The competition for the design of a sustainable multifamily housing estate, organized at the request of the Katowice Social Building Society by SARP Katowice Branch, was won by the proposal of a duo of architects from the k3xmore studio - Kinga Bączyk and Magdalena Orzeł-Rurańska. How will the new TBS buildings on Kosmiczna Street in Katowice's Giszowiec district look like? What, according to the jury, is the greatest asset of the project? See for yourself!
According to the jury, the proposal of the architect duo most rationally implements the guidelines of the competition. The organizers were looking for a design of a low-energy residential complex, which will be characterized by extensive use of pro-environmental and pro-social solutions, will be attractive in terms of form, comfortable in use, giving a sense of security to residents, economically accessible, and at the same time conducive to the environment and the creation of neighborhood ties.
visualization of the estate
© k3xmore
The jury appreciated the proposed spatial solutions, the clear functional layout of the residential areas and underground parking lots, the simple layout of the apartments linked by an economical form of vertical and horizontal communication, and the economical form of the buildings with a compact body without excess additional space. In addition, attention was paid to the formation of external common social space, urban planning solutions that minimize the number of collisions with existing networks and ecological solutions such as rainwater retention. In addition, an asset of the work is the possibility to stage the investment by separating three independent groups of buildings," reads the justification of the Competition Court.
friendly place to live
The plot of land with a shape close to a rectangle, located near the Murckowski forest and the KWK Staszic coal mine, was horizontally divided by the architects from the k3xmore studio into three main parts - the northern one intended for communication, the middle one with residential buildings, and the southern one - a green zone separating the housing estate from the neighboring area. This division, according to the intention of the authors, fulfills the main urban planning assumption of the project - separating vehicular transportation from residential space and creating a friendly environment for living in a soothing green environment.
urbanistic scheme
© k3xmore
The authors of the winning project proposed seven alternating multi-family buildings of three and four stories in height. Such a composition allows even sunlight to reach the apartments, and also creates urban interiors accessible through pedestrian traffic.
Thanks to this, the buildings do not overshadow each other, and also preserve the height of the buildings of the neighboring urban fabric, the architects explain. - The Punktowce buildings are built on a square plan of 21 × 21 meters with an entrance zone located in the arcade of the northern elevation. Each building's entrance zone includes a trolley room and a trash room. The entire complex contains a total of 111 residential units and one commercial unit with back-up facilities. [...] Each residential unit has access to a backyard garden/balcony or terrace. Some of the apartments have been equipped with storage rooms (dressing rooms), while most of the storage cells have been located in underground garages, the designers added.
site development plan
© k3xmore
space between buildings
Concentrating vehicular traffic in one part of the plot made it possible to free the space between buildings from cars, thus giving a greater sense of security to residents. The estate is connected by paths made of tartan - this material, as the architects emphasize, is durable, environmentally friendly and facilitates sports, cart passage and rainwater drainage. In the green, southern part of the estate, the architects planned a rainwater retention tank, a playground and a recreation zone, and at the two borders of the plot - supporting small retention rain gardens.
axonometric view
© k3xmore
The entire green area was treated as an English garden with scattered groups of low and high greenery. The apartments located on the first floors have private gardens, while the main idea was to create a semi-public garden with friendly common spaces, accessible to all residents, the designers add.
different shades of prefabrication
The center of each square-plan block is a prefabricated reinforced concrete core with an elevator and staircase, around which the apartments are planned. Prefabricated elements were also used in the construction of the ceilings and staircase (architectural concrete with recycled aggregate), while the exterior walls will be made of ceramic blocks. The colorful facades will be finished with trapezoidal metal sheets installed in three different directions.
building details
© k3xmore
Just as brick, which was once the building material of the old workers' estates in Giszowiec or Nikiszowiec, was popular and readily available, today the prefabricated system of modules made of mineral wool and trapezoidal sheet is readily available, locally produced and relatively economical, the architects explain.
The buildings have also been designed with a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery, a gray water system and powering the lighting of common areas in the buildings, as well as field lighting photovoltaic panels.
building detail
© k3xmore
