Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled designs for a complex of towers in Bratislava's city centre (+ slideshow).
The architects won a competition in 2010 to design the mixed-use masterplan, which proposes seven curving tower blocks surrounding a public plaza in the east of the Slovakian capital.
A decommissioned coal-fire power station sits at the centre of the site and will be converted into an art gallery as part of the project, while a series of additional pavilions will be constructed alongside.
The plans are laid out as a network of circular and elliptical patterns, with pathways weaving between residential and commercial buildings, plus landscaped seating areas stepping up over the rooftops of shop units.
An underground parking area will be included on a basement floor and will be accessed by raised entrances around the site perimeter.
Also this month, Zaha Hadid has been appointed by the Mayor of London to develop plans for a major new airport and launched a range of twisting auditorium seats. See more design by Zaha Hadid.
Here's a project description from Zaha Hadid Architects:
Bratislava Culenova New City Centre
The design is based on a dynamic field strategy which organises the new city centre's program along a gradient of circular and elliptical patterns. A fluid field emerges from the underlying matrix in a series of larger tower extrusions towards the site's perimeter and intermediate scale pavilion-like structures surrounding the cultural plaza adjacent to an existing decommissioned power station.
Above: building design diagram
To activate the ground throughout the whole site and provide public spaces of the highest quality, the underground car parking is covered by a one storey high modulated platform, which is perforated at strategic points for day-lit spaces that accommodate retailing, landscaped parks and various points of interest such as the cultural centre, museum shop, conference space and event halls.
Above: landscape design diagram
Towards the site's perimeter the platform is slightly raised at specific points to define the site's edge and accommodate programmatic points of interest, access points to the parking levels below and access to office and residential towers above. At other strategic zones, the platform lowers to merge with the surrounding city level to link the new urban parks and plazas with the surrounding city fabric.
Above: concept masterplan - click for larger image
The scheme creates density via efficient high-rise structures while providing a generous and highly activated ground level with public spaces that are gradually differentiated within a 3-dimensional field condition.