“Gwalior Train Station” spread over 120 acres, is located in the central part of India. The design brief is to redevelop and expand the existing train station and develop the remaining site as a mixed use development.

Gwalior is a city of “forts and palaces”, with rich architectural history on display. Site for Gwalior train station boasts of one such monument that was built in 1908 and is currently being used as the existing train station. Given the limited capacity of the existing station, another 24,111 sqm is being added to the station building.

Given the existing heritage building is not grade listed building, there was an option to demolish the existing and with a tabula rasa. The design evolved with keeping the existing heritage building at the epicenter and design the new building to echo the rich past. Station complex is seen as a melting pot of the old and new and responds to the same in the architectural style. The station building has a prominent architectural style in terms of an “arch”, which is a distinct architectural feature and defines the architecture of the space.

Proposed design pivots on the arch of the existing station building and reinterprets the same as a light weight shell structure with a profile of an arch. The design component integrates the various aspects of architecture, structure, services, skylights and façade. This system is based on ease of deployment, as the station is in use, and the project has to be executed keeping in mind minimum disruption to the movement of existing trains.