RESEARCH AND PRACTICE- THE EUROPEAN HIGH SPEED STATION

Abstract. The practices of planning and architecture are undergoing considerable transformation especially for urban developments asso-ciated to infrastructural changes. This paper considers the proliferation of high-speed railways in Europe as a research opportunity to better understand the practice of complex interventions. Strategic sites such as station areas along the High Speed Network are shaping major cit-ies for the forthcoming years. The design of large institutional build-ings and facilities, such as the transportation hubs, require a different collaborative approach between private and public entities. The pro-ject of Rotterdam Central Station in the Netherlands is an exemplary complex urban intervention along the EU high-speed network. The size of the programs and the uncertainty about content and financing requires a cyclic design process in which the boundary between archi-tecture and planning is constantly being pushed in both directions. A critical review of new design practices, tools and competences that deal with this issue is becoming more and more important. The inten-tion of this contribution is to explore the process of back and forth be-tween multiple clients and designers to revise and redevelop require-ments in the light of design developments and discussions among the parties and, at the same time, questioning how architectural design practice can facilitate the process of negotiation