ARGE Atelier Thomas Pucher & Bramberger architects: Jõekaare Residential Tower - best architects 11

ARGE Atelier Thomas Pucher & Bramberger architects

Jõekaare Residential Tower

best architects 11

multi-family homes

Place

Tartu | Estland

Photos

Lukas Schaller | Wien

Description

Jõekaare Residential District was the winning scheme of an international competition. The site is a former industrial area in the suburbs of Tartu. The River Tower is the first building of the scheme to be realized. When finished, a total of nine buildings with 440 flats for roughly 1,000 inhabitants will be built here. The building is organized in a very simple and compact way. It is a simple box with an optimum volume-surface ratio. The lobby, with the staircase and its spiral atrium, is in the centre of the building. The flats are arranged around this centre like a ring with a clear separation in two zones. The inner part is formed by a continuous service ring. It houses entrances, wardrobes, toilets, bathrooms and saunas, sometimes kitchens. All infrastructural elements are compressed in this area, thus providing a noise barrier to the lobby. The outer part is embodied by the spacious living ring, oriented to the sun and the view. It provides flexible space without load bearing elements. Thus it is possible to organize it individually with lightweight walls. The living ring is surrounded by a continuous balcony. With its flipped edge it is responsible for the characteristic form of the building.