Chapter 28

Studies on the Design of Rail Transit

Complex of Guangda Station in Changsha
Metro Line 2

Wei Sun and Yagang Liu

Abstract This paper analyses the influence the restrictive and decisive factors the
construction of rail transit complex of Guangda Station on Changsha Metro Line
2, combining with the city planning and the TOD theories. The construction mode of
the rail transport complex in the commercial space is discussed. The design methods
are summarized from the aspects of concept definition, function layout, streamline
design, space forms and so on. The technology strategies of organizing stream of
people with transit hall as the core and developing commercial space with the indoor
and outdoor pedestrians are presented.

Keywords Changsha • Metro • Complex • Commercial

With the development of urbanization, China’s urban rail transit enters a rapid
development stage, and the planning of rail transit stations has a huge influence on
the land development of surrounding area. The construction of urban rail transit has
become a strategy of the development of China’s large and medium-sized cities.
Subway station can spur the business planning and integration of the region, and
enlarge the scope of the business irradiation district. Therefore, through subway
station design, the city design can be gradually optimized and the urban functions
and the quality of urban areas can be improved.

W. Sun (*)
School of Architecture and Design, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China
e-mail: sunwei@bjtu.edu.cncom
Y. Liu
City Track Traffic Design Institute, Fifth Railway Survey and Design Institute,
Beijing, China

H. Xia and Y. Zhang (eds.), The 2nd International Symposium 273

on Rail Transit Comprehensive Development (ISRTCD) Proceedings,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-37589-7_28, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
274 W. Sun and Y. Liu

Fig. 28.1 Rendering

28.1 The Project Background

The Guangda Metro Station, which is the terminal of Changsha Metro Line 2 to the
southeast, is located in Changsha City, Huang Xing town that has a total area of
84 km2 and a population of 50,000, is located in the eastern suburbs of Changsha
City, near the Liuyang River. The town has an area of 5 km2, with a residential
population of 14,400. Guangda Station and the surrounding land are in the planning
areas of Wuhan-Guangzhou new town near the intersection of Beijing-Guangzhou
and Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railways. In accordance with the conception of
Changsha Municipal Government, a central business district is planned on both
sides of the high-speed rail transportation hub and the Liuyang River, and a
commercial office cultural center is planned on the east bank of the Liuyang river
in Wuhan-Guangzhou new town. The overall planning extents along two perpen-
dicular axis and the east-west axis is the main one in which Guangda station is
located. To sum up, Guangda Station is very suitable for commercial development
because of its advantaged position (Fig. 28.1).

28.2 Concept Orientation

28.2.1 Basis of the Design Concepts Orientation

As an important part of the city public transportation, rail transit station has
catalytic action to the development of urban areas and brings convenience trans-
portation connecting work, shopping and leisure for the urban areas [1]. Following
the TOD traffic dominant theory, commercial, residential, service and other related
28 Studies on the Design of Rail Transit Complex of Guangda Station. . . 275

functional space are gathered around the transportation hub and a comprehensive
and intensive land use pattern is formed. The compact development of land use can
make the employment, living and recreational functions close to each other, to
share infrastructure and to provide more public transportation opportunities such
that energy consumption can be reduced [2].

28.2.2 Factor Analysis of the Design Concept Orientation

The case comprehensively analyzes the upper structure of the urban development
and the planning system of the urban traffic. Influencing factors of the design
concept is summarized as the following three aspects, first, the positioning of
Guangda Station a city transportation hub in Changsha City public transport
system, and it is also a transfer station for intercity traffic. The station has a great
catalytic action on the regional development; second, according to the conception
of the regional planning, Wuhan-Guangzhou new town where Guangda Station is
located will become the city sub-center in Changsha. In the future, whether the
public services, transportation, business, tourism culture, or commerciality,
residentiality will be perfect facilities and city spaces radiating surroundings. The
connection between Guangda station and the main city of Changsha is obvious;
third, Guangda Station domain, sitting on the landscape belt of Liuyang River
riparian with the unique ecological landscape superiority, will form a popular
interaction. It can be said that the construction of the Guangda station possesses
the advantages of “Climate, geography and human harmoniousness”.

