Viktoria – Multi-purpose building in Bratislava, Slovakia by Grido, architektura & design

Article source: Grido, architektura & design

At some point, every project is subject to compromise. A compromise between the developer’s requirements and the site’s potential, between the architect’s idea and the construction company’s abilities. Architecture is about finding a compromise.
Multipurpose building Viktoria is located on a complicated site in Bratislava’s city center – at the frontier of two different worlds – of an active boulevard on one side and of a quiet residential area on the other.

Image Courtesy © Paťo Safko

• Architects: Grido, architektura & design
• Project: Viktoria – Multi-purpose building
• Location:Bratislava, Slovakia
• Photographs:  Paťo Safko
• Design Team: Ing.arch. Peter Sticzay-Gromski, Ing.arch. Marek Kolčák, Ing.arch. Petra Rajchlová
• Completion: 2010
• Area: 31.000 sqm

Image Courtesy © Paťo Safko

The architect’s will was to align the building façade with the street façade line despite the existing parking area in front of the building that is not in clients ownership. This was accomplished by the cantilevered volume over the parking area. The tension between the parking void and the cantilevered mass above it animates the street life.

Image Courtesy © Paťo Safko

The building was getting taller over time as the developer’s plans were getting bigger. The shape of the building is enlightened by the green atrium which serves all the residents. The atrium is not enclosed to public, nor entirely open. It communicates with the surrounding building. Each wing of the building is articulated differently and has a different height.

Image Courtesy © Paťo Safko

The building height of the part facing the neighbouring residential buildings is lower – corresponding to the genius loci of the street and allowing the sun into the courtyard. The façade is cladded with colored ceramic tiles in the same way the front part of the building is. In red brown colour from the outside, in white colour in the courtyard. Altogether, it forms a ‚plinth‘ on which another 8 storeys of apartments are stacked. The upper block is in contrast with the plinth – it is articulated floor by floor and cladded with the playful green colored glass. Shifting the floors reciprocally creates a dynamic effect of a form getting off its skin.

Image Courtesy © Paťo Safko

Image Courtesy © Paťo Safko

Image Courtesy © Paťo Safko

Image Courtesy © Paťo Safko

Image Courtesy © Paťo Safko

Image Courtesy © Grido, architektura & design

Image Courtesy © Grido, architektura & design

Image Courtesy © Grido, architektura & design

Image Courtesy © Grido, architektura & design

Image Courtesy © Grido, architektura & design

Tags: Bratislava, Slovakia

Category: Apartments

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