Site plan

For this bus station complex on a 33-degree angle, wedge-shaped lot with a 200-meter radius, close to the river Odiel, the basic intention was to arrive at a unitary> image, with a single gesture addressing and resolving the difficult conditions of the site.

The idea of a circular vehicular movement was what generated the shape of the floor plan, while serving as a starting point in the elaboration of a complex and varied programme behind the desired unitary image.

Bus shunting area

Ground floor

First floor

Rear elevation of the platform area

Elevation to the main avenue

Elevation of the passenger entrance

A single, large, flat, uninterrupted ceiling seven meters high spreads over both the hall and the bus platforms, thus avoiding the dual image that tends to characterize buildings of this kind. The only structures found outside the limits of this huge roof are three small, lower volumes at the comers of the lot: a gasoline station, a commercial area, and a space for additional platforms. The fact that these are built in to the perimetral walls of the lot makes their role as auxiliary elements evident.

Curving around the hall is a large volume that squeezes in toward the narrower part of the lot, and a smaller one on the other side that flanks the connection between the hall and the platforms. These two curved volumes contain all passenger services at ground level, with transport company offices and personnel dressing rooms and lounges located upstairs.

There is a formal continuity between the passenger concourse and platform area, and the buses circulate around the latter to avoid interference with pedestrian movement, an important thing to take into account when designing facilities of this kind. 

The situation of the platforms around a large round courtyard allows the juxtaposition of garden and buses, and the resulting proximity between vegetation and passengers is considered one of the more attractive features of the project. A wall with access openings at certain points encloses the entire lot, thereby clearly defining the limits between the station and its urban context, with the result that it has the look o f a walled precinct.

The idea of homogeneity and continuity is manifested outside through the economy of expressive elements in the elevations, in contrast to the formal rotundity of the roof. The overall image is thus one of serenity’ and restraint, with a dominant horizontal element mitigated by the vertical rhythm of the pillars that sustain it.