Urban Design and Landscape

NEW USE OF THE FORMER MILITARY SITES IN BRNO

Martin Pagáč
FA VUT - Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture
Czech Republic

Project idea

The proposed solution primarily takes into account the current situation in the area and the need to unify the entire site. The new building blocks are designed so that they naturally follow the existing street line of the surrounding buildings.
The aim of the work was to create a concept of land design after the former Jaselské barracks in the locality of Brno-Ponava. The proposal addresses urban ties in the area and their possible use in the coming years. The work is based on the concept of the zoning plan of Brno, where a new street connection is being created between Šumavská and Sportovní streets. A new block of flats is proposed here, containing the functions of housing, services, hotel accommodation and a multifunctional building.

Project description

This project uses the potential of the area near to the city center and proposes other elements such as a new tram loop, two new streets and a living parterre oriented to the main street with commercial areas. The use of newly created courtyards in the form of front gardens and publicly accessible areas of urban greenery is also addressed here. This will create a new park inside the block itself. The proposal deals in more detail with possible layout solutions and variants of modern living in city center and offers apartments from the smallest sizes to above-standard housing layouts. The buildings facing Štefánikova Street are based on the traditional concept of facades and layouts.
On the contrary, the proposed buildings in the eastern and southern part of the complex are based on the modern concept of apartment layouts and structural solutions of individual houses. In several buildings, large accessible galleries are designed, which allow to improve communication between the inhabitants of the house, but also mainly the comfort in using the house. All apartment buildings in the basement are equipped with garages designed for apartment residents.
The dominant feature of the whole complex is a designed corner building and an axially mirrored hotel. For the rest of not only the locals, a simple wellness spa facility has been designed here, which gives a different view of our traditional czech spa. To complement the newly created apartments in this locality, there is also a location for a kindergarten, which is designed according to modern teaching methods and as much as possible with a feeling for the needs of little children and their first encounter with architecture. Although the site itself lies outside the monument zone, this study tries to respect the traditional concept of housing in the centers of our cities and the traditional architecture of houses.
The design deals in more detail with possible layout solutions and variants of individual parts of modern housing blocks in city centers and offers apartments from the smallest sizes to above-standard housing variants. The buildings facing Štefánikova Street are based on the traditional concept of facades and layouts. On the contrary, the proposed buildings in the eastern and southern part of the complex are based on the modern concept of apartment layouts and structural solutions of individual houses. A total of 422 housing units are proposed in the locality.
The newly designed block does not close the proposed courtyard with the park, but opens the park to the public. The proposed park modifications correspond to the modern concept of landscape architecture - an optically open park with vistas and a playground as a centralizing element of all events in the courtyard. Furthermore, the design takes into account variants of the use of the newly created stretched Šumavská Street, which is complemented by significant complementary buildings - a multifunctional corner building, a hotel, a wellness spa. Functionally, these houses complement the entire location. The new wellness spa facility thus responds to Sportovní Street, which by its name testifies to the main use of the surrounding buildings. Wellness-spas are a reaction to these houses and provide the opportunity to relax after sports activities. The hotel is connected to the wellness spa and provides accommodation not only for guests of wellness facilities.

The kindergarten is designed on the ground floor of an apartment building with small flats. The barrier-free solution seamlessly connects the nursery with the garden in the courtyard, and an outdoor space-garden is designed in this area. Children are divided into two classes of 15-20, each class has an area of 109 m2. The classrooms have a separate entrance both from the outside and into the inner connecting longitudinal corridor, which is also a cloakroom for children. Each class is both a game room and a bed section. Barrier-free access to all areas simplifies operation inside the kindergarten. In the western part there is a multifunctional space which also serves as a dining room connected to the food preparation room. The food preparation room has a separate entrance for service and supply. The technical facilities, including air conditioning, are located in the basement in connection with the kindergarten. The garden is accessible from both classrooms and the dining room. The orientation of the main façade to the south gives the interior space the possibility of gaining passive heat gains from the sun, in the summer the construction of sunshades shields the surfaces of large windows against overheating of the interior spaces. The interior of the playrooms and facilities are designed for the child's height. The reduced height is taken into account for seating, furniture and sanitary facilities.

