Mixed Use Building Design Over a Rail Yard
Industry : Architecture Design Location : Australia
The challenges
- The project involved development of facility on an existing rail yard spread across 210 million sq. ft.
- Design and 3D modeling for the facility to allow mixed used spaces for residence, office, mall, and hotel made it challenging.
- The integration with an existing rail yard facility made this project complex and one of its kinds.
Technology & software used
- AutoCAD, Revit & 3ds Max
The solution we delivered
- The project commenced with a detailed survey and understanding of the available space and the rail yard.
- Based on the requirement, we decided to use AutoCAD, Revit, and 3D Max software to design and develop 3D models and visualizations.
- The space above the existing rail track was designed to include residential units, office space, mall and hotels.
- Easy access points to these facilities were also designed and 3D models were developed with all the essential details.
- The models were rendered for presentation and client.
Outcome & benefits
- The project was completed within the proposed timeline and the client requirement was duly fulfilled.
- Complete handover of well rendered 3D models and visualization made it easy to communicate design and get further approvals easily.
- The result was that process of taking the project onsite fastened up and further it was completed on time, helping our clients gain good will and recognition in the industry.
Related services
This case study draws on ASTCAD’s architectural design. We also deliver:
- Structural drafting — for related project requirements
- Custom home design — for complementary deliverables
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ASTCAD is Australia’s trusted CAD design and drafting partner since 2010. We deliver to AS 1100, AS 4100, AS 3600 and AS/NZS 3000 across mechanical, structural, civil, architectural and electrical disciplines.
Designing mixed use buildings over rail corridors
Mixed use building design over an operating rail corridor stacks constraints most projects never meet: transfer structures spanning the tracks, vibration isolation between trains and apartments, construction methodology that never fouls the rail corridor, and the rail authority’s approval regime governing all of it. Our documentation approach models the full structure in BIM early, because the services-structure coordination in the transfer zones is too dense for 2D methods, and stages the drawings around the possession windows the rail operator actually grants.
Documentation for air-rights projects
Deliverables span structural documentation of the transfer and podium structures, coordination models integrating the residential and commercial fit-outs above, vibration isolation details, and the staged drawing packages the rail authority’s technical review requires. Every drawing that touches the corridor carries the interface information the operator’s engineers check first, which keeps their review cycles short and the developer’s program intact.
Air-rights and over-station development is growing across Australian cities as land tightens. If your project touches a rail or road corridor, engaging documentation support that has navigated an operator’s approval regime before is the difference between a program and an aspiration.
Beyond the corridor itself, these projects reward early engagement disproportionately: the rail authority’s technical requirements shape the structural grid, and the structural grid shapes everything above it. Developers who bring documentation support in at feasibility stage set a grid the approval process can accept; those who arrive with a finished design frequently redraw it. The feasibility-stage engagement costs a fraction of the redesign it prevents.
The vibration engineering deserves its own mention: apartments above active rail succeed or fail on the isolation design, and the isolation design depends on structural documentation that carries the acoustic engineer’s requirements into buildable details. Our drawings treated those interfaces as first-class scope, which is why the acoustic certification proceeded without redesign.