TABRIZ SUBWAY

In order to address this issue, first we have to bear in mind that one’s understanding of their surroundings depends largely on their historical memory of that given place. If that place is removed or changed,the memory will be impaired and a sense of alienation in the environment can be produced. Rather than rebuilding its components, we ought to recreate the thing as a whole in order to evoke and maintain the environmental integrity and Gestalt so that we would be able to restore the sense of place and shared collective memories. In so doing, parts of the key elements of the identity of the square need to be restored.

On the other hand, the statistics show that the growth of construction in Tabriz has been more than that of its population in recent years. This has resulted in the decline of green spaces in the city which was once known as the Garden City. Therefore, it is more preferable to replace as much as possible the destroyed building with a green space to compensate this lack of green spaces in the city. (Although maintaining the necessary elements to protect the environmental Gestalt of the square) As a result, the urban areas will penetrate into the walls and connect the edges of the square with the two central courtyards in the middle of the building .

Also, the municipal building is being refurbished and is set to become the center of social and cultural events and will be usedasthe city hall. At the moment, this complex has a yard against the square. The present subway construction sitewill be empty in the future can be used as the second courtyard of the city hall facing the street and Sa’at Tower, being used as a place for shows and street performances. This new urban space can contribute to the future prosperity of the municipal city hall. Based on the above two assumptions,some wallswill be removed to accommodate the aforementioned needs and the rest of the walls will be remained intact. The maintenance of the past identity secures the psychological safety of the urban pedestrians.

In order to address this issue, we need to build a second access or street in the site and through guiding the passengers (especially from entrance one) to this access at the edge of the site, we would be able to reduce some parts of the human congestion. Although not completely, this solution can partly divide the population density facing the street largely exiting from entrance onebetween the two access and therefore reduce the visual pollution of the square. The 11th stop of Tabriz subway will be one of the busiest stations in the future. Therefore, a large number of peoplegoing into or out of the station will enter the historic context of Sa’at Tower. As a result, this amount of visual pollution can undermine the historical identity of the square.

1 : Moving the density of the walls of the site will reduce the visual pollution 2 : After opening the subway , the visual pollution of the square will endanger the correct recognition of the identity of thre square 3 : The population density exists in the main strucure of the square

- The walls of the structure can remind the citizens a sense of belonging to the place. The two central courtyards and the alley going through the building in the past formed a part of the shared collective memory of the city. The exhaust air ducts and the two entrances can be viewed as appendages on the site, the negative consequences of which has been reduced without any changes through lifting the ground surface lightly. In this way, it was possible to add two skylights to the surface of the ground and guide the light to the lower levels of the project without any manipulationsin the structure. The skylights are embedded among the existing beams and can guide the daylight to the dark corridors of the lower space. - In order to maintain the integrity of the walls within the square, the arrangement of the new structure is according to the rhythm lied in the destroyed building - The boundary between the site and the street has been reconsidered and through mixing with the urban area, it can act both as a public place for the square and a pedestrian area to reduce the population density of the street

Tabriz Bazaar as one of the longest bazaars in the world in the vicinity of the subway site has provided such spatial experience for the local people. Hence, creating such a space can help solve the problem and encourage the passengers to pause for a moment and relax.

Sa’at square has been recorded as a historical as well as cultural square in Tabriz. We will see by examining the history of the tower that its structure and integrity have been marred over time. For instance, Bagher Khan statue in the middle of the square was removed in one period and in another, Pahlavi relatively historic building,which had formed a part of the identity of the square,was eliminated.The sudden changesto such nostalgias have caused an identity crisis in the city and resulted in the inefficiency of its historical context .

The interior spaces of subways, usually due to lack of direct daylight, are too dull for passengers that they wish to escape as fast as possible to the ground surface. Hence, such places are commonly considered as transitional onesrather than places with abilities to relax passengers. However, through comparing the linear structure of such places with traditional bazaars, we can understand that despite the closed spaces of these stretches of bazaars, they have been places to pause, capture the spirit of the space, and relax mainly due to the entrance of daylight through the ceiling known as Hoorno.