Conjugating contemporaneity and heritage

If there is one program that represents the times, it is a multimodal transportation hub. In addition to the challenge of generating a language of its own for this relatively new program, there is the added complexity of having to insert the new station in relation to a historic building.

The decision, then, was to develop a single building containing the functions that are proper to the multimodal station and the particular functions of the train and bus stations; the platform area is developed in each sector under the building. With efficiency in mind, it was decided to implement a continuous one-way circulatory system, so that the bus never has to reverse (drastically reducing maneuvering time and considerably increasing safety, thus reducing operational and insurance costs).

To bridge the height difference between the level ±0.00 (platforms) and +4.50 (ticket offices/waiting rooms) we propose an innovative system of mobile waiting rooms, which we consider to have the following advantages over traditional solutions:

If one or more elevator and stair cores had been chosen, the public would have had to cross the platform area on foot, which we believe would have increased the risk of accidents; on the other hand, placing fixed or escalators for each pair of platforms would have had the disadvantage of wasting space and would not have solved the problem of accessibility for people with reduced mobility.

Thus, the solution adopted is a system of freight elevators containing the waiting room and a sector for parcels and luggage. The passenger buys his ticket, checks his luggage and goes to the waiting room. When the departure time arrives, he says goodbye to those who have gone to see him off, who remain in the fixed area of the waiting room, and is taken down to the bus. In this way, the passenger is safe at all times and in an air-conditioned environment, never being able to walk on the platform area.

When the platform with the waiting room descends, the gap generated in the building becomes an inner courtyard with natural elements, thus generating a hybrid landscape between natural and artificial, fixed and mobile.

The TES project has been widely published in national media such as La Nación newspaper, Clarín newspaper, the Italian magazine l’Arca or the book Making Cities Work.

CREDITS

client > Government of the Province of Buenos Aires
lugar > La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
built area > 72.000 m2 / 775.002 sqft
built area > 50.000 m2 / 538.196 sqft
project >2002
constructions > –
status >project [concurso nacional]

authors > Oliverio Najmias & Luis Etchegorry
collaborators > María Victoria Molina Chamadoira, Paola Schein, Sebastián Rodriguez Mamby, Germán Bustamante, Federico Garrido, Gabriel Quipildor
assitants >María Guillermina Rolleri, Isabel Amiano, Andrés Anzaldo, Martín Branca, Pablo Farinola, Daniel Nazareno

EXHIBITION

2003 Mob_Lab, 1ST ROTTERDAM BIENALE