Apartment Buildings Botanica K1–K4

Investor: Skanska Reality a.s.

Urban Planning Solution
The location of the proposed apartment buildings completes the urban planning of the realized set of residential buildings (apartment buildings, villa houses, terraced houses, and solitary family homes) in the Vidoule area. In the immediate vicinity of the affected plot, mostly 4 to 6-story residential buildings have been realized to the north, east, and west. To the south, along the bordering street Pekařská, which forms the main direction for accessing the location, a belt of various administrative buildings has already been completed.

From the base of the garages, which has an east-west longitudinal axis, four volumes (sections K1-K4) of two apartment buildings rise, following approximately the footprint of four existing residential buildings adjacent across green space to the north. Like the existing volumes to the north, the newly designed volumes of the apartment buildings also have a longitudinal axis in the north-south direction.

The garages on the southern side approximately follow the shape of the Pekařská street in the direction from east to west. In front of the smallest residential building volume on the west, the edge of the garages retreats to the north, creating a “setback” that reflects property relations to the plots at this location. The center of the complex is defined by a pedestrian axis. This is a pedestrian connection from the public transport station on Bucharova street to Brzorádových street, leading all the way to Vidoule park to the north.

Architectural Solution
The mass of the complex consists of five basic volumes. There is a base volume (underground garages) from which four volumes of the sections of the residential buildings arise. The sections of the apartment buildings are designated from west to east as K1-K4. The individual volumes of the apartment buildings are connected at the ground level by narrow connections. Between the K1/K2 and K3/K4 volumes, a narrow connection is placed on the northern side of the complex, serving a residential function. The basic volume of each apartment building section is a cuboid, whose southern side is shaped to fit the footprint of the base.

The protruding and retreating masses of the individual sections, placed mainly on the eastern and western sides of the cuboids, are composed into vertical blocks.

The individual sides of the complex (the artistic principle of the solution) are treated differently. The southern side of each section is designed as flat, without balconies and loggias, accented by a single niche on each mass that differs in size and placement within each volume. This geometric simplicity on the southern side is due to the relatively high traffic on Pekařská street, or the effort to minimize its impact on individual residential units.

The eastern and western sides of each cuboid are shaped by a system of niches and protruding masses - bay windows. A contrasting material and color solution is always chosen for the bay windows and niches, as opposed to the basic façade surface.

The northern façades of the individual volumes are designed to be relatively austere. The façades of sections K1, K2, K3, and K4 are articulated by the protruding mass of the communication core, the shape of which is enhanced by the beveling of the shape of the ceiling slab of the roof above the final staircase arm, which roughly follows the slope of this arm.

The main mass of the buildings is designed with a structured plaster in a broken white color. The niches on the buildings are lined with façade panels of red color, and the bay windows are faced with panels in horizontal stripes alternating between light gray and dark gray. The base is made of gabion retaining walls and cladding using dark gray stone. The retreating floors and connecting narrow links are designed similarly to the retreating and protruding masses of the buildings, clad with panels – in two shades of gray.

The faces of the balcony railings, whose supporting structure is designed from hot-dip galvanized steel, are made from matte translucent safety glass in milk and red colors. The reinforced concrete balcony slabs are in the color of natural concrete.

Swisspearl façade panels

The ventilated façade of the building is executed from fiber-cement façade panels designed for this type of cladding – Swisspearl Carat in the colors Black Opal 7020, Agate 7219.

The fiber-cement façade panels from Swisspearl, which give the façade a unique appearance, are made exclusively from environmentally friendly raw materials. Thanks to the use of purely natural materials, these panels are fully recyclable.

The main advantage of Swisspearl panels is their high cement content, high pressing pressure, and unique surface treatment. As a result, there are references that are decades old.

A wide range of colors and surfaces is available, consisting of more than a hundred different types of cladding.

The cladding is very durable, non-combustible, and easy to maintain.

Swisspearl façade cladding is suitable for a wide range of applications, from large commercial buildings to parts of family houses. They can be used both outdoors and indoors.

The installation of the panels can be visible (with screws and rivets) or hidden (gluing or mechanical fastening). The installation is simple and can be done year-round.

The supplier of the façade panels, SWISS FACADE s.r.o., provides technical support and ensures adherence to technological procedures during the construction implementations.

Technical Features
The complex is equipped with a "gray water" system, which allows the use of wastewater from bathrooms for subsequent flushing of toilets in individual residential units. The design of sections K1 and K2 was created so that the building could be certified in the BREEAM system, where it achieved the Excellent level.

Building Capacities
Built space: 68,699 m³
Number of above-ground/below-ground floors K1/K2: 7 / 1
Number of above-ground/below-ground floors K3/K4: 7 / 2
Number of residential units K1/K2: 64 (30 -K1, 34 -K2)
Number of residential units K3/K4: 99 (44 -K3, 55 -K4)
Number of parking spaces K1/K2: 1PP -42
Number of parking spaces K3/K4: 1PP -58
2PP -64
Number of parking spaces at ground level: 20
Number of commercial spaces in sections K2/K3: 2/2