Last week, York City Planning Commission Chairman Chris Colwick used his crucial vote to give approval to the controversial Central Hall scheme, which has drawn criticism for its impact on local access and roads across the site.
The proposal would close Lyman Road (marked by blue chart below) and uniting the two NRM sites on both sides, resting on a central round plinth built on the former road.
Residents claimed that while the scheme would allow them to walk through it during the museum’s opening hours, outside of those times it would effectively block an existing route into the city center and a terminal for about 4,000 people.
The proposals include an alternative pedestrian path that circles the museum, but this would be about 400 meters longer than the current path along Lyman Road. chart received 98 letters objection.
The museum’s request was previously postponed to allow an evaluation of the impact of equality, and to determine how it would work The needs of people with disabilities will be taken into account in the proposed course.
speak during the meeting Voting against the request last Thursday (August 4), Labor Council member Janet Locker said: “It is appalling that we are asking our residents to give up this absolutely free 24 hour access.”
After a four-hour discussion, the council members were finally divided from five to five over whether to approve the scheme. But Colwick, as chair of the committee and as one of those supporting the plans, had a casting vote.
Judith McNicol, Director of NRM, said the plans would have “transformative benefits for the city of York and the wider region,” adding: “This approval will allow the museum to realize its potential as the ‘Railway Museum of the World’ by improving our offering, welcoming more visitors, and helping us to Inspiring the next generation of engineers and problem solvers.
“As we move toward construction, we will continue to engage with residents and visitors to ensure that the World Museum we are creating can serve as a true community resource for our developing neighborhood.”
This decision is a huge blow to the locals. This development will disproportionately affect people with disabilities, women, children and pedestrians + cyclists going about their daily lives. I continue to urge NRM to meaningfully engage with the community to develop less harmful plans
– Rachel Melly (@rachel_melly_) August 4, 2022
Feilden Fowles was chosen to design the layout of the central hall In early 2020 Preceding Carmody Groarke, Architects 6a, Heneghan Peng Architects, Atelier d’Architecture Philippe Prost.
The two-stage competition, organized by Malcolm Reading Consultants on behalf of the Science Museum group, called for the creation of a 4,500-square-meter gallery and portal structure for seating between the Museum’s Great Hall and the exhibition spaces in the Terminal Hall at the Museum’s entrance.
The AJ 40 under 40 Exercise She won the competition with a “low-tech” low carbon round roof with a rib-like Douglas fir roof.
The new central hall is described as the “cornerstone” of the master plan for the renovation of the museum’s Vision 2025. The museum’s ongoing renovation and expansion is part of the 45-hectare York Central development that has been laid out Allies and Morrison, Which got the outline layout approval in 2019.
The central hall will house an exhibition “displaying the latest innovations in rail technology” and featuring a café overlooking the new Museum Square, a shop, a flexible event space and new visitor facilities.
The scheme was developed with M&E engineer Max Fordham and structural engineer Price & Myers.
Ingrid Petty, coordinator at Fielden Falls, said the projectNot only will it transform the site by providing a new welcome space and exhibition hall for the visitor, and improve access to and readability of the existing exhibitions, it will also “connect a new public plaza between the museum and the station.”
She said: “The team has worked closely with the museum over the past two years to improve the brief and define the sustainability ambitions of the project and [we] We look forward to progress in the next stages.
The museum opened in 1975 on the former 8ha site of the York North Locomotive Depot. It houses more than 100 locomotives and 200 other pieces of rolling stock. The museum is the largest of its kind in the country and is visited by 750,000 visitors annually.
The Feilden Fowls scheme is expected to be built in time for the museum’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2025.
Structural analysis by Price & Myers (From Design statement and access)
The new Central Hall building was designed to fill a critical node in the site plan that was liberated by the removal of Lyman Road. The building provides a central cylinder to allow for intuitive access and routing space, and an easy link between the major access points in the Station Hall, Great Hall and Workshop building, along with new retail, café and galleries spaces.
The one-story building has been designed to a large extent, so that it has a very low carbon content. This means that carbon-intensive materials – particularly concrete and steel – are used in a very limited and precise manner throughout the building structure.
Our primary mission is to be as efficient as possible in our designs to ensure that every structural element functions optimally.
This process is aided by the use of simple regular grids, not imposing onerous loading requirements, avoiding complexity and structural misalignment, and using structure geometry to help create efficient shapes.
In general, the structure will be exposed as much as possible, which not only gives the building clarity and clarity, but also reduces embodied carbon by eliminating the requirements for finishing materials.
Structural scheme primarily in load-bearing timber structures and steel works with non-bearing exterior walls. The results of the geotechnical investigation indicate that the superstructure will be supported on stacked foundations, and the ground floor will be shaped from concrete to obtain the appropriate strength, load capacity and flexibility of use.
The central hall can be divided into three main areas: the future gallery to the west, the central hall in the middle, and the café to the east.
A structural grid of approximately 9 x 9 meters is adopted for the Futures Gallery and Café to align with the existing Station Hall structural grid while also reducing the number of columns and increasing the flexibility of the space.
The roofs will consist of rafters spanning over purlins which in turn will be supported on symmetrical trusses of the timber roof spaced at centers of about 3 metres, which in turn are supported on steel carriage beams and cruciform columns. The central hall drum features a radial timber truss structure with wire and precision steel struts when needed to improve timbers.
Where possible, prefabricated trusses will be manufactured and delivered to site in spires of approximately 6.5 m in length and 3 m in height at their highest point. Initial inquiries with a woodworker indicated that this item could be delivered via the Leeman Road tunnel (bridge hull) on very low loaders, due to the tunnel height limit of 3.7 metres.
The stability of the building will be provided by a roof diaphragm, a set of vertical steel-pillar bays and a plywood stud-cut wall.
The evolution of the main rotunda: the competition winning design (left) and submitted plan (right)
project’s data
Site York
local authority York City Council
client Science Museum Collection
Architect Fielden Falls
landscape architect Barton Howe (for planning)
Structural and civil engineer Price and Myers
Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant Max Fordham
audio consultant Max Fordham
Planning Consultant O’Neill Associates
Quantity Surveyor Arcadis
Principal designer and project manager Believer + Gold
lighting consultant Max Fordham
main contractor Not set yet
Finance to be confirmed
Contest date 2020
Expected achievement 2025
Total indoor floor area in square meters approx 3200 square meters
contract form Traditional – Bidding in two stages
Values to be confirmed