Three cities, three metros: The changing role of urban transport design in Australia
Australia’s new metro projects are reshaping more than just transit networks; they’re reimagining how urban areas link vital urban and ecological corridors, strengthen communities, and embed First Nations heritage into the heart of our cities.
By Keith Allen and Kevin Lloyd
Top image: Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport, Melbourne Metro and Cross River Rail
Our work on three metro projects in Western Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane charts an evolution of the changing role of transport design in our urban centres. Across Australia — on projects such as Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport, Metro Tunnel Project and Cross River Rail — our emerging metro designs combine to deliver over 80km of corridor length, impacting millions of people in adjacent communities.
CONNECTING PEOPLE
City-scale metro projects offer a unique opportunity to positively impact our urban environment. They influence growth, movement, connections and ultimately, the efficiency with which people go about their daily lives. Transport corridors are essential for moving and connecting people efficiently, but they bring their own set of challenges.
Through our research and hands-on experience designing urban transport projects worldwide, we understand that linear infrastructure corridors — such as railways — affect far more than just the land they occupy.
Their impacts extend outward, influencing local communities, and in Australia, they intersect with the heritage of First Nations people in ways that are both profound and lasting. Addressing these impacts requires more than designing efficient stations; it calls for a holistic approach that considers the social fabric and historical significance of the regions they pass through.
Melbourne’s new Metro Tunnel Project — a collaboration between Hassell, WW+P Architects and RSHP, as part of the CYP Design and Construction (CYP D&C) Joint Venture — will provide five new stations and effectively five new public buildings with integrated public space that will seamlessly connect the people and fabric of the city. Each station varies and is specific and respectful to its place and its public setting and seeks to celebrate the joy and efficiency of travel through an experience that is authentically Melbourne.
Open Metro is the design philosophy shaping the Metro Tunnel stations and is underpinned by several key drivers, including openness and generosity of space, connection to nature and our Indigenous culture, ensuring each station responds to its local context. It is also a proposition to better connect various parts of the city and ensure natural daylight, fresh air, weather protection and open spaces are present in each of the stations.
The footprint of Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel Project and our rail projects across Australia is significant — not just in terms of infrastructure but in connecting and creating spaces for people. By enhancing public spaces, often many kilometres beyond the stations themselves, we’re making it easier for people to connect with transport, find housing, and access new workspaces. Importantly, these projects help local communities grow and thrive and can add value to respective neighbourhoods.
STRENGTHENING COMMUNITIES
Brisbane’s Cross River Rail has evolved from a project that initially sought to solve a capacity constraint to a project that is truly reshaping the city and rebuilding communities. It has created economic growth, regenerated existing precincts and is driving the creation of new places.
The new Albert Street Station underground, for example, will be the first train station in the city centre in more than 120 years. Its dramatic, cantilevered entrance canopy will be a new Brisbane landmark, while its shady, landscaped forecourt will provide shelter and attract public events like performances or pop-ups.
Designing for an inclusive, dignified and intuitive urban transport experience is central to the seamless transition from character neighbourhoods through the bustling city centre and beyond.
A commitment to removing cars from two city blocks in favour of a vibrant public space strengthens the precinct’s green spine, a tree-lined corridor linking Roma Street Parklands to the City Botanic Gardens with shady and pedestrian-friendly streets.
Community identity expresses itself strongly through climate-responsive design. For Cross River Rail, we developed a design concept that was a direct response to climate and place. The idea of someone sitting under a tree in the City Botanic Gardens was directly translated into architecture that provides shade and shelter, alongside access to natural light and ventilation.
The response to place was also extended below ground to the mezzanine and platform levels. The idea of the traditional Queensland veranda is strongly expressed in the linings of the underground spaces. The new station will provide a unique experience for Brisbane — a place familiar to locals but lingering in visitors’ memories.
The people, history and culture of this subtropical Australian region are front and centre of the Cross River Rail experience.
DESIGNING FOR COUNTRY
At its core, the Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport line is deeply engaged with the First Nations stories of Dharug Country and is set to transform Australia’s Western Sydney Aerotropolis region. Developed as part of the Parklife Metro Consortium, Hassell is designing six new stations and precincts and a maintenance and operations depot. All are connected by a 23-km corridor of Cumberland Plain, linking the existing community of St Marys with the new Western Sydney Airport and Bradfield City Centre.
Working with First Nations cultural design and research practice, Djinjama, we’ve developed a unique theme for each station, focusing on the significance of Country and the natural character of the landscape. This integrated approach has been embedded throughout all design phases and has served as a pilot project for Sydney Metro and a benchmark for the Government Architect NSW’s Connecting with Country framework.
Djinjama’s Director, Dr Danièle Hromek, guided the evolution of our design approach for Wianamatta, as it is known by the Dharug People. Our design research for the project is founded on an extensive exploration of the Cumberland Plain, characterised by vast skies meeting the horizon and land shaped by ephemeral creek systems. This exploration has been distilled into a guiding design narrative, ‘Carved Earth connected to Big Sky,’ which informed every subsequent design decision.
The setting of each station and its precincts reflect the vision for Western Parkland City, which is based on resilience, embracing biodiversity and sustainability.
Each station is set within a rich landscape of green, using a combination of native planting and shade trees referencing back to the Cumberland Plain. This work builds upon a series of planting trials Hassell has been leading with Sydney Metro as a research project in collaboration with the University of Melbourne.
By balancing our international expertise with a profound respect for and engagement with Country, the new rail network will reflect the spirit of Wianamatta, the Cumberland Plain and the broader Western Sydney region.
Our work on this project exemplifies how thoughtful, research-driven design can respect the past while facilitating a prosperous future, marking a generational milestone in Sydney’s urban development.