28.2.3 The Target of the Design Concept Orientation

Based on the above analysis, Guangda Station is overall orientated as a modern

commercial city complex combining the functions of transportation hub, shopping,
leisure, entertainment, dining, living etc. in one. The infrastructure, including
boutique business, retail business, culture shows, business office, hotel, conference
etc. in the region can be further improved and the function of radiation to the
surrounding areas can be played through the construction of the station, to enhance
the value of the surrounding land especially the residential land.

28.3 Functional Layout

The land area of Guangda Station is 8.9 ha and the total construction area of
Guangda Station complex is 290,269 m2, with the volume rate of 3.5. The building
takes business as the main industry and integrates various functions of transporta-
tion hub, parking, apartment and office etc. The commercial space area accounts for
276 W. Sun and Y. Liu

Fig. 28.2 General plan and functional layout

Table 28.1 Area and proportion of the complex function space

Construction area Amount of parking Proportion
Item (m2) (unit) (%)
Commercial Over ground commercial 174,550 147,091 60.14
Underground commercial 27,459
Commercial apartment 43,632 15.03
Park for buses 4,150 20 1.43
Park for taxies 5,998 160 2.07
Park of social cars 7,327 210 2.52
P+R garage underground 25,573 583 8.81
Garage in the air 29,039 730 10.00
Total construction area 290,269 100

about 60 % of the complex, and the amount of parking is up to 1,313 units

(Fig. 28.2, Table 28.1).
Functional layout takes “clear partition, convenient links” as the principle with
the horizontal and vertical partitions combined. Commercial space is located on the
podium and the first floor underground, while the commercial apartment is located
in the high-rise building on the north side. The station hall of line 2 is located
beneath the southern part of the commercial space, while the central hall and the
transfer space of line 4 is located beneath the mid commercial space. The transfer
hub of the traffic connection and transfer is located in the circular building which is
on the east of the complex, while parking garage is located on the second under-
ground floor, the fifth and sixth floors. The constitution of the commercial space
takes diversification and composition as features, and has integrated functions such
as supermarket, the main stores, boutiques, retail stores, food court, movie city and
28 Studies on the Design of Rail Transit Complex of Guangda Station. . . 277

so on. Integrating shopping, dining, entertainment, culture, art and other consump-
tion functions in one, the commercial space can even accommodate “flagship
store”, the themed entertainment, leisure facilities, diversified commercial pedes-
trian and other various formats.

28.4 Flow Line Design

28.4.1 Design of the Internal Traffic Flow Lines

The traffic flow line can be divided into three types: the flow line for accessing the
subway stations, subway and other transportation transfer flow line, and business
flow lines. Metro stations can be accessed through the sunken plaza directly, or
through the ground floor by staircase. The transfer between P+R and other transits is
achieved in subway station hall and transfer hall through commercial pedestrian.
The design of these two flow lines strives to achieve a seamless connection. Vehicle
is separated from pedestrian, and the motor vehicle can enter down into the
underground garage from the northern side of the entrance, or up into it in the
high-rise park or entry into the Park-and-Ride parking garage on the ground. Both
apartments and shopping mall have vertical elevators to the high-rise park (garage
in the air) and it provides maximum convenience for business and commercial
activities; business flow is flexible to enter into the underground business from
either the subway station hall directly, or the sunken plaza, or other multiple
entrances of the ground floor. The diversity of the commercial lines provides a
good guarantee for commercial passenger flow (Fig. 28.3).

Fig. 28.3 Organization of the internal traffic flow

278 W. Sun and Y. Liu

Fig. 28.4 Organization of the external traffic flow

28.4.2 Design of the External Traffic Flow Line

The design of external traffic fully considers the internal flow and the reasonable
connection in the complex, and connects the internal and external traffics. Main
flow line, including crowd flow, vehicles flow of social vehicle (P+R or other), taxi,
bus lines and so on. The crowd flow is arranged in the south, while the vehicles flow
is on the north side, to separate people and vehicles. Social cars, taxies access the
station from the north side of base, while buses, P+R society cars enter the station
from the northern side and leave from the eastern side. The high-rise park is
referenced from Tsing Yi Station in Hong Kong, to solve the traffic flow, as well
as other parking problems by utilizing the ramp (Fig. 28.4).

