Reconstruction of the façade of the main train station in Ostrava

Original State
As mentioned above, the station building was put into operation in 1975. The construction corresponds to the period of its construction, the architectural handwriting, and the technological practices of the 1980s.
The main train station is built as a complex of structures in close proximity to the tracks of the Přerov - Bohumín line and the Ostrava - Frýdlant nad Ostravicí line. The entire complex is architecturally divided into several buildings - a station building with a trapezoidal floor plan, an administrative building connected to the station by a connecting neck with a restaurant, an extensive covered public transport platform linked to the entrance of the station building, and several covered overpasses allowing passengers access to the tracks. Behind the station building, across a gap, the transport pavilion follows.
The station building is accessible by a city service road and a loop for trams and trolleybuses of the public transport DPM Ostrava.
The author of the station building design was Jiří Žalman, based on which the final project was developed by architect Lubor Lacina and the Brno branch of SÚDOP.
The station building is partially below ground with three height levels - floors topped with flat roofs with internal rainwater drains and roofs with a gentle sloped shed in the case of the roof over the check-in hall.
The dominant element of the station building is the front eastern facade with extensive glazing above the ground floor, featuring rhythmic vertical divisions complemented by stripes of stained glass by painter O. Vašica, depicting motifs characterizing different periods in the history of Ostrava. The ground floor part of the facade was designed as an area of glass concrete blocks with two entrances framed by granite portals.
On the facades, there are also predominantly flat ceramic tiles of a reddish-brown color, and the protruding part of the roof over the check-in hall is vertically clad with shaped aluminum sheets.
Operationally, the station building can be described as a facility with passenger check-in at two levels - the ground floor contains ticket offices, a ČD center, luggage transit, a city information center, and others - the upper floor is a space with waiting areas, public restrooms, refreshments, a restaurant, and other commercial spaces. Communication between the ground floor and the upper level is provided by an escalator in combination with a traditional staircase. This upper floor is further connected by a staircase to a gallery that allows direct access to the covered overpasses leading to the platforms.
The basement serves as operational support.
At the public entrances to the building on the eastern facade, there are two kiosks - a buffet.

Proposed State
Motto: to not seek and propose a new identity for the Main Train Station, but rather to emphasize the fundamental conceptual idea of the authors in contemporary interpretation.
The shape of the building remains completely unchanged. Its surface treatment is modified to reference the individual functional volumes: the hall and the service collar. The building can be easily divided volumetrically into the elevated hall of the main structure and a lower service object that surrounds the hall on three sides. The main mass of the hall is oriented toward the "square" with a glazed semi-structural facade, which maintains vertical structuring in its original places in the new design. Horizontal division is suppressed. This achieves the maximum possible effect of optical heightening of the object, its dominant verticality. The glass of the main facade is printed with text.
The frame of the main glazed facade is made of structural glazing with dark blue glass panels, illuminated at night.
Stained glass is placed on a special substructure in the interior, where it complements and enlivens the inner space.
The lower mass is clad with large-format facade panels, giving the object a more monumental scale and its refined joint cuts compact the mass with windows at various heights.
The facade is executed with maximum attention to detail so that the minimalist concept achieves the maximum aesthetic effect.