Zagreb - Residential building

Volume

The shape of the building was adapted to the brief rules. Therefore, the house is divided into two parts, as reflected in its internal functional layout. A ground floor plinth element housing a public café and a multi-storey unit with three apartments. This character can be found in the surroundings of the project area; the ground floor serves mostly catering facilities and terraces, the upper floors are residential blocks. The surrounding buildings have structured window divisions, plaster facades and a tiled gable roofs, thus our design proposal also incorporates these simple architectural elements to blend in with its historical context.

Entrances, traffic

We sought to ensure that the access to the apartments and the cafe on the ground floor do not interfere with each other. Therefore, the apartment units are accessed from Langov trg, with a separate entrance and private staircase. The staircase has a pleasant stairway and an elevator for disabled access. Natural lighting of the staircase is provided by a glass-brick strip. The basement waste collector and storage rooms for the apartments are also accessed by this staircase.

The ground floor café is accessed from Branjugova Street through the courtyard. During opening hours, entry to the courtyard is through the original openings of the remaining street frontage wall, which also serves as the lobby and garden area of the premises. The economic loading of the catering unit is also done through the ground floor courtyard, separated in time. Beyond opening hours, sliding gates provide protection for the courtyard.

Apartments

The design of 1 apartment per level allows a high degree of freedom in the internal layout of the apartments. We feel it is important that the apartments in this exclusive location also have a well-used, spacious transitional space/loggia. These loggias are located in the sunny south-west corner, with a magnificent view of the city centre and of the cathedral during winter.

The corner loggia connects the interior spaces of the apartment on two sides, thus the living room and the spacious dining room and kitchen have a direct terrace connection. From the living room, the wide sliding door can be opened to blur the exact boundary between the interior and exterior spaces.

The internal organisation of the apartments is achieved by a centrally placed built-in block. This central element with bathrooms, wardrobes and bookshelves separates the north bedroom area from the south living room functions, and also solves the problem of the entrance hall and the more intimate exploration of the master bedroom. During the day, by opening the bedroom doors, we get the sense of a spacious, generous, single-space apartment with exciting longitudinal views.

Café

We propose to create a two-storey catering unit (restaurant-café), which will allow as much consumer space as possible on the ground floor. Therefore, the kitchen, service facilities and public toilets are located in the basement. The ground floor would only accommodate the bar counter, a small back-up storage area and disabled toilets. The basement area is accessed through a private internal staircase.