都哥本哈根就是一個例子，它比德克薩斯的休斯頓要緊湊20倍，而且使用的能源只有后者的1/20。高密度能降低通勤距離。如今我們有一半能源用于住宅，1/4用于工業，另外1/4用于交通。可以想象，如果我們建造保溫良好的住宅、居住區和商業區緊鄰的稠密城市，那將會節省多么巨大的能源。”

新型交通的標志

公共交通的推動也對節能非常關鍵。新斯圖加特火車站設計就是一種全新的、更具吸引力的交通方式的標志，一種新的抵達感受。公眾都認可這樣的重要性，并支持英根霍芬事務所的設計。甲方一開始還對這個設計有所猶豫，但德國鐵路公司最后決定支持英根霍芬事務所的設計。創新需要不斷堅持，城市規劃也是如此。由于新斯圖加特火車站作為“斯圖加特21”項目的一部分，這項規劃的通過需要克服諸多障礙，因此車站的建設也被不斷推遲。不過，車站原本是最晚在2015年就要落成的。英根霍芬事務所的建筑師彼得·皮思特魯斯已經為這個項目做了10年的工作，做出很大的貢獻：“這座世紀之交的建筑就像我們的孩子！當我們在1997 年11月4日得知自己贏得了競賽，而且我們設計的車站將會建成，這是一個難以置信的奇妙感受。作為一名建筑師，你或許一輩子只有一次機會，來實現如此重大的項目。”克里斯托夫·英根霍芬也深知這一點，他領導的約50人的事務所已經成功建成一個又一個大型項目。他說：“這樣一個項目——創新、復雜、激動人心——是每個建筑師夢想完成的。它是在整個職業生涯的不懈追求之后，才最終獲得的成果！”（馬里烏斯·羅通艾格 文，黃華青譯）

9 “天眼”均勻分布在平臺之上，保證車站大廳一天長達14小時的充足自然光/Te light eyes are evenly distributed above the platforms, guaranteeing that the station hall has an adequate supply of natural light for up to 14 hours a day

譯注

i 現已去世。

Light as a feather and highly complex

The design of the new Stuttgart station is exceptionally sustainable not only regarding energy efficiency. The consumption of material for such a large structure remains extremely small – as does the consumption of space. Because the concrete roof structure can support pedestrian traffic, the entire surface above the station is usable. On top of the shell, even with ground level, the new Strassburger Platz will be created. Te subterranean station also helps conserve a significant urban green space –the palace garden bordering on the east, which would have been partly destroyed by an aboveground station. The Bonatz building from 1914 is also integrated into the new project – its main hall will continue to be used. But all this will probably impress future rail travelers less than the unusual aesthetics of the new station. The 3D renderings show a design of great harmony, natural fitness, and holism. The complexity of the construction is not visible to the eye. Because the tracks are on a slope, each of the 28 daylight-columns has a different height – graduated from 8 to 13.5 meters. It all seems as light as a feather, easily thrown together, nearly weightless.

10 連續空間/Continuous space

"Making things lighter"

Such lightness is typical for Ingenhoven Architects. Christoph Ingenhoven says he strives to achieve "aesthetics of disappearance; making things lighter": "Architecture should be less elaborate –and less pretentious. In every project, I want to find out what is necessary and appropriate – and what helps people. That doesn't mean we are trying to practice some sort of good Samaritan architecture, but we also don't want architecture for architecture's sake. We have our feet on the ground and we try to build sensibly and well, in a practical way." Does Christoph Ingenhoven therefore advocate simple functionalism? The winner of the global Holcim Award Gold and the Holcim Award Silver for the region Europe smiles: "On the contrary. When you question what is really necessary, you can achieve highly refined solutions. In our work there is a lot of emotion and a lot of playfulness." Someone once told him that the designs of Ingenhoven Architects contain nothing superfluous; if you take anything away a hole will be left. "Tat's precisely what I strive for! To find and express the difference between two things is less exciting to me than integrating those two things into a unified design. Like the lightwell columns at the Stuttgart station that integrate multiple functions: they are at once structural columns, building shell, light reflectors, and more."

What comes in? What goes out?

