About project
Our competition design for the Municipal Services Building is based on the idea of an open and welcoming city block. At its heart is a central atrium that connects all parts of the operation and functions as a lively cultural foyer.
The project builds on the original concept of Matablok, which we have transformed into a more readable and functional form during the competition. This has resulted in an efficient building that naturally connects the city centre with the Black Meadow and creates new pleasant public spaces.
Our main focus was on ensuring that the Municipal Services Building primarily serves people. It offers a dignified setting for handling everyday official matters and a modern working environment for hundreds of employees. The goal is to create a place that is not only practical, but also open, healthy, and cultural.
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Client
Statutory City of Ostrava
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Year
2025
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Location
Ostrava, Czech Republic
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Size
HPP 12 200 m2
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Visualisations
Ján Martin Púčik
Petr Matějka -
Landscape
Barbora Kuciaková
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Architecture
Ján Antal
Martin Křivánek
Oksana Džabarjan
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Energy concept
The facade of the building is designed as 65% glazed. Horizontally offset structural elements provide passive shading and are complemented by external roller shutters to further reduce heat gain. The central atrium benefits from natural ventilation through a chimney effect, ensuring a high quality indoor environment on all floors. During the summer months, the atrium can also be used to pre-cool the building at night. Fresh air is supplied by ducts along the façade, supplemented by the possibility of opening windows with insect protection. The central air extraction is located in the space around the atrium. All technologies are controlled by an intelligent measurement and control (MaR) system that monitors operational values, optimises energy consumption and facilitates building management. Lighting is designed using energy-efficient LED technology with automatic control according to daylight and occupancy.
Fire safety solutions
The proposed house is equipped with two protected escape routes located in reinforced concrete cores. These are located in the corners of the internal atrium to effectively serve the public area and the office staff area. Both cores have direct access to the exterior.
The building is designed without a sprinkler system, which reduces capital costs and simplifies management. For this reason, the façade is divided by fire belts of 90 cm between each floor and the interior of the building is divided into several fire compartments.
Greenery and public space
The design works with a seamless transition between the formal urban structure and the freer park environment. The house stands at a point where the regular urban grid begins to break down into more irregular buildings and greenery, which also shapes the composition of the public space.
Regular avenues of trees follow the rhythm of the streets and indicate their continuation. Towards the park they gradually loosen into a looser planting. The building’s surroundings are designed as an active urban parterre with the possibility of residency – the placement of tables, chairs and benches encourages daily use by visitors, employees and residents of the neighbourhood.
Trees planted in paved areas are placed in a structural substrate that ensures healthy root development and efficient rainwater management. The greenery towards the park has organic shapes and is planted with a mixture of perennials with a year-round effect. Benches integrated into the planting edges are placed in the transition zones between the greenery and the road. In the perennial areas, bays of grass paving appear, allowing for the placement of furnishings and offering additional places to stay.
Our aim was to preserve as many mature and valuable trees as possible. The design has managed to retain four existing specimens, a lime tree, a sycamore and two ash trees.
A dignified facade with human scale
Visual order is a key element of the architectural concept. The façade conveys structure, system and serenity that corresponds to the proper operation of the building. However, this strict order is deliberately disturbed in places by irregular columns. They bring an individual gesture to the austere system, symbolising human needs, differences and diversity. This makes the architecture more welcoming and understandable, the building retains its institutional dignity but at the same time acquires a scale close to the people and expresses empathy.
Raster and windows with opening parts
The façade of the Municipal Services Building is designed as a heavy reinforced concrete structure, which fulfils both a load-bearing and expressive function. It is based on a regular grid of 8.1 × 8.1 metres, which defines the basic structure of the entire building and is also visible on the exterior thanks to horizontal concrete cornices and regularly spaced columns. The columns of the main structural system are clad in light-coloured brick cladding.
The window fillings consist of aluminum frames with opening parts, protected against rain and insects. Thanks to them, the building can be naturally ventilated at night with cooler air flowing from Černá louka, which improves the indoor climate and reduces the need for mechanical cooling.
