Five insights into Melbourne’s new Anzac Station

Anzac Station – the third of five new stations to be finished for the forthcoming Metro Tunnel Project in Melbourne, Australia – is ready for testing ahead of the underground rail line’s grand opening in 2025.

Here, we reveal five little-known facts about the design of this new landmark for the city.

1. Reflecting the philosophy of an ​‘open metro’ natural light is drawn down to the lower level of Anzac Station through glazed circular lift shafts located at the diagonal far ends of the concourse and skylights lining the canopy over the main entrance.

2. We’ve transformed a road in the Anzac Station precinct into over 5,000 sq metres of community park at Albert Road Reserve, providing a pedestrian-friendly plaza and a cooling green space in a once heat-charged area.

3. The station’s timber canopy is 84m long and 20m wide, sitting on 16m high metal legs. It has 12 skylights at its spine.

4. In a first for Melbourne, the main entry to the station is located on a tram platform for safe and seamless commuter transit between tram and train. Underpasses from the station concourse to each side of St Kilda Road provide easy access to the surrounding parkland.

5. Raafat Ishak’s bright and colourful artwork, Future Wall Painting, is printed onto glass wall panels at the Albert Road station entrance. Featuring abstract representations of iconic St Kilda Road landmarks and Indigenous fauna and flora, it acknowledges the boulevard’s pre-colonial landscape.

The design for the Metro Tunnel is a world-class collaboration between leading design practices Hassell, Weston Williamson + Partners and RSHP.