Modern apartment buildings in Brno: Efficient construction with Silka blocks

In Brno, modern residential buildings have been constructed using Silka lime-sand blocks, which have proven themselves with their exceptional strength, economy, and ability to optimize the acoustics of buildings. Among the interesting projects is a narrow residential building on Francouzská Street, the Triangl Residence in Brno-Komín, where Silka blocks replaced the originally planned reinforced concrete, and also the Diorit Residence, which mimics the shape of an old quarry. In all of these projects, the use of Silka blocks has simplified construction, saved costs, and ensured quality acoustics.


The Francouzská apartment building is unique for its narrow shape (only 7.5 m wide), as it was built on a plot where an old single-story family house once stood. Here too, the advantages of large-format Silka Tempo and Ytong Jumbo blocks and the services of the Xella Competence Center were evident. The project's investor effectively utilized the Xella blue.sprint services, which included static assessment, optimization of selected materials, and visualization of the final offer in a BIM model. “Originally, the first underground and first above-ground floors were designed in reinforced concrete, and from the second floor, external walls with a thickness of 450 mm were planned. In our design, we used 240 mm thick lime-sand large-format blocks Silka Tempo for internal load-bearing and inter-apartment walls, and these blocks were also used in the external walls of the lower floors. The higher floors are built from 250 mm thick Ytong Jumbo large-format aerated concrete blocks,” says Jakub Podešť, technical advisor – structural engineer at Xella CZ.


The Triangl Residence was realized by the developer Impera Styl, and both residential buildings are located in the Brno-Komín district on Podveská Street. The building's design was created by Ing. arch. Michaela Jandová, and the project designers were Ing. arch. Iveta Musilová and Tomáš Vítek, with ŽSD, a.s. Brno as the general contractor. A significant advantage of the new residential complex's location is its excellent transport accessibility while offering a quiet and pleasant environment in a popular area of Brno.

“An interesting aspect of the Triangl Residence is the architectural solution of the building with rounded corners,” says Pavel Červík, manager for key projects at Xella regarding the use of Silka blocks in the second phase of the Triangl Residence in Brno, adding: “Therefore, the large-format Silka Tempo blocks were supplemented with small-format Silka blocks to ensure the radius is as smooth as possible. The main benefit of our solution was cost savings in wall construction. Building with lime-sand Silka Tempo blocks is up to 50% cheaper than constructing internal reinforced concrete structures.”


The foundation of the Diorit Residence is a monolithic structure, with external walls and inter-apartment walls made of lime-sand Silka blocks.

The Diorit apartment building in Brno is named after the building stone that has been mined in the quarry where this construction is taking place for decades. A unique project has grown in the quarry, designed by architects from the DRNH studio. Lime-sand blocks Silka blocks were used for the external walls and inter-apartment walls, providing excellent acoustics for the new apartments and commercial units.

The Diorit Residence is set to be completed this year and will offer 142 apartments, four commercial units, and 178 parking garage spaces after approval. Smaller 1+kk apartments are ideal as starter or investment properties, while apartments with layouts from 2+kk to 4+kk facing south will offer new owners balconies or terraces. The investor is the joint-stock company Diorit a.s., whose sole shareholder is PMP Investment Group s.r.o., with MORAVOSTAV Brno, a.s. as the general contractor, and the project author is DRNH architectural office.

For this apartment building, based on the static engineer's proposal, reinforced concrete was replaced with walls made of Silka blocks. Since acoustic performance, financial costs, and construction speed were crucial for the investor, they were very satisfied with the use of Silka. Additionally, the arch structures of standard format Silka blocks proved successful in shaping the building into curves.

For more information on Silka lime-sand blocks and the individual apartment buildings, visit Residential Construction | Xella.