Official opening of University Station

Node were commissioned to work on the landscape design for a new plaza and public realm for the improved and newly opened University Station building at the University of Birmingham. This exciting scheme is sympathetic to the site’s Roman heritage and creates a significantly improved interface with the University and Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The landscape design and interpretation will help to explain the design’s historical narrative and provide fresh insights for people visiting the station.

The development includes the new station building for the University Station along with associated public realm and landscape. The site of University Station is steeped in historical interest, from the Metchley Roman Fort settlement dating to AD50, to the Industrial infrastructure of the canal and railway, up to its modern use within a University setting. The design narrative is therefore rooted in an explanation of these historical impacts, whilst maintaining the required functional aspects of a busy station serving a thriving community and prestigious University.

The initial framework of the landscape design was arrived at by careful examination of the Roman Fort layout, as shown in the available archaeological records. Once the lines of the fort’s key features, such as ramparts, mounds and roadways were identified and overlaid on the existing topographical base, a sense of how the public realm could be structured between hard and soft materials, key routes, and pedestrian nodes became apparent.

The concept design is a culmination of different elements coming together to form a coherent site narrative: the Roman Fort provides a design framework; pedestrian desire lines and linkages between key University buildings and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital provide an overlay of routes carved into this structure; and the detailing of trees, planting, hard materials and furniture extend the narrative into a human scale. This creates a unique identity and sense of place to provide interest and delight to users and establish a site which the community can be proud of, both as a gateway to the University and as a civic space.

The layout uses a series of high quality and precisely detailed metal planters that rise away from the station building, utilising existing contours. These are punctuated with bold and wide raised grass mounds planted with wildflowers and native bulbs to depict the fort’s locations, which are elevated on an angle so as to be visible from the station entrance area. Within the ground plane, high quality paving materials are used in varying textures and sized units to demarcate the Roman fort elements as well as key pedestrian routes to the University, Hospital and Medical School. Cycle parking, seating and lighting are integrated into the design in order to keep the public realm free from clutter and legible to users. Legibility and pedestrian connectivity are prioritised, and the central plaza acts as a flexible space to cater for formal or informal events, impromptu gathering and public recreation.

We have enjoyed the experience of working with the wider project team including Associated Architects, Mott McDonalds and Volker Fitzpatrick, for our clients West Midlands Combined Authority, University of Birmingham and Transport for West Midlands – we can’t wait to visit the finished development!