karlín railway

The working motto of the design work was the minimalist definition of the Karlín neighbourhood ´between a train and a ship´. That is between the river and the railway that are the crucial factors of the area morphologically delineated by the top of the Vítkov hill and the right bank of the Vltava, an industrial suburb seeing a tumultuous development since the 19th century. The concept aimed at shaping, colours, and materials referring to the inspiration by industrial aesthetics of machines, ships, and trains. The basic articulation and moulding result from the landscape and volumetric relations to the surrounding developments. The building follows and continues the Pernerova street line. The high ground floor establishes a platform following the future neighbouring building on the west side and exploits the developable area to the maximum. The ground floor is canted on the east side to accentuate the corner and the building’s front that closes the continuous block development on the street reaching above it while forming an arcade making the street character more noticeable. The volume containing offices rests on the collonaded pedestal along the west side set a short distance aside from the planned neighbouring building on the west. Setting the office building away guarantees that the mass is adequately articulated in agreement with the surrounding developments while keeping the continuous street line and visual connection with the Vítkov hill on the south side as well as making the mass visually lighter and readily connected to the planned neighbour. The office block is moulded emphasising the corner on the east and dynamizing the adjacent visual axes. We symbolically extend the green from the Vítkov hill onto the platform’s roof over the ground floor making it an essential design element; this idea is supported by ´adding´ the technology volume to the hill’s mass on the south. A benefit of a new landscape layer is formed this way. By shaping and articulating the building, we try to complete the urban fabric, accentuate the natural environment of the Vítkov hill’s slope, and relate it to the planned park on the east side integrated into broader systems of city eco-corridors. Our design supports and at the same time incorporates the park on the east side into the building. Façades The street north and east ground floor façade are glazed and canting. Facades of the office building on the east and west side consist of vertical belts ´cut through´ the continuous envelope overlapping on sides. The north and south façade is a system curtain wall. The facades feature a system of bar elements set in front of the curtain wall, closing the building’s shape and supporting the dynamics of its shape. These elements also establish an exterior shading system. Placing of an eye-catching landmark (e.g. a piece of art) into the park at the intersection of visual axes Šaldova x Sovova seems rather appropriate (the intersection comes up into the park area on the investor’s land).