The second railway age: Redevelopment of heritage building & transformation of transport hub

Wellington railway station was built in 1937, a symbol of the prosperity of rail transport, which declined over the next 85 years and was gradually replaced by road and air transport. Today, New Zealand's high urbanisation rate and reliance on private vehicles has led to problems such as traffic congestion and does not meet New Zealand's development targets for 2050 emissions standards. This research will be on the basis of a holistic architectural intervention for Wellington Station, including the renovation of the original heritage building and the redevelopment of its surrounding facilities and areas, while introducing contemporary New Zealand architectural concepts of sustainability and decolonisation to promote a better transport hub building. This will be done through a combination of both research through design and research about design research methods and based on extensive literature and precedent studies. The methodology and knowledge gained will be applied to the design of the redevelopment of the railway station, through a multimedia process of diagramming, sketching, iterative modelling and finally critically examining whether the building fulfils the originally specified objectives. As a result, the research will test whether the design of public transport hub typologies in architecture can positively influence characteristics such as the vitality, connectivity and walkability of cities and seeks to address the complex task of social, cultural, environmental, and climatic challenges