Thessaloniki Metro: Papafi Station opens to the public, as part of the event – When will it be open to visitors?

It opens to the public, next weekend, as part of the OPEN HOUSE THESSALONIKI 2022, the Papafi Metro Station, one of the two places with which Attiko Metro S.A. participates in this recognized institution which is organized for the 11th time.

There are two main goals of including metro facilities in this year’s event:

1. To showcase the work of the architects of Attiko Metro, who, in addition to the difficult exercise of designing friendly and functional stations and other facilities that are part of an extremely complex network, have been trained to collaborate with a multitude of engineering specialties and scientists, who as a whole they have acquired a vast know-how and cultivated skills that allow them to provide immediate and flexible solutions to the unpredictable problems that an underground project naturally presents.

2. The aim is to familiarize them with the architecture of the stations and the functionality of this new medium that will enter their daily life at the end of next year

When the Papafi Station of the Thessaloniki Metro opens its doors permanently, a train with a capacity of 450 passengers will pass through it every one and a half minutes in each direction, during peak hours. The weekend however, the visitors it will welcome will not be in a hurry to reach their destination. And this is because they will be participants in the “Open House Thessaloniki 2022” architecture exhibition, in the context of which the station will be open to the public from 10 am to 3 pm.

The three-story Papafi Station, which is aesthetically dominated by polished or processed gray granite, with aluminum and glass elements, is the seventh in the line of the main line of the Thessaloniki Metro in the direction of the trains to the New Railway Station. It was built on the plot of land owned by the Papafei Foundation, where the historical institution of the city is also located, at the junction of Konstantinou Karamanlis Avenue and Papafi and Symeonidis streets.

As the president of ATTIKO METRO SA, Nikos Tachiaos, points out, it is one of the two stations (the other is the Pylaia train station), with which the company participates in Open House Thessaloniki 2022. The main objectives of including Metro facilities in this year’s 11th edition of the international architecture promotion event are – according to Mr. Tachiaos- two: first, “to showcase the work of Attiko Metro’s architects, who, in addition to the difficult exercise of designing friendly and functional stations and other facilities that are part of an extremely complex network, have been trained to collaborate with a multitude of specialties of engineers and scientists, who as a whole have acquired an enormous know-how and have cultivated skills that allow them to provide immediate and flexible solutions to the unpredictable problems that an underground project naturally presents”. And, secondly, to familiarize the citizens of Thessaloniki with the architecture of the stations and the functionality of this new medium that will enter their daily life at the end of 2023.

The archaeological horizon and the dock doors

The stations of Thessaloniki have from two to four underground levels, depending on the depth of the tunnel construction. The stations that approach the pyricausto are the deepest, as one of the most important specifications of the project was that the archaeological horizon should remain intact from the passage of the two TBMs.

At Papafi Station, with three underground levels, the track depth is 20.50 meters from ground levels and, like all Thessaloniki Metro stations, it has curtains – platform doors to maximize passenger safety, increase the useful space of the platforms, reduce the need for ventilation and smoke extraction, improve the performance of the announcement system and the possibility of future air conditioning of all of the public areas of the station. In practice, the most important contribution of these doors is to exclude any possibility of any user being on the subway tracks or gaining access to the tunnels.

Access to the station

Papafi Station has two main entrances located on either side of Karamanlis Avenue at the height of Papafi. The western access at the junction of Karamanlis and Papafi Avenues, includes a fixed staircase of 2.10 meters wide and a pair of escalators (one ascending staircase – one descending staircase). The eastern access to the sidewalk of Karamanlis Avenue (toward the Papafeio Foundation) also includes a pair of escalators of the same function.

Near the eastern access is also the elevator that serves the needs of the station and connects the street level (0) with the ticketing level (-1). Finally there are two emergency exits connecting the platform level (-3) via the electromechanical spaces level (-2) and the ticketing level (-1) to the street level. The exits of the emergency exits are located at both ends of the station in the courtyard of the Papafei Foundation.

The accesses to the station will be covered with glass canopies consisting of a metal frame, aluminum profile and 22 mm thick glass panes, which have not yet been installed to protect them from damage. Also at the street level, a skylight was placed, which is covered with a glass structure similar to that of the roofs and allows daylight to enter the passenger traffic area on the first underground level. Like all the others, Papafi Station has been designed in accordance with the prescribed legislation to be accessible to people with disabilities (PWD).

The materials used

All the floors in the common areas were covered with gray polished granite slabs. The disabled paths are red granite slabs with notches, while the hazard markings will be fitted with yellow artificial granite slabs with flakes, a recent regulatory provision that required the replacement of the standard slabs, which were already installed according to Attiko Metro’s general specifications. The walls were faced with suspended slabs of polished or dressed gray granite of standard dimensions. Above these are suspended aluminum panels of standard dimensions.

The central core of the station was clad with suspended aluminum panels of standard dimensions, different color per station. All parapets around the central core are glass with stainless steel supports and stainless handrail. The preliminary study of the Papafi Station was prepared by the architect Chrysoula Kousteni and the final study as well as the application study by the architect Maria Maggiorou.

According to the rules of the organizers, there are no reservations, entry is free for everyone and taking photos and videos is free.

RES-EMP

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