Municipal Office Leopoldov

Urban Planning Solution
The urban planning solution elaborates and develops the conceptual idea of the competition proposal from the architectural competition. We understand the city office in Leopoldov as a complex consisting of the original building transformed into a city library, a new building integrating all the required functions, and a public space between these two buildings and around them. Thus, the city office is not merely one building, but a "place" within the city.
The St. Ignatius Square represents a spacious square-park. It has its undeniable qualities; however, it does not have a distinctly urban character. The original office building will be preserved and complemented by a linear two-story mass placed parallel to the eastern boundary of the addressed area, respecting the street line of Gucmanova Street. This will create a new urban space on a smaller scale between both buildings, providing access points to both structures. The density and concentration of the built-up area give this space an urban, city quality. The created elevated courtyard will become a place for meetings, communication, and a venue for social and cultural events.
Pedestrian movement from the square naturally flows from the northern side, initially drawing attention to the corner of the new building with a clock, gradually revealing the courtyard and entrances to both buildings. The opening of the entire block allows circulation from Hlohovecká Street, Gucmanova and Rázusova Streets. As such, the entire area opens to pedestrian movement, replacing the introverted and closed with the open and public.
A two-meter setback from the eastern boundary creates space for communication to a secondary service entrance to the building, serving maintenance staff when the main entrance to the facility is closed. Traffic connections will be handled from Hlohovecká Street and Rázusova Street. The visitors' parking lot will be situated as originally linked to Hlohovecká Street. Within this area, a rhythmically elevated planting will be arranged to visually unblock the existing buildings south of the addressed parcel. The parking for the office's vehicles will be located adjacent to Rázusova Street. This area connects to a garage for two office vehicles and a garage for city maintenance.

Architectural Solution

Overall Concept of the Architectural Solution
The proposed architectural solution is based on the winning architectural design from the competition. The original notary office building will be reconstructed for use as a city library with an additional café function. The new building will stand behind it, forming a partnership with it between the original and new architectural layers. The space they create together is not only an entry area but also a gathering space, becoming an extremely important public area where various social activities can take place. This space is simultaneously a place where the old and new stand "face to face." One of the starting points of the architectural concept is, therefore, the dialogue between the original and new architectural layers. The preservation of the original structure from the early 20th century allows for a more elementary, perhaps even abstract approach to shaping the new architectural layer. Thus, we understand the new city office building as an elementary two-story cuboid with a distinct and readable reduction of mass that shapes the main entrance. This is a public administration building that, in our opinion, should present a clear architectural stance, behaving dignifiedly and civilly. The reconstruction of the original object should maintain its character, respecting its original architectural qualities. However, its expression, details, and materials used will clearly articulate our present. The public space between the buildings will be a contemporary urban space with the main quality being the ability to flexibly respond to the demands of various activities and events.

