The transport hub in Solec Kujawski, completed in June 2016, is part of BiT City - the modern high-speed rail network connecting the two capital cities of Kujawsko-Pomorskie region in Poland: Bydgoszcz and Toruń. The hub is located, more or less, in the middle of the distance between the two cities, was the last stage in the construction of the „BiT City” network.
The design proposed by RYSY Architekci was determined by an existing landscape. Before the works began, there was an old railway platform on the top of a small hill, an undeveloped green land and an incoherent urban environment with an old railway station building from the beginning of the 20th century and a commercial pavilion with multi-family blocks from the 1970s and 1980s.
The main idea of the project was to cover the place and it's functions (a bus station, railway platforms, a service point for travelers) under one, uniformed roof. Furthermore, the slope of the trackways was transformed into an amphitheater, a public space with greenery and seats, which gives an attractive elevation seen from the square located in the front of the hub. The bicycles stands and public toilets were hidden in the break of the slope with access from the bus stations and the train platforms.
The transport hub in Solec Kujawski, thanks to its simple and light form does not overwhelm the city. It is well suited to the development of the area, because it does not dominate it. Thanks to the new adaptation of the slope, adaptation to the use of travelers, thanks to the arrangement of the greenery and a clear form of all complexes, the hub has changed de facto into an urban square, a public space not only friendly to passengers but also passers-by.
