The project description
This place was a long-unhealed scar in the city's organism, which arose after the bombing of the Apollo refinery in 1944. However, the abandoned brownfield represented a key, as yet unurbanized, link on the border of downtown and the development area of Mlynské nivy. The urbanistic approach became the decisive factor.
The Downtown Yards connect contrasts – the bustling Košická street, the quiet family housing of the Klinger colony and the new high-rise dominants of the city. The answer is a sequential composition of volumes responding to a diverse context. A series of interconnected volumes gradually builds up to the tallest administrative building. The structured development evokes the natural development of the city – step by step, not all at once and monotonously.
The functional diversity is also reflected in the facades: while the residential towers are surrounded by distinctive grids as a reference to the historical facades of Gumonka, the lower office blocks are covered with green ceramic tiles. The Košická Street is metropolitan, while the far side is quiet, full of greenery and community life. Here we find a kindergarten, a daycare center for seniors, relaxation zones and the restoration of Plátenícká alley.
Each space in the area has its own scenery, but they are all connected by a scale that promotes the sense of unity. The complex culminates in a 36-story administrative tower. The curved terrace in the middle of its erect body is a place for a break and an architectural gesture – a timeless sign in the vertical tangle of Bratislava’s downtown.
The scope of work
an architectural study
a project for zoning decision
a project for building permit
an implementation project
