Work submitted for the competition
"Best Diploma Architecture"
The work is an attempt to draw attention to the potential of spaces that in cities are often unnoticed or not treated as places of potential use and development — the means of exits from expressways, highways, traffic circles. They take up huge areas of urban space, and serve only one function — automobile transportation. These are so-called non-places.
situation
© Michal Wachura
"Non-place", according to the definition, is a space that has no emotional connection with the user and serves mainly one purpose, where people do not stay because they want to, but because they have to. It is usually used by a large group of people who have no relationship with each other.
plot analysis
© Michal Wachura
The study analyzed a number of such locations found in the Upper Silesian conurbation, which has a well-developed network of highways and expressways. The problem of the conurbation is, unfortunately, the state of public transportation and the negligible number of routes and bicycle paths in the city centers that would form a coherent whole — elements that today are considered features of cities that are resident-friendly, good for living and working, and that meet the needs of different user groups.
urban axonometry
© Michal Wachura
I chose the Sybiraków traffic circle in Zabrze as the location for the project. It adversely affects the surrounding part of the city, as it is located on the southern edge of Zabrze's downtown and creates a huge breach in the urban fabric, spoiling the landscape and the view from the axis of de Gaulle'a street, and creating unnatural, unnecessary barriers. At the same time, it is an excellent location for a place to change from a car to a bicycle or public transportation, and can also be a contribution to the gradual reduction of car traffic in the city, and from a non-place to a place that will solve existing problems.
The designed building consists of seven floors:
first floor plan
© Michal Wachura
Ground floor. Includes an auxiliary zone for the main parts of the building located above. It contains a foyer, a waiting room for the new bus stop, a catering establishment and a bicycle service area with bicycle parking spaces and two staircases leading to the upper floors. The building is accessed by a main entrance that also serves as an entrance and exit for bicycles, located on the side of de Gaulle'a Street and on the south side of the ground floor area. Horizontal communication assumes pedestrian, and bicycle traffic shaped as simply as possible and leads from the entrance on the side of de Gaulle'a street, through the foyer, to the bicycle ramp and staircases in the southern part of the plot.
1st floor plan
© Michal Wachura
Level +1. The level of the P+R zone is used to change the mode of transport from car to bicycle. The facility envisages the creation of a Park&Ride parking lot with a capacity of almost 170 spaces for cars and 768 for bicycles. Parking spaces for cars are located in the central part of the level, and for bicycles in the northern and southern parts. They are connected by a central pedestrian and bicycle route.
3rd floor plan
© Michal Wachura
Levels +2 / +4. Storeys housing skatepark-type sports zones with ramps below and at floor level. Additional zones, such as a self-service workshop and food and beverage establishment, are located in the northern and southern parts of the floor to the right of the core housing technical facilities, sanitary facilities, a service workshop and one workshop to its left.
5th floor plan
© Michal Wachura
The +5th level of the storey houses the museum and exhibition space of the Museum of Bicycle History located on the west side, and the commercial space on the east side housing bicycle brand stores.
projection of the 6th floor
© Michal Wachura
The +6th level of the hostel consists of 48 double rooms spread along the contour of the building, adapted for bicycle storage. The section between the rooms houses a public gym, wellness area, canteen, common space for hostel guests, storage and track bike service.
7th floor plan
© Michal Wachura
Level +7. The last floor houses a cycling track, velodrome, meeting all the requirements of the UCI (International Cycling Union).
form
The form of the facade and the shape of the vaults in different parts of the building result from the analysis and synthesis of the forms found in the space of Zabrze and Silesia, and are their creative interpretation. The arches and spindles are found in the shape of the cross-section of the sidewalk of mines, for example, in the former Guido mine or the Main Key Heritage Adit. Hence the arch in the cross-section of the communication space.
cross-section B-B
© Michal Wachura
The form of the inverted arch on the facade is inspired by the shape of the windows from Silesian familok, the form of the arcaded entrance facade of St. Joseph's Church by Dominicus Böhm, its interior and outline, the shape of the openings on its tower, the shape of the plot of land and the form of the cycling velodrome.
axonometry
© Michal Wachura
façade composition
The rhythmic layout of the facade is inspired by the harmonic arrangements of windows in Zabrze's buildings of the Expressionist period — the Zabrze police building from the 1930s, the residential building at Traugutta Square or the ZUS headquarters building by Andrzej Duda and Henryk Zubel from the late 20th century. The green color in the stiles and window frames is also inspired by local forms.
interior visualization
© Michal Wachura
Michal WACHURA
Illustrations: © Author