Christoph Ingenhoven comes from a family of architects; he himself has 5 children between 5 and 18 years – an unmistakable sign of his belief in the future of this world and his desire to contribute to it. How does he reconcile his large projects and his large family? "Of course I work a lot. But on one hand I don't spend my weekends in the office, and on the other I am convinced that if my children can follow my work and if they find it good, then they will be more open to accept my absences."And he has the impression his children support what he does: building sustainably. Christoph Ingenhoven: "The term sustainability comes from forestry: You don't cut more wood than can regrow before you need more. In construction, this concept is unfortunately not so simple. One can look at sustainability in any number of ways: How much energy is consumed to transport the materials to the construction site? Te deeper you go into detail, the more complicated it gets. When I work on a project, I try to reduce the issue of sustainability to another issue: what goes into a building and what comes out – energy, water, waste, exhaust gas, waste heat, and so on. Tese individual factors can be managed relatively well; you can reduce energy consumption and waste generation. I think the optimal building is one that is as selfsufficient as possible." Christoph Ingenhoven uses his private house as a sort of experimentation lab for sustainable construction. He strives to achieve maximum autonomy of his single-family home, for instance by using rainwater, geothermal energy, solar energy and optimal insulation. His house is a work in progress: "For backup heating we installed a furnace that burns wood pellets. That's a good fuel source, but it generates particulate exhaust –for which we now have a new type of filter system." Te enthusiasm with which Ingenhoven tells of his experiments at home shows a touch of playfulness – he steps forward to challenge the system. But not the political or social systems, the building systems. He is not burdened by ideologies. Ingenhoven is not an alternative environmentalist.

Environmentally sensible – not oversensitive

11 “天眼”/"Light-eyes"

12 連接車站與城市/Connection station and city

Around 1980, as he was studying at the Aachen RWTH, an ecology wave washed across Germany, released chiefly by the movement against nuclear power. "About a third of my fellow students were as green as could be; that was in fashion then. Tey lived by the motto 'jute instead of plastic', wore bib-overalls, and tried to find the best ecological solution for everything. I found this philosophy of life very interesting but unrealistic. You can't control everything! You never know what the organic farmer really feeds his animals – in the end you can always find something wrong everywhere you look". The biboverall environmentalists have now been succeeded by environmentalists less guided by ideology – and in Germany the Green Party has become part of the political establishment. Christoph Ingenhoven: "Germany has a tradition of science and technology, and we are proud of it. I advocate combining this tradition with our environmental concerns. If you have something that is well made and also meets environmental criteria, then you will be taken seriously. But environmental criteria should not be applied dogmatically. A watch that I wear my whole life does not have to be recyclable! Cutting down a teak tree to build a house that will last a hundred years is acceptable – but it is not acceptable to make matches out of teakwood. We must judge which reactions are appropriate in which situations." We know that the use of an office building can change fast. One could respond by building a structure to last just 10 years – or by building a longlasting structure that can accommodate change. "Just look at our office. Te building will last forever. The 1,600 square meters that we occupy today could alternatively accommodate 20 apartment units. Or a university institute. I like such highly flexible buildings – and I like renovation strategies." Buildings can be seen as organisms that evolve. "Tey shed parts and gain new ones."

Save where it counts

In sustainable construction one should concentrate on the essential things, insists Ingenhoven. Questions such as: How long will the building be used? How much land will it occupy? "Land use is a critical aspect because a dense city is an energy-saving city. The Danish capital Copenhagen is for example 20 times more compact than Houston, Texas – and uses only a twentieth of the energy. Density cuts travel distances. Today we use half our energy for houses, a quarter for industry, and a quarter for transportation. You can well imagine what enormous energy savings could be achieved by well insulated houses and dense cities in which residential and commercial uses are next together!"

Symbol for new mobility

Te promotion of mass transit is also important in energy saving. The design of the new Stuttgart station is a symbol of a new and attractive mobility, a new feeling of arrival. The public recognizes this significance and supports the design of Ingenhoven Architects. Te clients were at first skeptical of the proposal, but German Railways finally decided to stand behind the proposal of Ingenhoven Architects. Innovation requires endurance. And so does urban planning. Because the new Stuttgart station can be built only as part of "Stuttgart 21" and this master plan must still pass certain hurdles, the start of construction has been postponed again and again. But the station is supposed to be inaugurated at the latest by 2015. Peter Pistorius, employee at Ingenhoven Architects, has been doing significant work on the project for 10 years: "This building of the century is our baby! When we learned on November 4, 1997 that we won the competition and that our station would be built, it was simply an unbelievable feeling. As an architect you might get one chance in a lifetime to realize something like this." Christoph Ingenhoven is also aware of this, successfully realizing large projects again and again with his office of about 50 employees. Christoph Ingenhoven: "A project like this – innovative, complex, exciting – is what every architect wants. You finally get to catch what you've been chasing your whole professional life!"(Text: Marius Leutenegger)