Underground as an integral part of the contemporary city: functional, spatial and visual aspects

The use of underground space creates new opportunities for contemporary cities. Underground becomes a promising location for specific technical and industrial facilities, as well as public buildings designated for recreational, commercial and cultural purposes. Due to the growing number of subterranean buildings and increasing human activity below the ground level, it is a challenge for many contemporary cities to integrate the newly emerging facilities with the existing urban structure. This paper presents review of planning and architectural approaches to an effective underground space design. The analysis of so far experience of various cities around the world shows that the functional, spatial or visual integration can contribute towards improving the quality of the urban environment as well as enhancing users' comfort. Among the factors determining the success of the contemporary underground facilities there are both the selection of the functional program and location in the urban structure as well as the detailed design solutions. During the design process the fundamental problems related to integration should be therefore addressed simultaneously at several dimensions – at the city dimension, at the district and close neighbourhood dimension, at a given facility, and sometimes even at individual space.