Padua Railway Station Squares and Pavilions

designed by CZstudio associati /

Location: Italy / Type: Squares and Plazas / Built: 2013 /
Show on Google Maps / Published on May 21, 2015

CZstudio associati: The train station square design is a part of the Padua railway development project, inside the European politics of extension of the transport networks of Community interest. It is conceived as a multimodal hub, that connects all scales transport, the high-speed and the regional railway, provincial and urban bus and the tram line that links the main Park and Rides metropolitan structures. The project aims were: to create a uniform urban space, available and useful for the town, not only for the mobility, with high quality and low budget (90€/m2); to reduce the consumption of resources recycling materials (at the present) and equipment (in the future); and to easily direct the different users, changing the existing geometry and restoring its size reducing vehicular surfaces and creating a new parking structure for bicycles and an electric car charging station to promote sustainable and public mobility.

To control the mobility flows multifunctional platforms in coloured concrete (bicycle-pedestrian-taxi) differ from the asphalted areas for vehicles. The topography of the platforms is made to let the storm water flow to the linear drains to resolve the square previous hydraulic problems. To reduce the consumption of resources, the existing stone flooring materials were reused to restore the pavement of Rabin Square (in the centre of Padua) and for the realization of the floor of the southern part of the Train Station square, as well as the possible, but unpredictable, future changes nearby the regional trains terminal led to the decision to build a temporary bike parking (bicipark) that can be disassembled and reassembled in another location.

The square is articulated in three main areas that have been constructed subsequently to be adaptable to possible changes and to the economical program of the municipality. They have different characters and uses: the west part is configured as a space to stay under the trees, the central part is monumental and dedicated to the inter-modality and the east part serves for the distribution of elements that are still not defined and for temporary steel structures as the bicipark. Comfort and security, fundamental to use and take pleasure of the public space, are the criteria for materials and finishing selection. Trees are planted to provide thermal equilibrium and to reduce the heat island effect. Taking into account shadow and sun ratio, the project vegetation is made of deciduous trees, to let the sunlight warm the square in winter and the shadow protect people in summer. It continues the existing green structures empowering the natural habitat for birds, reintroducing nature in a urban context strongly characterized by mobility. The square redefined in size is perceived as a continuous space, free from obstacles and rescaled through the use of new tree rows and isolated objects to perform specific functions (3 glass and corten pavilions for bus and bus ticket services, police and taxi offices). The project has involved from the beginning different stakeholders, but the architectural valorization of the public spaces during the construction phases attracted the interventions of new public and private stakeholders that manage the commercial activities inside the train stations, and that commissioned to the office the renovation of the building facade and its exterior lighting. The new square configuration has contributed positively to the security of the place attracting new commercial activities and encouraging people to stay in the square.

Project name: Padua Railway Station Squares and Pavilions
Location: Piazzale della Stazione, Padua (Italy)
Landscape architecture: CZstudio associati Paolo Ceccon Laura Zampieri architetti
Client: Padua Municipality, APS Holding s.p.a. (pavilions)
Project size: 29.500 sqm
Pavilions volume: 1.000 m3
Years: 2007 – 2013
Cost: 3.370.000 €
photo credit: Guido Ranieri Da Re, CZstudio associati
Awards:
2015 1st prize “Premio Architettura Orizzontale”, Ferrara (Italy)
2015 finalist “The Plan Award”
2014 selection “XIV° Premio di Architettura Città di Oderzo”, Oderzo (Italy)
2014 selection “Rosa Barba European Landscape Prize”, 8th International Biennal of Landscape Architecture, Barcelona ES
2013 provincial prize “International Architecture Prize Barbara Cappochin”, International Architecture Biennale, Padua IT

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