Miroslav Hlava | New Bus Station Beroun

The New Bus Station Beroun is designed as a new building, which provides suitable background to all the passengers and the employees of the new bus station, which is closely connected with the train station in the southern part of the city of Beroun.



As it is well known, from the beginning of 1990s it has become a rediscovered trend in our region to plan he buildings and units based on regulation, sober expression, traditional materials, and implementation. Only in the last two decade we discover more intensely the concept of a digitally driven architecture bulit on the planning processes based on application of non-linear „view of the world“, and virtualization and implementation on an automated production system. This development accelerates the evolution of not only the method of presenting projects, but also of new materials, structures and processes. Materials, components, structures are gradually gaining intelligence and behaviour on the principle of self-organization. At the same time the phase of augmented reality and the Internet of Things are emerging. The terminology as virtuality, integrated production, genetic engineering, cloning, molecular biology, plastic surgery, humanoid robotics or bioterrorism only represents a few concepts that shape the character of the society. Many species of animals have already been cloned, the human genome has been deciphered, as well as the genome of a wide range of other species. In our profession there are deep changes, too, and they require understanding beyond the boundaries of the field. The question is whether our traditional dictionary and language will be able to express the new and „real“ environments which may be half grown and half made, or grown up completely. New therms, such as emergence, self-organization, self-assembly, and self-replication, mostly borroved from biological and medical sciences, has been introduced and have far-reaching etymological consequences for the architectural language. We recognize that the trend of opinion and expression is not collectivism, but individualism in ideological and thematic level, as well as in planning, production, and complementation.
This idea of moving the existing bus station to another location is based on the task of the architectural competition launched by the city of Beroun in 2012. The aim was to reach the diversion of bus service from the city centre and dealing with the nearby main traffic pulling in the form of D5 highway. Moving the bus station in front of the railway ststion is crucial for simplifying the connection with the main thrust of transport, highway D5, as well as to a better link between the two stations, i.e. between bus and train.
On the basis of these findings student Miroslav Hlava has chosen to handle in his Bachelor´s project with the theme of „A New Bus Station“ the undeveloped land in front of the existing Beroun train station.
As in the study, so in the Bachelor´s project the chosen process of generation the design of the localisation shape of the new station buildings is beneficial. As inspiration the simulation of an agent system served, which is based on a series of computer scripts written tailored to the agents for the selected area. The first of the scripts dealt with the movement of buses across the site to which the access of the vehicles is only possible across the bridge in the street K nádraží. The buses must turn there and go back. The script examined and ideal curve for the thoroughfare in the area, so that the turning radius was the largest and the entire route at the same time as short as possible. Another aspect was the approach to the main entrance of the existing railway station and a communication link to the axis of a pedestrian / bicycle path between the railway station and the city centre. Based on the resulting curve of the agents´ trails the location of the construction of the new bus station was decided, as well as the layout of individual bus stops, directly into the area in front of the railway station, between the streets U Nádraží and Na Podole.
Another script derived from drive-through curves and positions of the platforms was subsequently applied to the design of the proper shape of the building. The result was a shell of parabolic umbrella covering the defined utility space.
It is a construction system assembled of precize components that are composed of supporting CNC milled plywood grid.
The interspace of the plywood is filled with sprayed polyisokyanuratorate foam, which interacts statically, improves fire resistence and provides thermal insulation of the internal space of the station construction.
All the spaces equipped with some function that have claims on the indoor climate are integrated the „cavities“ of the support system, which carries the mentioned structure of the roof. Footings follow the geometry of the support structure of the building. Natural light is provided by simple frame and heat-insulating planar and convex windows manufactured by the thermoforming technology.
The roof envelope has three functions integrated in itself: 1/ the generation of electricity using transparent photovoltaic cells – and due to the size of the area a self-sufficient energy supply of the hall with facilities, 2/ rainwater collecting coupled with its recycling, and 3/ photocalytic coating, so that the surface of the structure serves as the ambient air purifier.