28.5 Space Form

The complex building has rich functions and complex flow lines. This case uses a
variety of spatial organization forms, to solve the problem of transit, shopping,
business, leisure and other functions, of which spaces are mixed and interspersed
[3], so as to expand the advantageous design elements to enlarge commercial
value, and to form a rich, interesting, convenient and efficient urban public
environment.
28 Studies on the Design of Rail Transit Complex of Guangda Station. . . 279

28.5.1 Sunken Commercial Plaza

The main design purpose of the sunken plaza is to expand business interface and to
make an inventory to the underground business. In this case, the sunken plaza is
designed on the south side of the complex, where the station hall of line 2 is located.
The difference in level between the roof and the ground of the station hall is more
than 2 m. The sunken square makes proper use of this level difference and save the
construction cost. The plaza not only solves many functional problems, but also
increases the interest of commercial space, and raises its commercial value.

28.5.2 Indoor Commercial Pedestrian

The interior commercial space of the complex uses commercial pedestrian to organize
the stream of shoppers. The spaces both on top and bottom of the commercial street
are linked up. Glass sunroof is applied making the interior space bright and open.
Pedestrian integrates the commercial spaces together, making the space with proper
density and with improved comfort. At the same time, the open space is conducive to
aggregate more passengers, to increase the balance and quality of the store value.

28.5.3 Outdoor Commercial Pedestrian

The land of Guangda Station is deep in the north and south. It is not enough to take
the interfaces adjacent to the urban roads in north, south, east and west directions as
business interfaces. To solve the problem, an east to west outdoor commercial
pedestrian in the centre of the complex is introduced to expand the interface of
urban business. At the same time, the pedestrian echoes the axis of Wuhan-
Guangzhou Metro commercial space, maintaining the integrity of the overall
plan. The introduction of the pedestrian also improves the spatial environment
and reduces energy consumption, so that the quality and commercial value of the
whole complex space are greatly improved.

28.5.4 “Glass” Island

The transfer hall of the complex, which is the transfer space of line 2 and line 4, is
located in the centre of the pedestrian where crowd flow concentrates in. In this design, a
“glass” island is applied to flow the space and to make the space with clear accessibility
and full openness. The centre of the pedestrian is widened to divide the commercial
street space into two, so that it can connect different architectural spaces in both
horizontal and vertical directions. Above the boarding hall, a large indoor space with
a curved glass roof is formed. The “Glass” Island introduces natural light and ventilation
for the underground metro station space, making the design more humanized.
280 W. Sun and Y. Liu

28.5.5 Half Interior Plaza

In order to make the commercial space has better openness and connectivity, the
podium of the high-rise apartment retreats floor by floor towards the pedestrian
street. Green plants are grown on the platform to form a garden in the air. The centre
of the building is the main entrance which is designed as a giant form with three
stories, and directly connected with the outdoor pedestrian. The half interior space
extends the pedestrian street and forms a semi-indoor square. The open space of the
square can well attract people’s attention, and can be used as a place for business
shows. Two outdoor escalators are set in the square to introduce passengers into the
second or third floor directly, expanding the utilization value of the commercial
space indirectly.

28.6 Conclusions

In the design of the rail transit complex, the land intensive use concept in develop-
ment of city space [4], is carried out. Composite functions and comprehensive use
of the space are the basic strategies that have reached a consensus. The methods to
make use of the passenger flow brought by rail transit station, to organize reason-
able traffic flow, and to construct positive architectural space have decisive effects
on achieving the maximizing functioning of value of the land. The case studies the
format configuration of the complex commercial space, arrangement of the flow
lines and functional layout deeply, and focuses on the strategy of the integration of
indoor and outdoor commercial spaces, and attempts on creating commercial space
suitable for the experiential business pattern.

Acknowledgment This research was supported by: National Natural Science Foundation of
China (51078022).
The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2009JBZ023).
Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China (20090009120013).

References

1. Rubenstein JM (2003) The cultural landscape: an introduction to human geography, 7nd edn
[M]. Person Education, Inc, Upper Saddle River, p 97
2. Gregg Doyle D, Chen Zhen (2002) Densification and gentrification in the USA: linking the
agendas of “Smart Growth” and Inner-city advocates. Urban Plan Overseas 3:2–9
3. Lu Jiwei, Han Jing (2007) Systemization of mass transit station area and urban design. Urban
Plan Forum 2:32–36
4. Li Chi (2006) Probed into city spacial development pattern based on compact land-use. Urban
Plan Forum 1:55