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Project idea

The assignment of the project was to design a multifunctional apartment building on the corner of Milady Horákové and Příkop streets in Brno. The site is located within walking distance of the city center. At the architectural study stage, I addressed the spatial and volumetric integration into the existing urban fabric, taking into account the surrounding context and respecting traffic accessibility from the adjacent streets. The project focuses on forms of housing that are unconventional within the Czech Republic.

Project description

The site itself fits perfectly into current architectural discourse - specifically, the topic of urban densification through infill development on vacant lots. It is located in a highly heterogeneous area on the border between the Zábrdovice and Černá Pole neighborhoods. These districts are heavily scarred by history; Cejl, as a former working-class neighborhood, suffers from a lack of quality public space and greenery.
A highly congested arterial road runs past the building. Due to the intersection, the road widens in front of the site, narrowing the sidewalks, and the plot itself recedes, failing to respect the street line. In my design, I aim to improve these conditions. The ground floor recedes to create an arcade, thereby increasing the sidewalk area. The corner is chamfered to allow for smoother pedestrian movement.
The space facing the inner courtyard is dedicated to a garden, which is divided into multiple levels due to the terrain topography. The lowest level - the furthest from the building - is semi-public (primarily intended for the building's residents) to ensure a better transition from private to public space. It also enriches the courtyard with greenery, as the vacant lot currently consists mostly of parking spaces and roads.
I envision the garden as a space that actively fosters socialization among residents. It features ping-pong tables, a children's playground, and a pétanque pitch, along with a large variety of benches and tables. Consequently, the courtyard comes alive through intergenerational interaction among its inhabitants. I have also integrated a walkway into a portion of the passage from Příkop Street to enhance pedestrian accessibility.
I preserve the entrance and driveway to the inner-courtyard restaurant of the neighboring building, which shares outdoor parking spaces with the proposed project.
The building includes underground garages with 34 parking spaces, two of which are barrier-free. This results in a ratio of approximately 1 parking space per 0.81 apartments. This capacity is justified by the excellent walking distance to the city center, good public transport connections, and the concept of the housing units, which are primarily designed as transitional/social housing. A civil defense shelter is connected to the garage and exits into the garden.
In terms of volume, I draw from traditional practices: I seamlessly continue the block development - where the side floors match the height of the surrounding buildings - activate the ground floor, and allow the total mass to graduate in height toward the corner. This corner section at the intersection of the streets is designed as a "cluster tower," symbolically placing the most valuable type of housing in the most prominent location. The stepped rooftop space is dedicated to community terraces for urban gardening or simply as a social gathering spot.
Although the building appears as a linear mass from the outside, the layouts of the individual apartments are shaped into a sort of battlement pattern. Each apartment thus features an accented entrance, adjacent to which there is always a recess - a "balcony on the access balcony (pavlač)" connected to the main living space via a french window. This creates one of the building's most critical elements: a private space for leisure spent in close social contact with neighbors.
The building's expression facing the street is highly expressive, almost sculptural. The facade reflects the building's close proximity to the historic center. I break it down in a traditional manner using cornices, decor, and columns, aiming for high plasticity. The building volumes are separated by staircase bays, which project slightly forward and accentuate the individual building entrances.
To achieve a human scale, I divide the facade into three color zones. To reinforce identity, each zone features a different column shape, which also serves as a house sign. The railing of the access balcony is also highly sculptural.
Its relief references the historical context of the area, which used to be rich in water features—as evidenced by the former street name: Teich Damm (On the Dam). I reflect water-worn stone on the railing in the form of abstracted curves. The top part of the railing is widened, creating planter boxes for the residents.
The rear facade is softened. The relief on the railing is omitted, and the columns are significantly thinned, losing their load-bearing appearance.
I have placed mostly commercial units on the ground floor, but I also strove to integrate "third spaces" - covered areas for spending time outside of individual apartments. This includes a community workshop for residents, which connects directly to the garden and can expand into it. This space can also serve as a clubhouse, a venue for house committee meetings, or neighborhood events.
The building is served by two vertical circulation cores that connect to the access balconies. Unconventionally, the access balconies face the street due to the northern orientation and acoustics, stepping the apartments back from the noise. The balcony is divided by these cores into three smaller sections, each shared by a maximum of four apartments. This reduces the anonymity of the circulation spaces. Neighbors know each other - or at least know who lives next door -- and feel comfortable leaving chairs, small tables, or their own flowerpots outside their apartments.
The apartments feature open layouts with minimal corridor space, allowing for cross-ventilation. The rooms are oriented south toward the quiet garden. Each room has its own loggia, which is large enough to extend the room outdoors during summer months, creating a functional living space in the exterior. The kitchen and living areas face the access balcony, thereby bridging the private and semi-private realms.
I aim for a mix of social groups within the building. On the 2nd floor the apartments are adapted to the S120 accessibility standard, offering housing for elderly citizens looking to downsize. The corner section features "cluster apartments," which can serve as housing for students, lower-income groups, or, for example, parents with children fleeing war zones. This housing type acts as a primary hub for building community or support groups. The rest of the building consists of 1-bedroom (2+kk) and 2-bedroom (3+kk) apartments.

This creates a socially diverse community structure within a building containing 43 apartments for approximately 144 residents.

Technical information

The structural system is derived from the underground parking, which consists of columns spaced 5.25 m apart in one direction and 7.5 m in the other. On the ground floor, some load-bearing columns transition into monolithic reinforced concrete walls, which almost completely replace the columns on the upper floors (except for the corner clusters, where columns are retained for better layout flexibility). These load-bearing walls define the basic apartment unit (2+kk), which is expanded in certain sections to 1.5 units in the space behind the staircase.
The loggias are cantilevered using structural thermal breaks. The access balcony is supported by columns. The circulation cores are glazed with fire-rated glass blocks. I chose cast terrazzo flooring for the ground floor, loggias, and access balconies for easier maintenance.
The profiling of the facade is completed by projecting reinforced concrete slabs that form part of the access balconies. The railings consist of precast concrete components. The apartment units feature mechanical ventilation with heat recovery unit, which requires a locally dropped ceiling in the bathroom and corridor areas.

Documentation

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