Historic building saved with a virtual vision

Mario Basso - France

This is not only a true story about the rescue of the Nice South Station and how a talented and devoted ArchiCAD user came to upset the plans of the Mayor of France's fifth city - this is about ArchiCAD making an impact!

The Nice South Station, created by the Architect Prosper Bobin in 1892, situated in downtown Nice on the French Riviera, had been decaying for decades and out of service since 1991. The prime plot of the land was acquired by the city, and a competition to build a new City Hall was won by the Parisian Architect Pierre Louis Filocci in 1998. His plan, however, required the complete destruction of the train station.

Despite the lobbying of local officials to keep the building, the first Raffarin government in Paris authorized the removal of the station's beautiful façade, and with it would crack any last hopes of salvage.

However, an ambitious alternative plan surfaced, communicated with clarity in ArchiCAD, and in July 2004, there was a reprieve. Renaud Donnedieu De Vabres, the new Culture Minister, refused not only the removal of the station façade, but forbade the demolition of the main concourse building. "On principle, the demolition of such a protected building is a too grave an act to be acceptable without the consideration of all other preservation possibilities," he said. "This building, in spite of its run-down state, is an unmistakable monument which can be only protected on its current site." The Minister's ruling not only went against that of his predecessor, but also the wishes of the Mayor of Nice (despite them sharing the same political colors).

In search of a challenge

The station's 2004 interior which became a temporary car-park

Back in September, 2002, seeing the sorry state of the station, graduating architect Mario Basso took on a redesign as a diploma project, and naturally met with little interest from City Hall. "By January, 2003, the Mayor's office had barely allowed me one hour's access to the station site - all under tight supervision!" he explains. Despite this, Basso took measurements of the façade and discretely completed mapping the interior layout - within three months the 3D ArchiCAD virtual model of the site and surrounding blocks was complete.

"To do so, I combined the ArchiCAD interface with a Wacom A4 graphics tablet," he says. "I was able to discover another aspect of ArchiCAD - its human side, exactly the quality the majority of architects seek in a CAD solution. My ArchiCAD-tablet recreates the sensations I get with my old drawing board, allowing me to save time completing projects without losing the creative aspects of the conception process."

  
Station model view - created in ArchiCAD 7

He points out that ArchiCAD's seamless approach when creating designs ensures that the architect captures those designs too. "At anytime you can go back and forth from the conception phase to the implementation phase of the 2D/3D model without having to use an intermediate element." Designing a building virtually with the full confidence that revisions will be correctly updated on all layers, views and documents has been a powerful attraction for Basso. "I started out with ArchiCAD - ever since my admission to architectural college on version 4.5. I did enjoy some infidelity during my studies with AutoCAD®, Amapi®, VectorWorks® and 3DS Max," he admits, "but I very quickly returned to my first love!"

After Basso had documented the structure the modeling began using ArchiCAD 7, and hit the first obstacle. "I encountered several problems, in particular on the level of 3D reconstitution of the cornices and cornice outlines that cover the frontage. Some of today's functions didn't exist back then - the Boolean operations for instance." He also faced challenges with the 3D library parts which were limited due to the nature of this architectural style. "I had to tailor-make and customized my objects, adapting them to this neo-classical building of the Belle Epoque." Fortunately he says, the casing and revolution functions did exist back then, and it was mainly these which bridged the new with the old.

Transversal cut of station and project. Above middle: view of the exhibition rooms.
Below middle: view of the movie halls.
From left and right: view of the production rooms, audio video suites, arts centre and dance areas

"I couldn't think about the station without thinking about its environment", explains Basso. "My challenge was how make people come and animate the space, and how to create pedestrian walk-ways that would converge to the station as a cultural hub with dance, sound recording and movie studios. "And to meet strict regulations, he developed 9,000m² of floor-space without impacting on the identity of the station itself. "Modeling the whole project on ArchiCAD allowed me to realize, in real time, the full impact of the building on its surroundings. The site required quite a subtle architectural approach considering its historical past and the presence of this large station structure at the heart."

Longitudinal cut of station and project (left to right):
car-park, light staves, movie halls, Malausséna Avenue with tram-way, Gare du Sud Square.

His plans received much local vocal backing and newspaper support given their ambitious blend of pedestrian walkways with shopping and cultural components. With political pressure mounting and town dignitaries keen to save their station, the new City Hall concept began to look shaky.

"Mario Basso's project arrived at just the right time because it offered not only a coherent vision for the usage of the building, but it also met the demands of the Mayor for incorporating modernity with heritage. He clearly illustrated how a project of remarkable modernity could be realized in that historic building", explains local politician Patrick Mottard.

Basso sent his model and plans to Paris, and on July 12, 2004, the young architect was received in the Ministry of Culture to make his final presentation. Four days later, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres announced his decision to protect the entire station - and to ease the resentment of local officials agreed to subsidize the restoration with 40% central government funding! Currently the site, which finally did accommodate a new Town Hall design outside the main station, is undergoing archaeological assessment.