MULTIFUNCTIONAL OBJECT
The corner building is the dominant feature of the entire proposed complex. Urbanistically, it forms the center of this area and its height dominates the street row of designed houses. The composition of the building and the corner terrace follow the hotel, with which they together form an urban composition that reflects the axis of the newly stretched Šumavská Street. The massive cantilevered terrace is a common area for users on each floor. The first floor contains a self-service retail store and the main entrance to the building. The supply of retail is solved from the eastern side in connection with the neck containing the escape staircase. The second floor is intended for commerce with an area for smaller shops, the next floor, 3rd to 6th contains office space. Thanks to their function, all floors have a designed construction height of 4.0 m.

HOTEL
In the northwestern part of the complex, the hotel is designed as a five-storey building with a ground floor containing facilities for restaurant facilities. Thanks to the multifunctional space, which doubles the capacity of the restaurant, this enables the operation of the hotel with half board and full board, where the restaurant space would not be filled when serving meals for restaurant guests. At one point, it would be possible to serve both restaurant guests who are not accommodated here, and hotel guests independently.
Together with the corner multifunctional building, the hotel forms an urban composition, where the axis of the street reflects the terrace lined up on a console in the corner of the building as well as the corner house.
The basement contains technical facilities - heating, air conditioning; parking for 48 cars with an entrance ramp from Štefánikova street.
A typical floor contains 13 rooms (a total of 52 rooms on four floors), each room is equipped with its own bathroom. Each floor consists of 8 rooms on the west side, which are designed as standard double, 2 single, 2 rooms on the east side as a superior with its own sauna and orientation to a quiet part of the courtyard, 1 room is adapted for people with reduced mobility. Each floor is equipped with facilities for cleaning rooms. The hotel has two elevators, one for guests, the other for hotel management and staff.
At the level of the first second floor, the hotel is connected in one plane with the wellness spa building. On the first floor there is a public, barrier-free connection. In this way, it offers guests the opportunity to go directly to the spa area without having to leave the hotel outside the building. The connecting part also functions as an escape staircase and facilities with a cloakroom for the sports part in the courtyard of the hotel.

WELLNESS-SPA
The whole area around the Ponava district invites you to play sports and relax. Several sports facilities line Sports Street - the city's swimming pool, tennis and badminton halls, hockey halls, the occasional ice rink and the legendary Lužánky Stadium. The design of public wellness spas responds to this location and offers, above all, the opportunity to relax. A simple building, similar in style to the Turkish baths, which, unlike our traditional spas, do not provide healing springs and treatments, but above all their own cleansing of body and mind. The main room with an elevated vaulted structure has no sharp corners, the structure should only attract the attention of the whole, not the details. Two main pools with hot water and two other small ones are complemented by saunas (steam, Finnish). The windows are only in the main halls at the foot of the vault and complete the inner play of light with dim basilic lighting of the main spa area (Arabic hammam).
The wellness area is divided into 3 main parts: the first has an entrance hall with a connection to the hotel with its own reception and changing rooms with sanitary facilities. The second part contains on the first and second floors the main pools with relaxation and sauna part. The third part is in the basement and contains a quiet zone with massage procedures in one half of the underground and in the other all the technical facilities for the spa building.

Technical information

The construction solution is considered on the principle of a reinforced concrete plinth, which is created by the first underground floor from the skeleton of the floor forming the background of the houses and underground parking under the entire complex. This construction is followed by individual objects. The buildings are designed from a variety of materials, and a brick system of ceramic blocks is designed for apartment buildings. The wooden building on the east side is made of prefabricated wooden panels. According to the findings processed during the design, the foundation conditions were found to be good, the foundation soil is considered as loess clay. Hotel - structurally it is a reinforced concrete skeleton with an axial span of 8.1 m. This span is chosen due to the possibility of parking for 3 vehicles between the columns. Perimeter walls are made of block blocks. The roof is designed as flat with a vegetation layer. The material of the facade is designed as white plaster, in the part adjacent to Šumavská Street, a brick cladding in red is designed.
The wellness building stands on a reinforced concrete skeleton with an axial distance of 5.5 x 5.5 m. The roof of the building is laid on a vaulted structure. The cladding of the building is connected to the hotel and the corner building, red face masonry is used in combination with a cornice and a plinth made of exposed concrete. Water heating uses a nearby hot water pipe and then heat recovery from wastewater.
The whole area is designed to be connected to the hot water distribution network.

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