Station Square - Ekimae Hiroba

...While the station building was an architectural masterpiece, the roof covering the platform was the culmination of steel structural technology, and the roof covering of St. Pancras Station (designed by W. H. Barlow) had a span of about 74m, the largest in the world at the time. Railway stations are considered important facilities in urban planning as transportation hubs, and as early as Napoleon III's remodeling plan for Paris by Haussmann, main roads were built from the Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est to the Opera House, and many station squares were also built in front of the stations. The first full-scale station in Japan was Shinbashi Station (1871-72, designed by R.P. Bridgens, no longer in existence), the terminus of the first railway line in Japan that opened in 1872 (between Yokohama and Shinbashi). Other famous stations include Tokyo Station Central Station (Marunouchi Exit, 1907-14, designed by Tatsuno Kingo), which was designed with urban planning in mind, and Ueno Station (1932, designed by the Ministry of Railways), which is a good example of the platform format of a terminal station.

*Some of the terminology that refers to the "station square" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…駅舎部分が建築的意匠を凝らされるのに対して，ホームの覆屋部分は鉄骨構造技術の粋を集めたもので，前記セント･パンクラス駅の覆屋(バーローW.H.Barlow設計)は約74mの径間をもち，当時世界最大の径間を誇った。鉄道駅は交通の結節点として都市計画上重要な施設と見なされ，古くはナポレオン3世治下のオスマンによるパリ改造計画でも，北駅と東駅からオペラ座に至る幹線道路が建設されたのをはじめ，駅前広場station placeを設ける例も多い。　日本における最初の本格的な駅は，1872年日本で初めて開通した鉄道(横浜～新橋間)の終着駅である新橋停車場(1871‐72，ブリジェンスR.P.Bridgens設計，現存せず)で，このほか都市計画的配慮のもとに設計された東京駅中央停車場(丸ノ内口，1907‐14，辰野金吾設計)，終着駅のホーム形式をよく示す上野駅(1932，鉄道省設計)も有名である。…

※「駅前広場」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報