The challenge of the Eusko Tren was integrating a new underground station, the corporate HQ and commercial space to create a new civic landmark for Durango, Spain. The new building provides more than the company’s physical needs; it articulates Eusko Tren’s new identity and image, symbolising its economic growth and expansion across the region and Europe. The new building is thus a new symbol not only for the company but the citizens of Durango too. It is anticipitated the structure will be a catalyst and focus for the transformation of the town centre.

The overall concept is one of a conjoined design of buildings emerging at the head of the site from the reformed land. Existing rail tracks at ground level are to be removed and replaced with a new network of underground tracks across Durango allowing the land to return to public use. Foot paths are to be re-established across the site forming a connective urban tissue with a network of open public spaces each graded by topography and enclosure. The paths connect the park directly to the station and commercial space. The subterranean car park is to provide permanent parking for nearby residents and visitors with access and egress to the building provided at key points along its length. Vertical access routes are then generated where higher levels of pedestrian and car circulation flow across the car park’s premises. Important to the planning of the site was how public and private spaces were first anticipated and then realised. Our architectural proposal accentuates these areas with a frequency of circulation strips including the public areas with their converging circulation and the private domains adjacent to the planned residential areas. Topographic differentiations and ground level changes are then employed to create self-separation and allow programmatic connections across the site to both the car park, buildings and adjacent streets.