Sobin Apartments

CTU in Prague - Faculty of Civil Engineering

Project idea

The proposal responds to the urban part of Prague, which is still strongly influenced by nature. Therefore, the initial idea was to preserve this trend and thus create an architecture that works with nature and does not take away from it, but adds to it. This was achieved by the specific shape of the building, which enables the creation of green areas on more than 100% of the built-up area.

Project description

The project was created by plotting a mass showing the plan of the area to be designed, which consists of a long and slim area. Subsequently, this volume was divided into 3 smaller parts in order to lighten the emerging architecture in relation to the surrounding buildings. These parts are formed by 3 residential buildings that interact with each other and play a game (jumping of the individual heights of the buildings).

To achieve the goal of creating green areas on more than 100% of the built-up area, the structure of the sunny side of the facade has been collapsed into itself. This created cut-outs and balconies which are covered by a grassy area. Also the roof is grassed and used by the tallest apartment.

The individual storeys are identical, except that the height is diminishing with the diminishing of the storeys. This resulted in a total of 18 apartments and the lowest floor is used as communal underground parking.

Technical information

The structural system is mainly made of monolithic reinforced concrete columns with parts of the balconies made of prestressed concrete. The facade is made of white plaster on which wooden beams are anchored to the structure. With a receding grid density upwards, to lighten the overall impression of the building.