New City Office Building - Architectural and Layout Solution
The new structure integrates all the functions of the city office and the technical background of city maintenance. The main entrance is approached from the west through a vast "reduction" of mass, creating a covered recess of public space. This recess ensures a clearly defined entry, as well as a visual connection with the wedding hall. The façade break provides an adequate area for placing the state emblem, the city coat of arms, or other necessary insignia of the city office.
It has an elementary cubic mass with a simple and clear internal structure that reflects outward through a system of regular perforations. Within the internal structure of the building, three hierarchically significant spaces will be clearly articulated.
The wedding hall, a place for social activities and interaction, represents the "collective experience." The large meeting and conference room represents "democracy." The office of the mayor represents "the representation of power." The articulation is at the level of spatial formation and light distribution.
The wedding hall will be topped with a vaulted reinforced concrete arch that ensures a certain uniqueness, spatial quality, and optimization of proportions. The arch will be perforated with a regular grid of circular openings that will enable the distribution of artificial light. The optimization of the proportions of the space relates to the height of the space, which is given by the presence of an inserted gallery serving as a space that increases the capacity of "audiences" during larger social events.
The large meeting room, located on the second floor in the southern, terminal position, will be topped with a specific system of quarter-arched vaults creating a lowered skylight above the main conference table. This way, city council members will not be exposed to distracting influences; the distribution of natural and artificial light will be directed solely from above through the aforementioned skylight.
The mayor's office, located on the first floor next to the reception area and the chief officer's office, features the "largest" window facing into the entire complex's entry area from Hlohovecká Street. The ceiling of this office is completed at its eastern end with a quarter-arched vault, creating a section with lower comfortable seating. Each of these spaces has its unique characteristic, and we believe that beyond their identification function, these spatial manipulations impart a certain poetic dimension to the overall elementary internal structure of the building.
The entrance and communication spaces of the building play a significant role in the overall architectural concept. The generous covered entrance leads to a lobby with a clearly readable staircase and elevator. This open space, spanning two floors, gradually transforms into a linear form of the communication corridor in the southern direction. In our design, we anticipate that the entire communication framework of the building will be captured in a uniform material and artistic expression. The floors of these areas will feature ground concrete, and the ceilings will be in visible concrete. Since the office and social spaces will have a completely different materiality and detail, the communication framework within the building's internal structure will be clearly readable and visualized. Practically all offices open into this spatial structure with internal glazed walls, ensuring sufficient light distribution.
The architectural manifestation of the building externally represents its internal structure.
The elementary mass is plasticized through volume reductions at the main entrance on the western side, the service entrance, and a small loggia for staff on the eastern side.
The subsequent level of façade plasticity consists of windows with broken sills. The breaks of sills, lintels, and surrounds are clad in light stone. The localization of windows again reflects the internal structure and layout. As this is a longitudinal load-bearing system, the location of the partition walls in the transverse direction on both floors follows its logic based on the layout. The mutual offset of offices above each other determines the mutual shifts of windows on both floors.
The façades of the building will be treated with elegant plaster in combination with prefabricated elements and cladding of self-compacting visible concrete reinforced with glass fibers, applicable within the reductions of mass and individual window perforations.
The office windows will have integrated exterior shading textile awnings.
The western façade carries the visual symbol of the city office building—the clock—as is traditional for town halls. They are designed as a perforation of the mass, bringing light into the interior of the wedding hall.
After the wedding ceremony, they will chime and introduce an audible element into the town hall courtyard. The design of these clocks is evident from the project documentation and serves as the basis for the contractor's workshop documentation.
The new building is two stories with a partial basement. The first and second floors are dedicated to administrative and social spaces, which are complemented in the southern part of the building by garages. The first underground floor contains the technical facilities of the building, storage, an archive, and hygiene facilities for cleaning and maintenance staff.
The covered entrance leads to a lobby with a vertical communication core connecting all floors of the building. In addition to the main entrance to the hall, an employee entrance on the eastern side of the building is also available. This entrance is mainly for city cleaning staff or when the main entrance is closed.
In the northern part of the building, the entrance hall connects to a wedding and social hall with a capacity of 40 seated citizens; this open space spanning two floors with an inserted gallery connects to a kitchenette—serving space for social events located beneath the aforementioned gallery. Directly in the lobby are situated the first contact offices: registry office and treasury. The hygiene facilities for visitors and staff are accessed via a discrete ante-room. From the lobby, there is access to the reception area, which leads to the chief officer’s and mayor’s office. The garage for office vehicles, along with the city maintenance garage, are accessible from the paved area linked to Rázusova Street.
The second floor, in addition to offices (investment officer, environmental officer, cultural officer, payroll office, reserve office), kitchenette, and hygiene facilities, also contains both meeting rooms. The small meeting room is linked to the loggia, and the large meeting room with a skylight is located in the southern terminal position. The functional composition is completed by a technical room with the server, telephone switchboard, and radio.

City Library - Architectural and Layout Solution
The original city office building will be reconstructed for the purposes of the city library with a café. It will be a independently functioning entity, and the existing structure has the spatial potential for this. The architectural solution is based on respecting its qualities and developing its potential, enabling it to serve the new function. Interventions in the mass are minimized and mainly involve adjusting its original courtyard area by removing extensions. Modifications of the layout focus on opening the space. The new awning-covered entrance to the library will be approached from the courtyard. The entrance leads to a lobby, from which both operations are accessible: the library, located in the western wing of the building, and the café located in its northern wing. The southern wing contains hygiene facilities for visitors and staff, as well as storage for furniture and the technical facilities of the building—boiler room.
The library is designed as one open space with movable bookshelves. Centrally located is the librarian's workstation, with study and computer work areas located at the ends. The space is dominated by a bookshelf placed along the northern longitudinal load-bearing wall of the building, within which are three perforations. The flexible entrance hall serves to arrange readings for children. The clubroom with a capacity of approximately 20 seats, including a small storage area and minimal facilities, occupies the northern section.
In the overall technical solution, we have paid great attention to environmental aspects. Sustainable solutions for rainwater infiltration and alternative sources for heating/cooling are now essential. A water/water heat pump is used for heating and cooling. The new building features a ceiling system OBKT—monolithic ceilings that cool in summer and heat in winter.