Living in the south

FA VUT - Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture

Project idea

For decades the area south of the historical center of Brno has grown with grass. In the coming years, a new city district will be built and it will be the biggest event since the demolition of medieval city walls. The fundamental question was how to approach the design of a multifunctional house in the newly emerging neighborhood of the 21st century. Technological progress will affect the construction industry even more. Housing, its standards and quality can not be defined only by the number of rooms and the price per m2. Climate change and increasing emphasis on future generations are also big challenges for architects. My design emphasized sustainability, adaptability of the space, quality of housing and contact with nature. By playing with the mass and orientation of the rooms, a solution that brought more natural light and sun into the interior was created.

Project description

By simulating sunlight at different times, the benefits of ''turning'' the house to the sun were confirmed. By playing with the mass and orientation of the rooms, a design that brings more natural light and sun into the interior was created. By optimizing the sizes and placement of windows in individual apartments, it is possible to achieve an even better quality of space.

Moving every other level a half of the module enabled the creation of a dynamic mass, which is in sharp contrast with the surrounding buildings, but at the same time flows smoothly into it. The building seems to have grown out of place and forms a kind of anomaly in an otherwise traditional block structure. The base of this dynamic building is formed on a glass pedestal that lightens the whole building and opens it to the street. At the same time, it supports the idea of ​​bringing as much natural light into the interior as possible. The façade of the building is formed by a cladding of fiber-cement boards in an irregular distribution, which is further enhanced by the irregularity and dynamism of the entire structure.

The game with volumes also brings added value for the inhabitants. Each apartment has its own terrace with greenery and on the roof there are several smaller common terraces for each core.

The building consists of 7 floors. The multifunctional apartment building is designed with a high degree of variability. The number of apartments in the current version is 41, but can range from 30 to 50 according to current needs. At the same time, it contains a wide range of types from the smallest one-room to four-room. All apartments are designed spacious and well lit. The construction height of 3.3 m creates an above-standard clear height in the apartments, which ultimately adds to the amount of light and airiness of the space.

The ground floor of the building consists of 3 entrance halls with a staircase complemented by four commercial spaces, suitable for various uses. Each core has its own storage and technical background. Municipal waste is stored in each core by stairs and accessible directly from the street. The vertical communication core illuminated by a skylight from above is directly connected to a two-storey garage in the courtyard.

The parking garage is built as a separate building. The design took into account the economic aspect of excavation work and construction underground, as well as the best possible use of space, and the garage was therefore created as common for several buildings. This has reduced the number of entrances and exits for cars, which will allow more comfortable movement of pedestrians on the street and at the same time maximize the capacity of parking spaces. The garage offers a total of more than 140 parking spaces. The roof of the garage is formed by the green roof of the courtyard garden.

An important task in the design was to succeed in the effort to create the layout of the apartments in accordance with the construction system, which would allow greater flexibility of space. Firstly, in terms of the apartments themselves with the possibility to combine and connect, or make changes within one apartment. Secondly, to offer the possibility of a complete change of function and to replace housing units with, for example, office space. Despite the great current demand for housing in Brno, it is appropriate to anticipate possible changes in the future and be prepared for them.

Technical information

Due to the principles of sustainable construction and circular economics in combination with the architectural form of the designed building, prefabricated concrete components mounted on site with detachable joints were chosen as the loadbearing structure. The inspiration for this technology is the realization from Denmark - Circular House, which was created in collaboration with architects and construction companies.

The basis is load-bearing walls, columns and bushings screwed to each other. The slabs are made of prefabricated panels with cavities, connected to each other.

Despite the seemingly complicated mass, the load-bearing system of the building is quite clear. The base consists of 3 reinforced concrete cores and parallel load-bearing walls passing through the entire building standing on columns on the ground floor. The outer envelope of the building is formed by load-bearing reinforced concrete walls, which are partially cantilevered.

The advantages of this construction system include, in particular, a considerable speed of construction in comparison with traditional construction methods, since these are almost exclusively dry processes. The accuracy of prefabricated elements minimizes waste during production and construction and guarantees higher quality of elements with smaller dimensions. Last but not least, it is, of course, the potential of the material in the future that it will not only be possible to reuse it, but the whole building is more open to possible changes.

The facade of the building is designed as ventilated with a cladding of fiber cement boards. Thermal insulation consists of mineral wool. Both materials were chosen with regard to their properties, environmental impact, life span and potential for future use.

The goal in the design of the green roof was to achieve the highest possible self-sufficiency as well as the aesthetics of the vegetation. The vegetation will have to withstand extreme conditions such as direct sun, wind and dependence on rainwater all year round. The main starting point here was inspiration in the habitats, which are located near the city of Brno and are therefore plants original and natural for this area.

The building is designed so that all rainwater from roofs, terraces and greenery is drained into storage tanks on the first underground floor and after subsequent filtration is again used for flushing within the apartment building.

The design used a calculation for the expected amount of rainwater per year with respect to the location of Brno and how much water was needed to provide enough water for flushing for an average of 90 people in the house. Subsequent comparisons showed that annual precipitation of 396 m3 of water would cover 40% of the water consumption for flushing. The tanks were dimensioned as two with a volume of 10,000 l and will be located in separate technical rooms on the first underground floor.

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