Multifunctional Complex Bratislava Railway Zone

Faculty of Architecture and Design STU in Bratislava

Project idea

Project deals with the possibility of transformation of the pre-station area in Bratislava at year 2050, after the Main Railway Station will be moved to another position of the city. The proposal follows the context of the location, preserves its identity associated
with the history of rail transport in the city, but also brings new forms and functions to the site. The main goal is to point out the importance of future development, new construction principles and the adaptation of the urban environment in the context of climate change.
The paper puts emphasis on applying the principles of sustainable architecture, material solutions, the energy consumption and operation of buildings and public spaces using smart technologies.
The main idea of the assignment is subject to the motto "form follows resources", therefore in the proposal I use today non-traditional natural materials with almost zero and negative carbon footprint and in renewable energy sources as far as possible. The work examines the solar potential of the area and deals with renewable energy sources.
Designed objects are a wooden structure installed on a solid concrete foundation of a rugged environment connected with the surrounding environment by vegetation. The residential block seems to levitate over the terrain and greenery, the vegetation grows through its facade into the interior. The boundary of the outer and inner space is variable throughout the seasons and the packaging is transparent. In the hotel building, lush greenery emerges from under the concrete surfaces and symbolically takes back its space. Visitors can observe this process from different elevation perspectives and angles or become part of it.

Project description

The solved area is located in the Old Town, Bratislava. It has a strong urban character with a multifunctional structure, typical for a given central location. In the vicinity, the functions of housing, education, services, administration, shops as well as state representative buildings are mixed. The buildings are dominated by older buildings with period facades and typological types. Near the territory there are several dominants of the city - the Presidential Palace, the National Bank, the pyramid of the Slovak Radio building, the government office and in direct contact with the proposed area the current main train station.
The main station and its surroundings have been the center of railway transport in Bratislava since 1848, when the steam railway building was built by I. Feigler (today the railway police directorate). The current main station was built in 1871, since then it has undergone several reconstructions and today has an extension from 1989. Between these buildings there are two buildings of the transport museum with an adjacent historical track, which is fed to the functioning railway infrastructure of the station. The current problem of the station is, in addition to the neglected technical and aesthetic condition, insufficient capacity of tracks and platforms as well as an unsuitable solution that does not allow comfortable barrier-free access for passengers. Due to the limited territorial capacity that do not allow the reconstruction of this station to the required form, I decided to locate the main station in another location and keep the current station as a stop of urban and international importance with a connection to the historic city center. The extension of the 89th building will be removed from the station building and it will be revitalized in the expressive form from the 1950s in the current materials. In front of the station, a newly defined Predstaničné Square will be created, bordered by a new multifunctional development and a city cultural and educational center with a market. The square feeds into a line park on the old track with an exhibition of historic wagons belonging to the traffic museum and from the side of Pražská street to the beginning of the pedestrian zone leading to the historic city center. The proposed multifunctional development follows the typical block structure, characteristic
for the surrounding area. The predominantly residential zone is located on graded terraces, which overcome the height difference of Staniční náměstí and adjacent streets.
The proposed complex houses a university dormitory, a primary school, an administrative building and a Transport Museum with the addition of new premises. To increase the food self-sufficiency of the area, greenhouses with vertical and hydroponic cultivation of crops, fruit orchards and hydroponic cultivation of salads under lamps are designed in the area.
In the central position of the new zone, there is a retention lake with a natural arrangement, which creates a living space for residents and passers-by. The blocks are situated in a natural environment away from busy pedestrian and traffic routes. The courtyards have landscaping with community gardens.
Traffic roads are located below ground level in the underground areas of the terraces. They serve as service routes for the operation of buildings and routes for connecting “storage” and charging spaces of the shared autonomous vehicle system. Roads pass through several floors and follow the ascent of the terrain. Entrances and exits are at level terrain of Žabotova street, from where they continue on the same level through the underground spaces of the buildings.
The proposed buildings are installed on graded terraces, which form an underground base and a network of service and transport roads. In places of terrain breaks and elevations, the spaces are used on several floors. The residential block consists of 4 sections with vertical cores located in the inner corners of the floor plan. The staircase winds around a "green" chimney with plants in a vertical structure and leads to a small common living area of ​​the corridor on each floor. Each above-ground floor also has access to the loggia of the suspended façade. At the lowest level of the block on the 1st underground floor, there is a multi-level stacker for autonomous vehicles, storage spaces for the inhabitants of the building, emergency parking spaces and a community community hall on the height of 2 floors and a traffic road, a ramp overcoming the terrain break to the 1st above-ground floor, which is partly sunk underground and partly in contact with the terrain. The underground part contains the second floor of the community hall with stepped seating, other levels of the vehicle stacker and the technical background of the building. The space at ground level belongs to a showroom with a height of two floors and an entrance to the residential sections.
The second floor is still partially sunk below ground level. In these parts there are storage spaces for residents. In parts of the contact with the terrain, it provides rentable spaces (coworking, yoga center, dental clinic), administrative facilities of the showroom, workshop space and individual offices. These floors are connected by a transitional courtyard, which also overcomes the change in height with the park landscaping, residential terrace and community gardens. Most of the area of ​​the third above-ground floor is occupied by a residential function, but in contact with the line park on the track there are office spaces (lawyers, notaries, real estate agencies, accountants, ..).
Typical living floors consist of two-room, three-room apartments and one-room studio apartments. Each apartment has an extension of the living space with a winter garden / loggia with sliding glazing, which forms the energy space of the building. The last floor of the block is recessed from the southern and western part. The apartments have different sizes from smaller 2-room to 4-room and generous roof terraces.
The typical floor of the hotel building has a gallery character with a road facing the inner atrium. Upstairs there are 33 rooms and suites, a maid's room with a service core and escape stairs. The floor in contact with Predstaniční náměstí includes a café, a restaurant with a kitchen, a lounge and hotel services. One level lower in the part under the terrain there are warehouses, hotel administration, facilities for employees, in corner locations oriented to the park with a retention pond rentable retail space and a translucent portal across 2 floors. The underground floor has service areas around the perimeter of the hotel, storage facilities, emergency parking, communication and in the core of the lobby in the atrium with living areas among the vegetation. The individual floors are connected by two panoramic elevators.

