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ROADSIDE SERVICE AS PART OF THE TOURISTIC INFRASTRUCTURE IN BELARUS // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2019. Issue 2 (20). P. 202-216

The paper considers the importance of highways in Belarus and the special role of roadside service facilities as a component of the tourism infrastructure. The objects with additional functions have an extended visualized structure and can provide services to representatives of various consumer groups. The factors hindering the development of the tourism industry in Belarus are presented. The authors analyze prerequisites for the formation of roadside service facilities as a tourist component, types of adjacency to tourist zones, some features of architectural formation. The general structure of these objects is proposed.

Keywords: roadside service, tourism, infrastructure, visualization, tourist neighborhood, architectural and spatial construction

THE ROAD SYMBOLISM IN THE ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2021. Issue 1 (27). P. 25-47

The article discusses the evolution of the architectural space of service objects in the zones of transport communication influence under worldview approaches. The highway is a publicly accessible and often primary carrier of the region's cultural traditions. The problem of philo-sophical knowledge of architecture as a form of culture in general and as applied to the research topic is connected with the development of public ideas and the progress of the engineering and construction industry. The construction of buildings and structures in the right-of-way spaces of large highways has a number of features, including the importance of natural and agricultural landscapes, low-rise buildings or their absence, the length of constructed complexes, the im-portance of sign communication. The importance of these features as an object of research with-in semiosis has not yet been fully assessed. The relevance of the work is conditioned by the cru-cial role of architecture in visual communication, the value-based practical perception and emo-tional and sensory exploration of the space of major highways. The author's aim is to analyse the semiotic role of the roadside development, the role being shaped when the dominant para-digms change. The research is based on factual data analysis through the prism of fundamental concepts. Some examples of how philosophical and cultural views influence the formation of architectural and planning structure of roadside objects are considered. The examples demon-strate that architectural objects in roadside spaces are not faceless, voluminous structures de-signed to meet the immediate needs of road users, but rather aesthetic and psychological forms of roadside area organisation that to a certain extent dictate user behaviour patterns. The func-tions of the architectural space are closely linked to the physiology of human perception and must be built on the visual properties of the environment. The preliminary situational analysis of the potential of the area and the image of roadside objects to “embed” architectural objects into the dynamically changing landscape must take into account the following: the environmental determinants and landscape values; the location of relatively large urban settlements, adjacent buildings (if any), road axes and open spaces; the dynamic perception of the space, the lines and corridors of visibility when a vehicle is moving; the points of the preferential view of the object; the visual and audial links between the main functional areas and the highway line. The form of existence and the ideological content of the road is a symbol of the chronotope of modernity, and its architectural arrangement is the main mechanism for transmitting culture. It is therefore important to find a way to preserve cultural identity in the application of this particular type of communication space. The analysis allows recommending the principles of highway develop-ment: consideration of the impact of local traditions, attractive integration, use of topography and expressive properties of the landscape, tolerance of architecture, environmental and social responsibility, sense of context, suitability for transformation, development of design code and branding. In the foreseeable future, the author believes that travel time will be treated as a use-ful experience, a learning and development activity, and a separate type of leisure time. We can speak about further transformation of the communication space into a useful or effective one and about other approaches to filling this space. Probable development scenarios for roadside buildings and structures, depending on the initial conditions of the terrain, are to provide condi-tioned external and internal visual connections of service areas and their optimal architectural and spatial organisation. The practical significance of the work lies in the possibility of using the results in further studies of roadside architecture development and identifying positive and neg-ative scenarios for the perception of this architecture.

Keywords: highway, communication corridor, roadside architecture, service zone, visual perception, space, architectural planning organization