Residential house for the elderly-J.K.Tyla

FAMILY RESIDENTIAL HOUSE The residential building is designed to harmoniously complement the street structure, where urban apartment buildings meet single-family houses. The building’s architecture is composed of four subtle volumes that respond sensitively to the surrounding context and respect the scale of neighboring structures. This collection of volumes gives the impression of smaller villa-like buildings, creating an intimate atmosphere and allowing residents to easily identify with their part of the home. The design is emphasised by extended terraces accessible from each apartment, offering space for social interaction and reinforcing the community character of the residence.

DIALOGUE WITH TREES A very discreet and well designed proposal. It is based on the notion of maximum respect for the existing greenery. It builds on it, leans on it, lets it in, uses it. It does not define the character of the spaces it connects with. It does not impose itself; the layout of the house sometimes flows into the exterior, and vice versa. The positioning of the building on the plot respects the contextual features of the locality as much as possible. It steps back from the building line of the surrounding family houses, yet maintains a certain physical connection. It allows the greenery from the upper courtyard to flow past it from the east side, subtly veiling the joint compact structure and setting it back into the second plane. At the same time, it preserves sufficient space allows views from the existing building of the same use. The geometry of the design playfully and purposefully uses its parts to maximize the comfort of use in its concentrated center. The four arms of the apartment layouts, and their connection through the central hall of the floor, are arranged to serve not only as vertical circulation, but also as a space for physical encounters and opportunities to be together, in a way that the other private environments do not suffer. The layout is clean, the grouping around the hall creates possibilities of use depending on location, intensity, right down to deciding which part of it best meets the user's ideas of where to stay at the moment. Very interesting is the creation of the possibility of communicating in the exterior (on the recreational balconies) without having to pass through the apartment. This is a very unique approach and offer created, where the rooms can remain - in this mode - private and visits take place in the semi-public exterior of the balcony or the interior of the hall. The architectural design leaves no doubt about the type of facility it represents. Its subtle expressiveness, sensory elegance, and emphasis on horizontality blend seamlessly with the vertical landscape of tree canopies, giving the impression that it has always belonged there It is a beautiful solution for the coexistence of the building’s volume with the ephemeral quality of natural growth. From the jury's point of view, this design best fulfilled the competition brief and deservedly won first place. In further development, it has the potential to refine its strengths to create a profound connection between architectural quality and its integration into the landscape We’re all keeping our fingers crossed for you (the city, the jury, and the organizers)!!!

We imagine the new Elderly Housing J.K. Tyla as a sustainable landmark which integrates with the landscape. The project centres on creating a seamless integration between the building and its urban and natural surroundings, fostering a sense of calm and well-being. The project explores avant-garde strategies for elderly housing, placing a strong emphasis on community and social interaction. The design incorporates open, flexible and hierarchic common spaces that encourage residents to come together, share experiences, and build relationships. The J.K. Tyla project strives to offer not just a housing solution but a holistic living experience that supports both personal comfort and collective well-being.

The jury rated the quality of the design very highly in terms of urban-landscape integration, architecture, environmental impact, construction, and technology. A significant achievement of the proposal is its refined transformation and connection of two almost incompatible urban structures: the block development of the prefabricated housing estate and the individual family houses. The apartment building is fragmented into smaller footprints, while flexibly responding to the height level of the surrounding buildings. It is not afraid to go up to 4 and in the south up to 5 residential floors, but with great sensitivity to the surrounding buildings. The increased number of floors minimizes the building’s footprint, allowing for a larger area of public greenery, including the preservation of existing trees. Another valuable aspect of the design is its treatment of the semi-public space in the form of a shared hall connected to vertical circulation. This spacious shared hall on each floor enables direct interaction among neighbors and fosters community life without the need to descend to the ground floor. The layout of the units is well thought out and comfortable. The ground level around the intimate plaza by the bus stop is surrounded by appropriately sized rentable spaces. The design embodies thoroughly contemporary architecture in every detail (interior and exterior, including the surrounding garden), both in terms of materials used and the environmental considerations.

In short time, there will be one jubilee for one productive human within a society that takes production as the only worth of existence. The earlier born people inherit a time that seems to be vanishing, as our collective lives tend to split. Access to housing is a universal, trans-generational issue that affects people across the globe, particularly those whose lives are marginalised. This raises a critical question: Where will we all reside in the last piece of our lives? Our initial step is to explore what this ELDERLY PHASE means, considering the emotional constraints and accessibility needs involved. Secondly, we aim to resolve a building on J.K. Tyla's site. Before sketching possible architectural solutions, we paused and looked at the beautiful existing trees; south slopped views; inspiring vernacular J.K.Tyla architecture and the challenging Havlíčkova street scale. We propose an architecture of hope. Our design ensures adaptability, accessibility and comfort for both private and communal uses. Cross ventilation and natural light junctures these interactive spaces to foster an environment where people throughout elderly stages can live, gather and stay until the last day. Ultimately to build a supportive enduring belonging-local community.

A very strong yet simple design concept. The facade is truthful, simple, and beautiful, arising naturally from the essence of the building. The authors’ decision to orient the linear building as a continuation of the row of prefabricated panel buildings is positively evaluated by the jury. This creates a pleasant park opposite the single-family houses, connected to the courtyard of the existing senior residence. The orientation of all residential units to the south, with a dynamically articulated facade, brings a fresh approach. The spacious open-access gallery with alcoves at the apartment entrances works very well, though primarily only during warmer months. The design’s weaker aspect, most noticeable on the southern side, is the contact with the ground, an inactive ground floor, and the detachment of the building from the public space.

Although the project program outlined in the selection process is not a conventional elderly home, similar considerations were taken into account in the design, in addition to the given environmental conditions. Our goal is to provide future residents of the planned complex with an environment that encourages them to live this stage of life actively. The building should not stand out in size from its surroundings but rather blend in, with open spaces designed to foster social integration. Based on these criteria, we divided the complex into two individual, terrain-adapted blocks, where the apartments are oriented toward outdoor views, yet their character is defined by the space they enclose together. The individual blocks, differing in size, are positioned to create a public space around them, which can accommodate various services, as well as commercial and public functions, thereby enriching life in the immediate vicinity.

The proposal offers a truly unique urban design creating a welcoming public space flanked by two senior housing buildings, positioned across the site. This high-quality design extends well beyond the boundaries of the site and has the potential to become a vibrant centre for the entire housing estate. The integration of the bus stop, public space, commercial areas, and connected pedestrian pathways is highly successful. The design’s consideration of the broader urban context is its strongest asset of this proposal. Among all submissions, it achieves the best integration of senior residents with the wider community of the surrounding estate. However, the internal operational layout is less successful in comparison with the awarded proposals. The vertical circulation does not fully utilize its spatial potential, and the corridors offer only a single type of seating area, which recurs repeatedly. The quality of the exterior design did not carry over into the interior. The proposed buildings have entirely abandoned any visual connection with the existing senior residence