SPECULATIVE WREXHAM GATEWAY PROJECT // REMIX-POST POPULOUS CREATED TO SPUR IDEAS FOR THE AREA.
Speculative Civic Park + Train Station in Wrexham, Wales
The newly designed KOP stand by Populous at the Wrexham Racecourse sits comfortably within the city, but also has the potential to act as a beacon.
Creating an architectural procession that leads to the city centre from the racecourse would be a powerful way to link that physical and emotional connection, while creating a civic plaza that could entertain a variety of functions.
Rethinking the interiors of the train depot at the platform level as a reaction to the newly designed KOP Stand in Wrexham, Wales. This version explores a lighter color palette and the inclusion of brick at the platforms as a contextual connection to the city and material connection to the KOP stand itself. The lighter palette is less mysterious but more interesting geometrically and a great way to be welcomed to Wrexham.
Like many others around the world, I have fallen in love with the city and the people of Wrexham while watching the documentary series, “Welcome to Wrexham”.
After watching the show, I started to investigate the surrounding urban environment of Wrexham and I became interested in how the new stadium could connect to the city and the UK as a whole. What I came to realize is that the area would benefit from a state-of-the-art train station to welcome visitors to Wrexham in a powerful and emotional way, while solving the problem of physical separation created by the train tracks themselves as well as mitigating flooding around the area of the tracks.
As such, a new Civic Park and Train Station would not only improve infrastructure elements to assist with the new influx of individuals to Wrexham, but would serve as a reconnection for the city itself by creating a new public park that is designed to entertain multiple programmatic activities, including that of a plaza for the new KOP stadium.
The Civic Park will be a series of cascading gardens, each unique and filled with diverse plant species including several nearly extinct native species with the potential to act as a wildlife habitat for a multitude of plants and animals while including areas for people to gather to enjoy the park and surrounding wildlife.
Certain gardens will incorporate recycled cementitious material from the demolition of the existing train platforms and buildings as the planting material. These areas will be home to plants that do not thrive with nutrients and actually prefer conditions as these. Others will be filled with plants that do not need additional watering beyond what nature can provide. Weeping willows that are already growing in the area will be transplanted to specific areas to alleviate excessive rainfall. Right Plant, Right Spot.
The following plans and renders represent almost four months of research and development of a speculative Civic Park + Train Station adjacent to the new KOP Football Stadium in Wrexham, Wales by POPULOUS.