Medziháj Residential Complex, Trnava

Project Overview

We wanted the Medziháj residential zone to be something like an urban village—with apartment buildings that feel urban, yet offer a village quality of life. It is intended to be a place for diverse types of residents who appreciate the accessibility of Trnava and a modern urban character of living, combined with the possibility of domestic activities that the city does not offer. They can exercise, work, and have fun at home, but also grow vegetables or keep small domestic animals—with the added bonus of being able to share all these joys and responsibilities. The foundation of both the urban and architectural concept is a square grid, where individual squares connect and take on various meanings and functions—green spaces, water features, or built-up areas. A colorful mosaic reflects the diversity of functions, uniqueness in detail, and at the same time, a unification of the solution across the entire territory. In our proposal, nothing is definitive—we utilize modularity in both urban planning and architecture, which allows for relatively free handling of masses, spaces between masses, and functions within the regulatory framework. We account for the conversion of masses over time to different functions—for example, an individual garage can easily be transformed into a workshop or a shop for local products, a ground-floor apartment into a psychologist's office, and a mobility hub into an apartment building or a market hall. We strive to create an environment that respects all generations and social statuses. The masses of the apartment buildings form a kind of intermediate stage between individual village-style family houses and an urban block. The residential structure is fragmented and irregular in both floor plan and height, which creates various vistas as well as diverse semi-open private and public spaces. The apartments are formed from square modules arranged independently, side-by-side, or stacked on top of each other. In the ground floor area, in addition to entrances to the apartment buildings, there are amenities, community spaces, and occasionally garages—which, due to the modularity, can be converted into something else in the future. Vertical cores connect to a "shared living room" from which one enters individual apartments on the floor. It is an extra space beyond the apartments that residents can use according to their preferences—as a storage room, playroom, gym, winter garden, etc. Public spaces have various, easily readable characters: a square, a recreational fountain, a small park, a meadow, a community garden, a cultivation greenhouse, small animal husbandry, a pond, a playground, a sports field, and a picnic gazebo. The vision is to create a "superblock" with traffic excluded, except for service vehicles and residents' cars, with no transit traffic. We strive for the design to be sustainable in all aspects—from the concept of green spaces and water management in the area, through the use of wood and recyclable materials in construction, to operation using renewable energy sources. In addition to high-quality living in apartments of various sizes, we also offer residents other functions in close proximity to their homes. Public spaces are easily accessible, safe, barrier-free, and adapted to all age categories, from families with small children and teenagers to self-sufficient seniors. Different qualities and typologies of spaces will support residents' identification with their home while also fostering mutual social interaction. We do not want to create a new gated community; our ambition is to open up to the residents of Ružindol as well and supplement the functions they lack in the village—ideally by involving them in the discussion during the creation of the new neighborhood.