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Lighting Sydney’s beating heart: Central Station’s urban renewal Around the world, central stations are the heart of cities, from London’s Kings Cross to New York’s Grand Central, to UNESCO’s World Heritage listed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai. These iconic spaces are the first impression for new arrivals, and an important transition point every single day for many locals. Sydney’s 115-year-old Central Station is no exception: a critical interchange where today suburban, intercity and regional rail services meet bus, coach and light rail services.
Completed in 2023, the primary goal of the latest Central Station redesign and upgrade, was to provide a practical and timeless utility.
No-one, however, wanted to lose the site’s connection to the past: the original sandstone buildings of the Grand Concourse fronting Eddy Avenue are a Sydney landmark. To its east sits the North Concourse, where the original Station Masters offices and the Central Electric facility are a valued reminder of the imagination of John Bradfield, the “father of modern Sydney”. Enclosing these, the centrepiece of the renewal design is a capacious steel canopy covering the North Concourse, and creating an attractive transit space with new retail and service centres.
Moderated by light
Prefabricated in steel, with white aluminium and fritted glass panels, the 80-metre x 40-metre, architect-designed canopy was built in Sydney’s neighbouring Hunter Valley. Its installation was completed in a choreographed timeframe to minimise disruption to station operations.
Skylights in the ribs of the structure, and louvres built into each end, cleverly blend the interior of the transit space with the exterior. In 24-hour operation, the mood needs constant lighting moderation. Lighting designers, Steensen Varming, opted to accentuate the architecture by incorporating 72W ERCO wall-mounted Lightscan LED luminaires, casting light upwards to accentuate the space. Each luminaire incorporates full tunable-white technology programmed to adjust to the sequence of natural light throughout the morning, day and evening. The perennial cycle from warm to cool colour temperature is aesthetically pleasing and comfortable.
Pedestrian Walkway
A further engineering masterpiece in the new station is Central Walk, an 80m long, 19m wide walkway constructed 27 metres underneath eight active railway platforms. Entirely dependent on artificial light, the space needed to feel safe and welcoming, and be future-proof. Amongst the many luminaires installed in the Walk are distinctive ERCO Compact double wallwashers lining each escalator void.
Taking advantage of ERCO’s ability to tailor their ranges to suit individual applications, each luminaire has a customised IP65 rating. Washing the walls has several benefits: light is reflected comfortably onto the activity area, light does not shine into people’s eyes in either direction on the travellators, and the tiles glow with such warmth, it is tempting to reach out and touch them.
A sustainable asset
Besides being aesthetically rewarding, Central Station’s redevelopment has projected the site into an enviable position of sustainability. It was awarded a 6 Star Green Star Design Review rating by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), attributing a 39% reduction in operational electricity consumption to, amongst other things, efficient lighting technology. The Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC) similarly determined LED lighting contributed to a calculated 36.5% energy reduction compared to the base case footprint.
Feedback on the Station renovation has been universally positive, crediting it with improving the connectivity of the space and providing a basis for further renewal of the entire southern corner of the city. To quote ArchitectureAU, “The (…) impression is of abundant fresh air and light, with clear sight lines and generous spaces for circulating or pausing ...”
