Guangzhou Baiyun Station Named to Prix Versailles List of “World's Most Beautiful Stations”
(Tokyo) – The Nikken Sekkei-designed Guangzhou Baiyun Station in China has been selected as one of seven “World's Most Beautiful Stations” for the 2025 Prix Versailles. The award ceremony was held on December 4 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Representing the company at the event were Byung Gyoon Jung, Design Director of the Design Group in the Global Architectural Design Department, and Jan Henckens, General Manager of the Global Business Development Group in the Global Business Department.
Established in 2015 under the auspices of UNESCO, the Prix Versailles international architecture and design award recognizes outstanding global architectural projects across eight categories, including airports and hotels, based on criteria such as innovation, creativity, regional culture and environmental performance.
Established in 2015 under the auspices of UNESCO, the Prix Versailles international architecture and design award recognizes outstanding global architectural projects across eight categories, including airports and hotels, based on criteria such as innovation, creativity, regional culture and environmental performance.
The Grand Canopy, designed with petals of the cotton flower, a symbol of Guangzhou City. 🄫yangmin/mintwow
The design was recognized for a bright, open layout that incorporates natural light and greenery, offering a modern reinterpretation of Guangzhou's traditional arcades.
Project Details
Client: China Railway Group Limited
Lead architect: Nikken Sekkei Ltd
Collaborating architect: China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co., Ltd.
Architectural Design & Research Institute of SCUT Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Urban Planning & Design Survey Research Institute Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Baiyun Station is a high-speed rail TOD (Transit-Oriented Development) in the center of the new CBD area of northern Guangzhou is unlike any other in the world. A transportation hub with a gross floor area of approximately 450,000m2, it features twenty-four railway tracks, eleven platforms, six metro lines, and three bus terminals, with a railway station area of approximately 14.50,000m2. The developed area above the station building is approximately 170,000 m2, and the area around the station includes offices, commercial facilities, SA, housing, etc., all of which developed in an integrated manner.
The concept is to dissolve division. The ring-shaped pedestrian route, Transit Loop, connects two subway halls located 400m apart, east to west, a high-speed train station, a bus terminal, a plaza, and other facilities, with a multi-level intersection from two stories below ground and three floors above ground. Breaking away from traditional station buildings that tend to be isolated from the city, it is a transportation hub that strives to blend in despite its gigantic scale.
Lead architect: Nikken Sekkei Ltd
Collaborating architect: China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co., Ltd.
Architectural Design & Research Institute of SCUT Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Urban Planning & Design Survey Research Institute Co., Ltd.
Guangzhou Baiyun Station is a high-speed rail TOD (Transit-Oriented Development) in the center of the new CBD area of northern Guangzhou is unlike any other in the world. A transportation hub with a gross floor area of approximately 450,000m2, it features twenty-four railway tracks, eleven platforms, six metro lines, and three bus terminals, with a railway station area of approximately 14.50,000m2. The developed area above the station building is approximately 170,000 m2, and the area around the station includes offices, commercial facilities, SA, housing, etc., all of which developed in an integrated manner.
The concept is to dissolve division. The ring-shaped pedestrian route, Transit Loop, connects two subway halls located 400m apart, east to west, a high-speed train station, a bus terminal, a plaza, and other facilities, with a multi-level intersection from two stories below ground and three floors above ground. Breaking away from traditional station buildings that tend to be isolated from the city, it is a transportation hub that strives to blend in despite its gigantic scale.
🄫yangmin/mintwow
From right: Jan Henkens and Byung Gyoon Jung of Nikken Sekkei
Courtesy of Prix Versailles
