BAD-BADEL BLOCK | Matteo Ascani

GENERAL URBAN CONCEPT Badel Block is a significant and visually exposed location set in the border of Zagreb lower city. The site, located between Vlaska and Subiceva road, is closer to tram terminal in Kvaternikov TRG and directly involved to the open market and to the green area of TRG Bartola Kasica and constitutes today a gap, a big void in old block housing. The new BADEL BLOCK enhances its position within the city of Zagreb, becoming a multitask area who mixes fun, culture, shopping and outdoor activities in a new green landscape. Badel Block will be a new gravity center in the Lower City (Donji Grad) in Zagreb, changing its nature of inaccessible working block in an accessible one; a big open green space is located in the central area nearby the distillery factory, who becomes the pulsing heart. The shape is created mixing the characteristic of a block with a tower: horizontal mass building connected with a green public court with the vertical density of a tower; the new buildings are three peaks on Zagreb skyline, easily connected with the hystorical steeples of the town, a super landmark for Donji Grad. COMMUNICATION SCHEMES PRESENTATION OF THE TRAFFIC AND ROAD NETWORK The parking is developed on three undergroud floors; the first two levels of parking have public-commercial function and the third one is partially reserved to residential and offices; the entrance is on Derencinova street, and the vertical connections are two silos system located one on the west side and another one in the east side respect of the distillery building. From the parking there are different lifts divided for different uses: commercial on the main ground floor, one for resident and another lift system for offices. Cars cannot have any possibility to enter in the ground floor area, so it makes possible to create a ground floor as a green connector where people can enjoy the commercial and cultural places at open air. DESCRIPTION OF SPACE ALLOCATION, FUNCTIONAL AND SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE DEFINED COMPETITION ZONE AND USE OF PROTECTED BUILDING The project consists of a mix of offices, shops, housing and cultural space, which will create a varied use and activity in the area throughout the day. An open and active ground floor with extroverted functions, such as shops and restaurants, will ensure a place with a lively and public atmosphere. The housing program is grouped in two building that are oriented towards the old distillery factory with an open glass facade that exploits the location overlooking the green area. The commercial area is moulded to create a continous shopping system in the ground floor connecting all the buildings in the Badel Block area, this inner commercial gallery that allows people to circulate freely. The distribution inside tries to mix the typical structure of Zagreb block, with retail shops in the bottom, who dialogues on the main roads outside and with the inner gallery, instead residential and offices are located in the upper floors. The green areas are located on three levels: the ground level On the top levels are designed green garden where the resident can enjoy the high view on the city, watching a super panorama. Cultural area is divided in four big parts, the conference hall, the underground hall, the restored distillery and the northern hall with its restored facade. All these areas are the cultural system, the central space of the cultural walk, starts from the old building in the corner between Marticeva and Subiceva streets; a big entrance hall divides flows to the conference hall, to the underground cultural hall, that is the link between the public gallery and the distillery, who is connected on the back arriving to the northern restored facade. The ground level is a public space shared between commercial gallery with retail shops, museum-cultural space and the hotel lobby with multitasking conference hall, restaurant, coffe bars, book shop, and flagshipstore. The industrial heritage is preserved giving a public and cultural function, the distillery is the core of the cultural space; the old facade on Marticeva and Subiceva streets will be used like a free space connector developed in a free vertical volumetry. The windows on the old facade are linked with bridges that make possible to invite people to enjoy the views on the open market and green area on TRG Bartola Kasica. The facade design started on the pattern taken by St. Mark’s church roof; the pattern design is based on a series of coloured parallelogram in red, blue and white; the shape was transformed to make possible to have good solar irradiation in the northern facades optimizing the view thanks to a different projection. On south facade the system change its material starting to use the high projetion to protect by the sun ray. ELABORATION ON SOCIAL, ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY Badel Block wants to create a social textile to reinforce the friendship neighborhood, and creates the possibility to live in a green area well served with public services, shops, and recreational area plunged on the green. Donji Grad will have new green buildings. The develop of green areas is based on two directions, horizontal and vertical: the green vegetation follows the building shapes in different ways, the ground is mostly covered with a turf like the traditional garden designed on the XIX Century, which are diffused in Zagreb; going up on the buildings the vertical green starts to get in symbiosis with the closer mountain. Badel block will be a great solution to optimize the economic sustainability: the power design added with the vertical landscape, commercial and cultural area will launch the Gorica Badel Block in a new life.