tampere travel and service center by AZPML + lahdelma & mahlamäki

for an urban renewal competition to design a new transit hub for the city of tampere, finland, international practice AZPML and local office lahdelma & mahlamäki have proposed a scheme based around a collection of crystalline building volumes. the team, led by architects alejandro zaera-polo and maider llaguno, envisions dynamic forms both in the tower blocks and in the railway station’s canopies, which reflect water movement between lakes in the region. the team elaborates: ‘the vertical containers that dot the future urban landscape around the station will have been designed as crystallized bits of the energy that flows through the station.’ see designboom’s coverage of the competition’s winning proposal here.

a series of crystalline ‘containers’ line the city center railway station
image by beauty and the bit (also main image)

being a major transit center functioning for both local and regional travel, a primary aim of the proposal is to provide smooth flows throughout the urban area for both pedestrians and vehicles. this includes horizontal flows across the site, as well as vertical movement through the multi-level complex.

faceted canopies reference a river-like dynamism
image by beauty and the bit

a series of angular canopy forms float above the station to link rail and bus access together, while covering the travel platforms. the station is complemented by a series of flexible building volumes, which allow for usable space to stimulate the urban area. the design includes an underground level that functions as a pedestrian realm complementing the station. a network of passages link the subterranean spaces to the surrounding urban fabric, while various retail and service program enhance activity.

the scheme allows for smooth urban pedestrian circulation
image by beauty and the bit

‘while the containers are systematically square in plan, with a central vertical circulation core in order to provide the most flexible and dividable floor plate, they have been designed with an antimetric, tapering mitering on every corner, which generates an effect of instability and lightness. the resulting effect is an illusion of tilting that defies the gravitational stasis and makes the project resonate with the dynamic expression of the tammerkoski rapids.’

image by beauty and the bit

roof plan

(left) plan / underground level
(right) plan / street level

plan / tracks level

section / transverse 1

section / longitudinal 1

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project info:

location: tampere, finland
client: the city of tampere, the finnish transport agency, the VR-group and senate properties
competition date: 2014

area: 100,000 sqm 

cost: 340M €

AZPML team: alejandro zaera-polo, maider llaguno, guillermo fernandez-abascal, manuel eijo, iñigo arrien, pablo de sola
architects: lahdelma & mahlamäki / rainer mahlamäki, ilmari lahdelma, teemu seppälä
WSP finland: terhi tikkanen-lindström, björn silfverberg
renders: beauty and the bit

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