One of the participants in the international competition for the best project of the Yuzhny airport in Rostov-on-Don was the Totement / Paper bureau, which developed the project with the participation of colleagues from the ZaBor bureau.
“Our main task was to make the route of passengers through the airport as comfortable as possible,” says Levon Airapetov. - Therefore, we tried to connect all points of entry, entry, arrival, departure, entrance of transport and trains into a single rational scheme, a kind of car that surrounds the natural park located in the center of the complex, the hallmark of the territory.
The route of passengers, both arriving and departing, passes through transparent galleries located on the sides of the park. Glazed volumes of public spaces: cafes, shops and recreation areas protrude from the galleries into the inner space of the park. Thus, the passengers, being inside the technogenic landscape, would constantly come into contact with the natural elements. Outside, on the outside of the galleries, we placed the volumes of office buildings and hotels, deliberately making them noticeable, towering over the landscape.
We have built the image of an airport by comparing two opposite elements: air and earth. The streamlined, curved shape of the galleries resembles streams of turbulent air - people have come here to fly away, and symbolic "air currents" pick them up and lead to the goal. The more stable, quieter volume of the terminal, the last point before takeoff, symbolizes the earth."
The scheme of various lines of movement, indeed, became the main plot of the project. The architects were so carried away by the idea of organizing flows that they turned it into a spectacular drawing, reminiscent of the mask of the savage "god of air" or the ornaments of the Symbolists of the early 20th century. Taking a closer look, on the general plan, you can find a nose, eyes, a forehead and even a semblance of a crown (its teeth are airplanes receiving passengers). Moreover, not only the volumetric ribbons of glass galleries, but also the open paths of the park fit into the overall intricate pattern. The volumes of cafes and shops, invading the space of the park, in the drawing of the master plan resemble the war paint of an imaginary deity, and the swirls of the park paths on the sides look like hair.
Such a transition from rational planning of flows to mesmerizing plan graphics from the point of view of a classical modernist may seem offensive, but, on the other hand, it fits well with the idea of symbolizing earth / air declared by the architects: the intricate drawing that appears on the master plan gives the project additional meaning and hidden aesthetics. semi-legally woven into a pragmatic scheme for organizing the movement of passengers.
However, the drawing of the plan would be visible only from above. From the inside, passengers would receive a network of transparent glass galleries and pavilions embedded in the natural space of the park, open to green surroundings and planted with trees on all sides (architects placed green spaces wherever possible). The complex "turbulent" design of the galleries and their branches made it possible to ensure the maximum interpenetration of the technogenic structure of the airport and the nature of the park, linking two different elements into one dense knot.
