Fab 40: Florence Railway Station

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TAV Station in Florence
(Image credit: press)

The TAV Station in Florence, scheduled to open in 2010, is a welcome by-product of the Italian government's new national high-speed rail network programme. The Foster + Partners design consists of a single large chamber, 454 by 52 metres, designed to minimize energy consumption and running cost.

TAV Station in Florence

(Image credit: press)

See more of the Florence Railway station

Cutting-edge features like energy-generating photovoltaic cells appear alongside classical local materials of green and white marble and a dramatic arching roof that creates an abundance of natural light but still permits effective regulation of temperature. The result is yet another example of Foster's approach, marrying old world aesthetics and modern practicality.

Ellie Stathaki
Ellie Stathaki

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).