Tram Stop at the University en Alicante

A cantilever, which is not. The canopy hides its supports. A lightweight fence and yet the key of the whole structure.

The plane of the canopy is solved by a lightened concrete slab, which provides the exposed face of the reinforced concrete, and at the same time reduces its weight to optimize the behaviour of a cover plane. The reinforced slab supports with eccentricity in the fence line formed by hollow steel tubes #120.4, so that it conceals the connection and seems to float without reaching the light tubes. On the opposite side, the slab hangs from an enormous beam of 2m high and more than 30m long, which folds and falls to the ground to serve as support. However, it disappears at the other end, because it folds over the concrete slab, and, without showing itself, resolves a cantilever of more than 10m with an intermediate support on the fence, which subtly and quietly extends below the canopy to support the large upper beam.

The horizontal stability required by its location in a seismic activity zone is provided by a reinforced concrete wall at one end and the large steel pilaster at the other. In order to avoid buckling due to the slenderness of the fencing elements under the enormous load of the large upper beam, the tubular supports are connected between them, so that those that are tensed serve as lateral stabilization for the compressed ones. On the other hand, the parts corresponding to the start of the cantilever are solved with solid steel section.