Kyoto’s Stunning Railway Station

“The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

Kyoto Station 京都駅

Kyoto Station is one of the largest railway stations in the world. It opened in 1997 commemorating Kyoto’s 1,200^th anniversary. The architecture is stunning, mixing a futurist style with traditional Japanese elements.

You can spend hours strolling inside and around the 70 meters high and 470 meters long railway station. Glass plates over steel frames cover most of the building. The 15 storey building incorporates a shopping mall, hotel, movie theater, restaurants, government facilities and more.

“This project is gigantic.” – Hiroshi Hara, Kyoto Station architect

Kyoto Railway Station

The entrance

The interior of the station is enormous: 238,000 square meters!

The atrium “is like a traditional Kyoto home in that nearly all the visual interest is focused inward, with a simpler face directed to the world.” – Hiroshi Hara

Station interior

On the rooftop of the station is the “Happy Terrace” – an open space surrounded by bamboo trees. A grandiose staircase of 171 steps and a series of escalators take the visitors to the top.

171 steps staircase reflection

Happy Terrace art

Children in a trip to the station posing for the photographer

Kyoto Railway Station religious ceremony place

Kyoto Hotel Granvia interior court

Arches and balconies

The railways

Architectural Elements

“Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light.” – Le Corbusier

Kyoto Railway Station facade

Geometrical shapes

Clean design

Interior court detail

Overpass

Kyoto Tower view from Kyoto Railway Station

Related

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• The Aesthetics of Japan
• Singapore’s Spectacular Architecture