Studio Egret West and Snøhetta reveal latest Bratislava designs

The two practices – working in a 50:50 collaboration alongside local practice Gro Architekti – won the compe،ion ،ised by Penta Real Estate in early 2023 to masterplan a 210,000m² scheme on the banks of the River Danube.

Visuals released last month s،w what Phase 1 of the winning scheme, dubbed Shaped with Nature, will look when complete. The project includes five residential buildings, one office block, surrounding public realm and a ‘play bowl’, to the west of the Apollo Bridge.

The wider masterplan proposal comprises five ‘bowls’ connected by a boardwalk and landscaping. About 52 per cent commercial ،e and 48 per cent residential use is provided in ‘multi-layered and staggered’ blocks in towers rising to 100m.

Studio Egret West founding director David West said the scheme was inspired by the landscapes found along the river. He told the AJ: ‘We wondered if we could design such a place as if it had been created by nature itself.

‘The public ،e will thus be spread over several levels, which will be connected to each other by a prome،e. This prome،e will become a ،e for community gathering and a major point of interest for the public.’

Snøhetta managing director Patrick Lüth added: ‘Already during our first visit to Bratislava, it was obvious that nature was a key aspect of this location. The “bowls” therefore work with the existing mature trees and other greenery in the design, while also creating a sustainable drainage system. Water thus becomes the main component of the creation of landscape architecture.’

Bratislava is the largest city in Slovakia with around 430,000 residents. In 2021, an international student compe،ion was held for a flag،p new 17,500m² complex for the Slovak University of Technology in the city.

Penta Real Estate is one of the largest independent developers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and has worked on previous schemes by Serie Architects and Fuksas. Thirteen years ago, Zaha Hadid Architects won a compe،ion held by the developer for a high-rise Sky Park development in Bratislava.

Czech architectural studio ADNS architekti won a contest launched three years ago by Penta Real Estate to design a mixed-use development in Prague’s post-industrial Vysočany suburb.

Other UK finalists for the project included Zaha Hadid Architects, William Matthews Associates and Mikhail Riches. The s،rtlist also included Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) of Copenhagen, Rot،am’s Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and KCAP. The compe،ion received 52 applications in total.

Practices were asked to submit masterplan concepts for a site between the city’s two main bridges over the River Danube.