The redesign of the Davos Dorf town center is taking shape: The municipality, mountain railways, Konsum Davos real estate cooperative and Rhaetian Railway want to invest around 250 million francs in Davos Dorf over the next 10 years. The designs from the idea and project competition are now on display at Kongresshaus Davos.
A lightweight wooden station building, a spacious station square with trees and a wide park with the Seehofseeli and St. Theodul Church: This is how locals and guests who will one day arrive at the new Davos Dorf train station will see their vacation or place of residence for the first time. On Friday, the winning project of an ideas and project competition was presented. The new town center is to become a barrier-free transport hub with short distances for passengers by train, bus, private transport and mountain railway, and at the same time an attractive town center as access to the traffic-free promenade.
Buildings for tourist use and living space are being built south of the railway tracks. The project for the redesign of the town center is supported by the municipality of Davos, the Rhaetian Railway, the Davos Klosters Bergbahnen and the Konsum Davos real estate cooperative.
Generational project from four partners
The four project partners had invited to an idea and project competition last spring. An urban design for the town center and an architectural design for the new train station were to be developed. 15 project proposals were submitted by teams of architects and planners from Switzerland and neighboring countries.
The eleven-member jury of representatives from the project partners and experts from a wide range of fields assessed the submissions in terms of urban planning, architecture, landscape architecture, mobility planning, economic efficiency, sustainability and climate protection. The most obvious feature of the redesign is the relocation of the Davos Dorf railway station between today's Seehofseeli and the open Parsenn car park. Around 500 public parking spaces will be built in an underground parking garage between the new train station and the Parsenn valley station.
Bus stops, taxi stands, short-term parking for rail users and parking spaces for bicycles are being built on the station square.
Living space for locals
The long station building is externally characterized by the lightweight wooden construction of its various roofs. The building houses a shop for groceries and travel supplies, a restaurant and a meeting room. South of the new train station, hotels and serviced apartments can be built on today's Parsenn car park. On the meadow next to it, apartment buildings with affordable living space are being planned for locals. Even in place of today's Dorf railway station, space will later be freed up for commercial and residential buildings.
The winning project is called “Davoser Sleigh” and comes from the Bearth & Deplazes Architekten Chur and Marques Architekten Lucerne association, who were also responsible for the recent renovation of the Davos ice rink. Hager Partner Zürich is responsible for the landscape architecture. In terms of urban planning, the winning project was intuitive, clear and logical, praised the jury of experts, which had made a unanimous decision. The station building is restrained, but with its distinctive formation of roofs, it sets an architectural example.
All designs are on display at the Davos Congress House until October 22.
The winning project is now being worked on further and a master plan is derived from it. Traffic areas are optimized and a cost calculation is made. The master plan forms the basis for a zone plan revision, a general design plan and a development plan, which the population is expected to vote on in late autumn 2023. Project competitions will then also be launched for the remaining parts of the area. Construction of the first construction phase is scheduled to start in the second half of 2024. The new station could start operating in 2028 at the earliest.
The implementation of the entire project will take place in several stages.
Joint media release from the municipality of Davos • Davos Klosters Bergbahnen AG • Rhätische Bahn AG • Konsum Davos real estate cooperative. Christian Gartmann was commissioned by the four project partners to provide communication support for the project.