River Terminal

a building or complex of buildings, structures, and equipment designed to serve passengers and to handle baggage at river ports. River terminal buildings are erected on river banks at sites chosen with due regard for navigation requirements, hydrogeological conditions, and the need for convenient ties to the main communications and transportation systems of the city. River terminals are sometimes combined with terminals serving other types of transport.

A river terminal complex usually consists of an open area in front of the terminal, a passenger building, and a platform. The platforms of river terminals use floating landing stages, or they may have landing areas at different levels in view of seasonal fluctuations in the river level; special gangplanks, including retractable types, are less often used. River terminals are classified by capacity as small (25–100 persons), medium-sized (100–500), or large (500–900).

The first permanent river terminals in the USSR were built between 1930 and the mid-1950’s. The architectural concepts employed made broad use of motifs and decorative details borrowed from the architecture of the past (for example, the Khimki River Terminal in Moscow, 1937; architects A. M. Ru-khliadev and V. F. Krinskii). Modern river terminals are typically built on multiple levels and have large halls for passenger service and facades with considerable areas of glass, which open up the interior space of the terminal toward the river and the terminal square. Combining a river terminal with large buildings that serve the city, such as hotels and restaurants, makes it possible to use the terminal in periods when the river is not navigable; the terminal may be used for tourist services, exhibitions, recreation, and the showing of movies. Such integration of buildings also promotes the development of expressive architectural groupings.