Re-vision of housing estate in Třebíč

FAST VUT - Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Department of Architecture

Project idea

What is the future of housing estate build-up in the 70s and 80, which nowadays comes to its stated lifetime vitality?

Obránců míru housing estate is situated on the edge of the Třebíč historical city center surrounded by rural block-shaped development. It was established in the 70s to accommodate raised demand due to nuclear power plant development in neraby Dukovany, which had significantly changed the character of the city. Nowadays, housing estate decay as new environmental, social, energetic and mobility issues occur.

The main goal of the housing estate (sídliště) re-vision is to prove, that it has the potential to adapt to nowadays calls and challenges with a strong focus on sustainability, social cohesion, climate resilience, soft mobility, and application of energy self-sufficiency with blue and green infrastructure. Re-vision sets a complex approach to create a high-quality living area, adds essential functions and amenities, defines diverse public spaces contributing community environment, and re-thing mobility, which prefers human and soft mobility against a car.

Project description

In the scale of the whole city, re-vision encourages internal city development - urban recycling instead of extensive expansion beyond its edge building up on green land which now has a negative impact on raising congestion and the concept of a 15-minute city.

In the scale of Nové Dvory district, re-vison aims to find a symbiosis between both urban patterns which define new streets and public space network dividing the estate into smaller clusters maintaining long-term sustainable development of re-vision by its phasing.

In the scale of the housing estate itself, the main focus in terms of public space (life between buildings) is on quality instead of quantity. Adding new architecture helps to activate streets and public space in between buildings contributing to social interactions, enriching the scope of functions creating new workplaces, sports venues, leisure time areas, public playgrounds as well as amenities and retail space.

Re-visin concept enhances the essence of an existing housing estate in terms of the garden city concept with maxima permeability for pedestrians. Space between buildings forming a cluster is designed with an emphasis on diverse green semi-public to semi-private space with occasional private back gardens belonging to newly merged duplex apartments added with community houses contributing to neighborhood activities.

Technical information

New wooden-based prefabricated architecture using CLT complements the concrete housing estate buildings adding versatility, circularity, and diversity in terms of flat mix, function, and aesthetics. In all, 4 new types of architecture are added - grid house, community house, parking stacker, and architecture of the existing building.

Grid house is a versatile archetype with an active ground floor enriching street life with public functions according to residents' current needs. Wooden grid structure offers a diverse flat mix that can reflect current demand emphasizing social sustainability with the possibility to evolve according to the current needs of its inhabitants (family).

Community house enriches the green inner yard shaping an adequate environment for community life with strong neighborhood connections. Flexible unified wood structure proposes many size options - community house, club room, spa, or local workshop for cultural, social, leisure, or work use.

Parking stacker together with a new bus stop, rich network, and new bus stop in the center of the estate helps to promote soft mobility. Vertical stackers save space used for residents while raising the parking capacity by 25% in the whole area. The facade of the stackers is designed for secondary use enriching the surrounding area with solar and wind energy production, and vertical hydroponic farming as a climbing wall element forming a playground.

Re-vision points to the potential of activating rooftops, facades, and ground floor of existing concrete panel buildings which will make them more attractive for living.