TRAIN STATION AND CONGRESS CENTER LOCARNO
Ensemble 2016
Station building, museum and event hall in Locarno, Switzerland
Piazza Stazione 1, 6600 Muralto, CH
In the midst of the mystical mountain scenery around northern Lago Maggiore, sits the congress center and the newly designed Locarno train station in Muralto. First and foremost it will serve the Locarno International Film Festival, but will also serve as a venue for events, exhibitions and congresses throughout the rest of the year. It owes its sculptural appearance, ascribed to the ensemble, to its material, the exposed concrete, which is reminiscent of local buildings by Livio Vacchini and Luigi Snozzi.
The new building of the terminal station offers a covered forecourt, a generous waiting and transit area, a small café, administrative rooms on the upper floor and at the same time provides access to the subterranean platforms of the regional train services.
Following the ramp along the track, one reaches the large piazza between the museum and the event hall. Here, in the summer months, especially during the Locarno International Film Festival, there is room for film screenings which can be projected directly on the wall of the hall.
The flexible rooms of the museum, with daylight-ceilings, provide ideal conditions for all possible objects and events. The cafe feeds the piazza.
Concluding the ensemble in exposed concrete is the opposing event hall. After a staged entrance, the visitor arrives in a spacious foyer. Again, the visitor is washed by daylight. The event hall, which is suitable for 1.100 spectators, can be reached either via side access or a sculptural staircase overlooking the foyer. Further rooms in the lower level provide spaces for events and receptions.