Technical information

The main topic of reducing the city's carbon footprint influenced the conceptual as well as the material and construction solution of the proposed buildings. The main construction material becomes wood, which fulfills the load-bearing function, in combination with the reinforced concrete structure of the underground floors.
The basic load-bearing structure of the buildings consists of a combined system of transverse load-bearing walls made of CLT structures in the range of 7.5 meters and columns. The ceiling structures have the character of coffered ceilings with a cross-section of load-bearing beams of 30x250 mm, which are also acknowledged in the interior. Together with the floor layers, they reach a construction height of 400 mm. The construction height of the living floors is 3.1 m. The reinforcement is provided by a vertical reinforced concrete communication core.
The infill construction of the façade is prefabricated hemp concrete panels in a wooden frame - a mixture of hemp shingle and lime - a purely natural material with a negative carbon footprint and excellent thermal insulation and acoustic properties. The panels are inserted windows with a wooden frame and insulating glass.
The façade of the residential block consists of a suspended construction of loggia modules with sliding glazing panels in a regular grid. The material base is complemented by shading elements embedded in the outer ledge of the façade beams and the railing construction made of technical hemp - hemp fabric and hemp rope with a wooden handle.
The morphological element of the hotel facade is a wooden column 250 x 600 mm repeated 4 times in each supporting module, supplemented by sliding shading panels made of wooden slats and wooden railings. The facades in contact with the square and the line park on the ground floor omit this rhythm and thus accentuate the public function of the ground floor. On the eastern façade facing the park with a retention pond, there is an entrance "portal" two floors high, which also has the function of direct lighting of the hotel's atrium. The atrium is covered by a three-dimensional lattice roof structure made of laminated wood above an irregular 5-angle floor plan with a span at the farthest point 35m. The structure is placed on a reinforced concrete wreath and transmits the load to the reinforced concrete columns hidden in the wooden wall structure. It is located between the dams of the roof structure in the east - west orientation
sensory interactive shading made of hemp fabric, which is backlit at night by milled LED strips. The roofing consists of insulating glass with a padded frame and an exterior structural sealant joint. The glazed panels are sloped in the longitudinal strips of the roof geometry by means of rectifiable steel profiles anchored to the wooden structure. The roof has the possibility of transverse ventilation in the space between glazing and shading according to the season. The inner railing of the atrium is made of hemp rope with a wooden handrail and thus connects to the material unity of the buildings.
The roofs of both buildings are formed by an extensive vegetation roof, which over time has the possibility to be replaced by solar and photovoltaic panels for the use of solar gains in the area.

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