J Mayer H creates international tram stop from stack of concrete discs

Architecture studio J Mayer H has unveiled a tram stop made from a stack of exposed-concrete discs in Kehl, Germany.

J Mayer H designed the tram stop, which is outside Kehl town hall, as the terminus for the line that runs across the German border to Strasbourg, in France.

German architect Jürgen Mayer H, who leads the studio, gave the tram stop an unusual form to welcome people commuting on the international tram line to the town of Kehl.

"People smile when they arrive at the station," Mayer H told Dezeen.The distinctive tram stop is constructed from a series of circular concrete discs and acts as the counterpoint to the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Hoenheim-Nord Terminus in Strasbourg – at the other end of the line.

"The tram line has two anchors that are placed in both final stops," continued Mayer H.

Described by the studio as an "infrastructural sculpture", the stop has two shelters placed between the tram lines. Each of the shelters is constructed from two vertical exposed-concrete discs that support a concrete roof.

A third vertical disk, within each shelter, incorporates a bench.We wanted to develop architectural elements that work in different dimensions, in horizontal and vertical placements and as wall, roof and seating units," said Mayer .H

"It's a selection of a kit of parts to be further explored."Each of the eight rounded forms that make up the tram stop were created through a process that Mayer H describes as a "dirty geometry".

"The shapes evolved through a process of dirty geometry – evaluations," he explained. "Basic precise curvatures got mixed up and recombined to create the organic outlines."

Berlin-based J Mayer H also used sculptural shapes in its design of the FOM Hochschule university building in Düsseldorf, which has curved balconies that bulge out from the building.

While tram routes are still being laid in cities across the world, in China, a cross between a bus, train, and tram, that doesn't run on tracks has been developed. The trackless and driverless "rail bus" made its first journey in the Chinese city of Zhuzhou in 2017.