Let energy-efficient and environmentally friendly architecture become the rule! Architects from the Katowice-based M.O.C. studio won the competition for the urban planning concept, educational campus and kindergarten at the Michalowice Municipality Office in Regula. Their solution proposed, among other things, a modest, modular kindergarten building with an interior patio to form the heart of the facility.
competition
Organized by the municipality of Michalowice and the Warsaw branch of the Association of Polish Architects, the competition was divided into two stages - the study and implementation part. In the first of these, the task of the participants was to prepare a study including a proposal for the functions and uses of the site and the layout of the various facilities, with particular emphasis on the functional-utilityprogram for the buildings of the educational campus. In the second stage, the architects faced an architectural concept for an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly kindergarten building.
urban planning
The urban planning concept proposed by architects from the M.O.C. studio refers to the scale of the buildings surrounding the site. In order to organize the existing space, the authors decided to operate in the project a rectangular module with a side of 30 meters and a variable height from 4 to 13 meters. The height of the designed buildings was adjusted to the existing buildings - the tallest ones were planned in the vicinity of the Municipality Office, in the western part of the area characterized by higher traffic, and the lower ones - in the eastern part, in the vicinity of single-family houses.
visualization, stage 1.
© M.O.C. Architects
As emphasized by the authors of the project, characteristic of the entire premise and at the same time binding it into a whole is the grouping of solid modules, which create buildings of varied form and character. Thanks to such a solution, the proposed proportions of the buildings do not overwhelm and give the scale suitable for the central zone of the village of Regula.
kindergarten
In their concept, the architects tried to relate to the existing environment, which is dominated by suburban single-family housing, and to the scale of the planned educational campus. The plan of the kindergarten building was based on two, interpenetrating modules, which are divided into smaller parts. Where they intersect, the authors of the project planned a central patio to organize the space and functioning of the kindergarten, as well as to divide the building into the public part of the entrance area and the intimate space of the teaching rooms.
competition board
© M.O.C. Architects
The individual units in the kindergarten modules have different heights and roof slopes. Thanks to this solution, the building's scale adapts to its function and to the size of the surrounding single-family houses (some of which are single-story) and future campus buildings (some of which are two-story). The purpose of shifting the modules in relation to each other was to shorten and dismember the facade, and by varying the orientation of the roof pitch, the architects wanted to add dynamism and a modern character to the mass.
The competition jury appreciated the concept, among other things, for its restrained, friendly architecture and rational and thoughtful approach to the issues of energy efficiency and building operating costs.
