| Client | PENTA REAL ESTATE |
|---|---|
| Location | Hybernska, Prague 1, CZ |
| Scale | 10000 m2 |
As both the terminus to East end of Hybernska Street and the point of vertical access to the new elevated plaza, we see the Hybernska Office Building as an important urban ‘nodal’ or activity point, which should be expressed through its massing and architecture. CMC was a finalist in the prestigious invited competition staged by PENTA REAL ESTATE.
Masaryk Station is a primary nodal point and collector of urban movement on the East-West axis through the center of Prague. It is visible not only from the Magistrate elevated highway (Wilsonova), but also from the axial sequence of urban icons along Hybernska Street to Old Town Square. With the completion of the Masaryk Office Center, by Zaha Hadid’s atelier, the hotel by Schindler-Seko, and the elevated plaza platform by JCA, this location has become the attractive modern hub it was destined to be, surrounded by the scale and history of several hundred years of Prague’s urban evolution.
The urban attitude of the Hybernska Office Building is influenced by several converging geometries, by the railway platforms, by its dominant adjacent neighbor buildings, and finally by its interconnected physical presence with the historical Masaryk Train Station.
The historical Masaryk Station is a horizontally composed building, with two vertical counter-points peaking on its roof, a rhythmic façade with arched windows, and, a series of vertical pillars on its smaller Eastern wings. The building glows a warm beige color, with accented dark copper roof towers, wood windows and metal accents in dark colors. The new Zaha Hadid office building is primarily also a horizontal composition of architectural elements, toned in gold metallic, with diagonal, directional interruptions, and its West tower-like end having vertical lamels, or fins, creating a ‘crescendo-like’ dominant on the small square.
With the very dominant Masaryk Office Center forming the North edge of the extended railway site, we see its massing mostly horizontal. The Zaha Hadid building introduces intermediate pauses sculpted/shifted expressing the binary movement energy of the trains departing and arriving to the station, while its most powerful moment is a tower-like ‘crescendo’ on the small piazzeta or urban square. Our proposal for Hybernska Office Building we see also as a ‘crescendo’, or vertical counter-point, emphasizing again the binary movement of the trains in the intermediate space between the projects. We place here a simple, slightly stepped volume, with a vertical counter-point at the important moment of urban access to the new elevated plaza above the train platforms.
Our architectural response is to capture the movement energy of the station expressed on the facades, relate to the vertical pillars and city-scaled rhythm on the historical building’s East end, and create the focus of visual energy on the new corner tower and penthouse, and its rotation, at the transition to the new hotel and elevated plaza. The main facades feature rhythmic lamels from color PV-embedded safety glass, ventilation panels for natural air, high performance triple glazing and exterior rolets. The tower penthouse has a double-façade system, with vertical lamels on the inner side shading the office spaces within.
According to the Design Brief, we expect the Hybernska Office Building ground level and first floor above ground to be chic and interesting retail units, each with mezzanines above. Levels 3-7 to be open space offices, with the added feature of stepped, landscaped terraces on levels 4-6. We see the highest levels of the tower penthouse as exclusive office spaces and conference rooms. The underground levels accommodate technical rooms and the required parking, with cars accessing through a vehicle lift system.
Hybernska Office Building will have a sophisticated façade assembly, including high-performance triple glass, PV-embedded safety glass lamels, which can generate up to 20% of the electrical needs, ventilation panels for natural air and exterior rolets to reduce heat gains and sun glare. The terraces and roof areas will be fully landscaped, and rainwater will be recycled for grey water use and irrigation. Any roof areas on level 7, the penthouse roof, not landscaped will feature solar collectors to capture up to 20% of hot water needs from the sun as well.