These sketch projects are related not only by geography - developed in one workshop, they, first of all, are distinguished by a careful attitude to the prevailing scale of the urban planning environment. “In two cases out of three, we keep the existing station buildings, but even where we propose to build a new complex, we are not talking about a total replacement of the old with a new one,” explains Nikita Yavein. "On the contrary, all valuable historical buildings are carefully preserved and reproduced at a new stage in the evolution of transport construction."
The most ambitious project "Studio 44" was developed for Tuapse - it is supposed to be implemented in two stages, before the Olympic Games in 2014, re-equipping the tracks and platforms, and already in the post-Olympic period, reconstructing the building of the station complex and erecting new commercial buildings. The building of the Tuapse railway station, built in 1952, is an object of cultural heritage of regional significance: it is a rather spectacular building in the "Stalinist" style, with its main facade facing the station square and Pobedy street. As conceived by Studio 44, it will retain its role as the compositional center of the station complex. After restoration, it will house a passenger lobby, ticket offices, a waiting room, a luggage storage room, a mother and child room and other integral components of a comfortable stay for travelers at the station. In addition, some of the functions will be located in the sub-platform space - for this purpose, the architects propose to raise the passenger platforms by 1.1 m from the level of the rail head.
On the right and left, the historic building will be flanked by new "wings" - two groups of buildings, stretched in a line along the railroad tracks. There will be shops, catering establishments, internet cafes, all kinds of leisure and service establishments, which are not supposed to be combined into one building, but placed in separate small volumes with a height of 1-2 floors. Separated by picturesque pedestrian walkways, these pavilions will form a kind of "trading quarters" with a chamber, human-scale environment. “It is fundamentally important for us that the environment created here will be completely open and permeable for pedestrian transit to the aprons,” comments Nikita Yavein. "Such an" increment "to the station will transform it from a transport infrastructure facility into a multifunctional center of attraction in the city, which today is experiencing an acute shortage of comfortable recreation areas."
All shops and cafes will be installed on a single stylobate, stretching from the station square to the most passenger platforms. The architects deliberately align the marks of the top of the stylobate with the marks of the platforms - this will allow them to arrange enough parking spaces inside the base. And over the passenger platforms and all new buildings, they provided awnings that protect from the sun and precipitation, as well as visually "collect" various volumes into a single composition. The awnings are in the shape of very elongated trapezoids, in which light lanterns are carved - triangles, squares, circles. They rest on thin, elegant columns with irregular spacing, which, on the one hand, support the colonnade theme of the main building, and, on the other, emphasize the modern origins of the annexes.
Railway station building Lazarevskoye, on the contrary, is not a monument, but the authors of the project pay tribute to its architecture and charm. In addition, on the platform in front of the station there is an object of cultural heritage of regional significance - a bust of Admiral M. P. Lazarev (1954, sculptor I. V. Shmagun), which has long become the hallmark of this resort. Deciding to preserve the original dialogue between the building and the monument, the architects used the idea of a new frame for an old painting as the basis for the project for the reconstruction of the station complex developed for the Lazarevsky project. The structure of the new station building is indeed very reminiscent of a frame: two buildings here are located on both flanks of the historic building, and they are connected to each other by a single roof, which forms a canopy over the old station and the station square.
And if in the previous project the “wings” had a characteristic triangular shape, here the architects preferred a more strict parallelepiped, the “skeleton” of which is restrainedly brutal, and the filling (facades) is ephemeral, assigning the main role in the entire composition to the historical building. By the way, after the reconstruction it is supposed to house a suburban railway station. One of the newly erected buildings will house a long-distance train station, the other - commercial establishments (on the ground floor) and a hotel (on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors). The upper floors of the new buildings are occupied by restaurants with open terraces offering impressive sea views.
Studio 44 came up with a different urban planning scenario for Khosta. The fact is that the railway station of this village is located at the dead end of Platanovaya Street under the Khostinsky Viaduct - a road bridge that is an element of the Sochi-Adler highway. The existing station building is almost invisible from the outside. it is almost completely obscured by buildings along Platanova Street and a viaduct, and, apparently, this is the reason for the purely utilitarian nature of the architecture of the existing complex - in fact, it is an integral part of two transport structures.
One of the tasks of the reconstruction project was to give it a brighter and more independent character, in addition, the customer wanted to include commercial space in the station. Disassembling the existing building, the architects propose to erect a larger and longer volume in its place, echoing the outlines of the viaduct. Since the bridge makes a rather noticeable bend here, the building also acquires the shape of an arc in the plan, and it is the expression of movement given by the giant structure that becomes the main theme of its architectural solution. The station complex is a minimalist volume, lined with glass and wood panels, which are decorated with thin horizontal stripes - a kind of metaphor for trains and cars flashing past. These materials contrast favorably with the massive concrete pillars of the bridge, giving the station a more "humane", welcoming look.
Part of the two-storey building, in accordance with the project, will be allocated for shops and a restaurant, part - for the actual station premises, and on the flat operated roof of the new railway station, the architects propose to arrange a parking lot, which can be entered via a ramp from Platanovaya Street. The parking lot, located between the motorway and the train station, serves not only a utilitarian function, but also serves as a symbolic bridge between the world of cars and trains.
