Southern Cross Station

Southern Cross Station stands in central Melbourne, Australia, on the site of the older Spencer Street Station, which had operated from 1859, redeveloped into its current form under a major reconstruction completed in 2006 to a design by the architect Nicholas Grimshaw. Its roof is the station's defining feature, a continuous undulating steel and glass form shaped like a series of connected waves rather than a conventional flat or arched train shed, a geometry chosen specifically to draw diesel locomotive exhaust upward and vent it naturally through openings at the roof's peaks without mechanical extraction systems. The design won the World Building of the Year award at the 2006 World Architecture Festival, recognized for solving the practical problem of ventilating a large enclosed station handling diesel trains through architectural form rather than added machinery. The station was renamed Southern Cross in 2005 as part of the redevelopment, after the constellation long associated with the Australian national identity and flag.