The Damascus Car and Bus Station project, announced through an architectural competition in 1967, aimed to establish a central transportation hub in the heart of the city, the Baramkeh area.
The site chosen was south of the Damascus University administration building and southwest of the Hijaz station, on the former grounds of Al-Baramkeh train station, which was built in 1895 and demolished in the 1960s in favor of The Damascus Car and Bus Station project.01 However, the project was never implemented in this proposed location or according to the winning design. Instead, the site was designated for the ‘Towers of Damascus’ project,02 which in turn got abandoned in 2010 after site excavation had been completed and construction was just getting started, leaving a large fenced construction pit in the center of Damascus.
The design program of the competition included the station building allocated for external transportation routes, to and from Damascus with its attached, bus and car platforms, along with platforms for internal transportation routes in Damascus, parking spaces, a hotel and service facilities.03
The station building had to include the following:
- A main lobby with attached waiting hall/s.
- A café and restaurant, recreational areas, and a market with at least 20 stores.
- A post office and an information and tourist center.
- A ticketing station.
- Bag storage and baggage claim areas.
- Lounge/s for drivers along with the necessary amenities.
- A waiting area for porters and their trolleys.
- A telephone unit and a broadcast station for transmitting instructions to passengers.
- A first aid station and a security room.
- A prayer hall.
- A basement that included shelter/s and boiler and fuel room/s.
01 ياسر حمزة، “محطة دمشق…أقدم محطة قطار في سورية،” جريدة الثورة، تموز 16، 2023، [Yasser Hamza, “Damascus Station”…the Oldest Train Station in Syria,” Al-Thawra Newspaper, July 16, 2023, LINK.]
02 طلال ماضي، “بعد 14 عاماً على توقف المشروع…هل سنرى أبراج البرامكة وسط دمشق،” أثر برس، تموز 23، 2022. [Talal Madi, “14 Years After the Project stopped…Will We See the Towers of Baramkeh in the Center of Damascus,” Athrpress, June 23, 2022, LINK.]
03الياس شاهين، مشاريع مسابقة إنشاء محطة دمشق لانطلاق السيارات والباصات، المهندس العربي، أيار 1967. [Elias Chahine, Damascus Car and Bus Station Construction Competition Proposals, The Arab Engineer, September 1967.]
As for bus and car platforms, the program required a minimum of 20 docks for buses and 20 for cars, with the potential for future expansion to include 10 more for cars and another 10 for buses. The program also stipulated that there should be at least 60 parking spaces for cars and buses, with the potential for adding more either above or below ground.
Service facilities for cars and busses were required to include:
- A gas station that can be accessed from inside and outside the project.
- A carwash.
- A maintenance center for urgent and simple repairs that contained the following sections: mechanical, electrical, auto body repair, painting, and welding.
- A center for spare parts.
Additionally, the design was required to include designated parking areas for both private and public small vehicles, situated outside the station. These areas should be able to accommodate 60 private car parking spaces and 20 public car parking spaces with the consideration of providing sufficient additional underground or ground-level parking spaces.
The program also required including a tier 2 hotel, but the designer had the liberty to either integrate it into the main building or keep it separate. The hotel was required to have an independent entrance and accommodate between 60 to 80 beds. A plaza or covered pavement for seasonal vendors was also requested to be integrated into the design.
Four competition proposals were showcased in an article published in the Arab Engineer magazine. These were by the Syrian architects Nizar Al-Farra, awarded first prize, Abd Al-Rauf Al-Kasm, awarded second prize, Sabri AlMalki, awarded third prize, and Paul Chiniarah as an honorary mention.
Jury comments and presentations of the proposals were provided by Elias Chahine.04
04 Ibid.
01 ياسر حمزة، “محطة دمشق…أقدم محطة قطار في سورية،” جريدة الثورة، تموز 16، 2023، [Yasser Hamza, “Damascus Station”…the Oldest Train Station in Syria,” Al-Thawra Newspaper, July 16, 2023, LINK.]
02 طلال ماضي، “بعد 14 عاماً على توقف المشروع…هل سنرى أبراج البرامكة وسط دمشق،” أثر برس، تموز 23، 2022. [Talal Madi, “14 Years After the Project stopped…Will We See the Towers of Baramkeh in the Center of Damascus,” Athrpress, June 23, 2022, LINK.]
03الياس شاهين، مشاريع مسابقة إنشاء محطة دمشق لانطلاق السيارات والباصات، المهندس العربي، أيار 1967. [Elias Chahine, Damascus Car and Bus Station Construction Competition Proposals, The Arab Engineer, September 1967.]
04 Ibid.
