Perspectives of the contemporary usage of circular locomotive depot buildings

Abstract

Variants of reshaping the objects of the industrial heritage, including the buildings of transport infrastructure located in central districts of historical towns are analyzed in the article. The evolution of the development of depots for maintaining and repairing the locomotives is represented. The uniqueness of the complex of buildings of Nikolaevskaya Railway in Moscow, an integrated historical and architectural ensemble, is noted. At the present moment one of few preserved buildings is a circular depot in the center of Moscow. The loss of this unique specimen of industrial architecture of the middle of 19th century would be an irreplaceable loss for the cultural heritage of the nation. The only way of its rescue from full destruction is its restoration and inclusion in the contemporary life of the city. The method of possible variants of the contemporary usage of historical building-monuments of the industrial heritage is proposed, which secures their safety on the basis of self-repayment. The preferable variants for reshaping the building of circular depot in Moscow are considered on the basis of qualitative criteria. Keeping in mind the location of the depot near railway stations - the sources of the main contingent being in need of short-term rent - the variant of placing a hotel-touristic center in the depot was chosen. This corresponds to the basic direction of the State Program of the City of Moscow for the period of 2012-2016, which provides the development of the hotel chain at the expense of the reconstruction and the creation of the touristic infrastructure. The authors considered in the article the variant of usage of the depot as a multifunctional hotel complex gives the possibility to solve the problem of shortage of two-stars hotels in the center of Moscow and, what is very important, to preserve the monument in an undistorted appearance.