Slovenian architects Enota shared with us “Lotus Towers”, a 64,100 m2 housing project in Ljubljana, for which they received second prize in an invited competition. More images and architect’s description after the break.
The carrying quality of the building site is no doubt the new city park. As it is evident from related cases around the world, apartment buildings in this type of location with apartments overlooking the park are especially wanted, since the park greatly increases the quality of living by creating a mild microclimate. Thus building is not divided into primary and secondary apartments but they all have a direct view of the park. In order to achieve the uninterrupted view of the park, the apartments were laid out in the split lamella, that is 60 meters high, which is the maximum height allowed according to the urban regulations and 15 meters wide, which is the maximum depth that allows good lighting for the double-sided oriented apartments. Splitting the lamella in two parts allows sunlight that falls to resident’s wellness area placed on the roof of public program volume, to be equally distributed between the morning and the afternoon.
Double-sided orientation of apartments is very important in providing an effective sustainable scheme. Due to the specifics regarding use, it is more difficult to subject the apartments to technological control of energy efficiency than the public program. One of the more important conditions for achieving high sustainable performance is good natural ventilation, which is achieved easiest by having double sided apartments for cross ventilation. The double-sided orientation of the apartment buildings also allows views for the residents on all sides, long and open internal views and creates a greater sense of spaciousness.
The volume of the public program below is also designed to be in constant connection to the park. The inclination of outer walls of entire lower volume creates jutting roof over the entrances around entire edge of the building. At the same time people do not have the sense that they are standing under a roof due to the height of the edge of the flange. Cutting and opening the volume further inside allows for daylight to enter deep into the facility and opens a path for natural ventilation also on the ground floor of the public program. The incision system is designed in such a way so that the natural light penetrates throughout the entire depth of the public program volume. The ground floor of the building becomes a kind of opened covered plaza with entrances to diverse public program. A new city loggia.
