WhiteGray Residence

Urban planning solution is based on a primary compositional intention - to design a truly urban building structure, suitably complement the spatial composition of this part of Podolí, and to find some compositional intermediary between the surrounding villa development and the multi-storey residential buildings in this part of Podolí.
In this small urban structure, we insert a new urban element and at the same time try to make use of the site's conditions to the greatest extent possible. Among these conditions, the slope of the terrain, orientation towards the cardinal directions, view into the quiet part of the land, and in the higher floors, a view of the Prague panorama, as well as the connection to the existing communication network, are particularly important.
The aim was to design a residential building consisting of two separate masses that, due to their height and scale, will connect with the surrounding villa development.
The site itself allows for the placement of objects that do not compete with neighboring structures, but rather fit into the existing area.
The building is located on Dvorecká Street at a distance from the roadway, which corresponds to the distance of neighboring objects, thus preserving the street line of existing objects on this street.
The entrance and the access to the underground parking are resolved from Nad Cihelnou Street. Due to the slope of the terrain, the entrance is at the level of the basement, through a spacious entrance hall.
The design also sensitively responds to the terrain's morphology. The building itself has, due to the morphology of the site, one shared underground floor, which can be accessed almost at ground level, and four above-ground floors. From Dvorecká Street, due to the positioning of the building into the terrain, it appears as a three-storey building.
As this is a corner building, the goal was for it to create a dominant and dynamic impression. This expression is achieved by gradually rotating the individual floors relative to each other. The individual floors rotate around a common point, which is symmetrically positioned for each mass. The southern mass has its rotational point located in the upper left corner and the individual floors twist towards the corner of Nad Cihelnou and Jeremenkova Streets, creating a dominant corner accent and visual landmark of this intersection. The northern mass has its rotational point in the upper right corner, and the individual floors twist in the opposite direction compared to the southern mass.
The building will be served by traffic from Nad Cihelnou Street, with this solution connecting to the existing communication network. Off-street parking is provided on the site in garages at the basement level. In this case, the existing terrain levels were utilized.
Height regulation is aligned with the floor count of surrounding buildings. The height level of the parapet does not exceed the ridge of the adjacent family house. The mass of the building, along with the neighboring houses, creates an acceptable street view panorama.

Architectural solution
The newly designed building is conceived as two separately standing four-storey masses with one communication core, where the elevator and staircase are located. The objects are connected on each floor by a slender bridge, which is designed as an open space with only glass railings. To ensure greater comfort for clients, it is possible to design the bridges as fully glazed.
The entrance is from the level of the common basement. Near the communication core in the basement, there are storage rooms, cleaning rooms, technical facilities, and waste space. Due to the slope of the terrain, the underground floor protrudes above the ground and creates a walkable terrace area for apartments on the first floor.
The entire structure is based on the principle of contrast. The individual objects differ from each other in their color depending on the rotation and displacement of the individual floors. Both masses are designed on an irregular trapezoidal floor plan. These shapes derive from the positions of the communications Jeremenkova, Nad Cihelnou, Dvorecká, and further from the intention to create a funnel-shaped form for the interspace between the objects.
The objects are designed on the same principle, where the mass itself consists of individual horizontal bodies, creating a bold composition through dynamic rotation and displacement.
The overall horizontal mass solution is accentuated towards the intersection of Nad Cihelnou and Jeremenkova Streets by an increasing floor outline, thus creating a dominant corner accent.
In the southern object, through the gradual rotation of the individual bodies, the facades towards Jeremenkova and Nad Cihelnou streets gradually protrude outward. In contrast, the remaining two facades protrude inward.
In the northern object, it is the other way around. Towards the garden and interspace, they protrude outward, creating a dominant corner accent and visual landmark for the intersection of Nad Cihelnou and Jeremenkova streets. The corner accent of the second object is toward the garden.
The mass structure is intentionally divided to the southeast and southwest with large openings and loggias, allowing light access. The northwest and northeast facades, on the other hand, have smaller openings. This division achieves the effect of visual opening of the living spaces of the apartments and closure of service spaces. The transparent parts of the facade are equipped with external blinds.
The facade consists of an irregular grid of vertical glazed and solid surfaces (facade cement fiber boards) and uses the principle of contrast. The facades facing Nad Cihelnou and Dvorecká streets are more closed and solid. The objects differ in their color. The northern object is dark while the southern object provides a colorful contrast.
The communication core with the elevator and staircase is located at the northwestern facade near the entrance to the building. Access to individual apartments is from common corridors located along the northwest facade.
The first and second floors consist of apartments from 1+kk to 4+kk. The third floor consists of apartments from 1+kk to 3+kk. The fourth floor contains two apartments, one 4+kk and one 5+kk.
The building has a total of 14 apartments of various categories. The apartments located on the first-floor level also have outdoor front gardens. In the apartments adjacent to the busy Jeremenkova Street, fully glazed loggias are designed to allow for ventilation of the apartments while adhering to the noise level standards from traffic.
Off-street parking is provided on the site in garages at the basement level and is designed so that the number of internal parking spaces meets the requirements for off-street parking. The basement also houses storage rooms, the number of which corresponds to the number of apartments.