Povodí Vltavy Operations Site

Year2009-2014

CategoryOffices

LocationČeské Budějovice

StatusCompleted

The Povodí Vltavy operations site is an enclosed complex of refurbished and newly designed buildings that meets the demands of present-day industrial operations. The design unifies the site's diverse functions into a legible whole while responding to its specific location between the river, a cycle path and the adjoining transport infrastructure.

Facing the river and the cycle path is a new office building with the main gatehouse, creating a more prestigious entrance to the site. On the opposite side, next to the road, is a repair hall with a crane runway and associated workshops, adapted to the technical and operational facilities of the plant.

The office and production areas are naturally separated by a belt of mature greenery, which helps to structure the whole site and creates visual and spatial distance between the different types of operation. The result is a functionally legible environment in which the technical requirements of operation are combined with refined architecture and the character of a riverside location.

Client	Povodí Vltavy s.p.
Design team	Martin Krupauer

Urban Design

The complex has significantly improved the original condition of the site, including expanded green areas and a new footpath. The shape and size of the individual buildings respond to the natural shape of the plot and follow its boundaries.

The buildings are positioned in relation to one another so as to create a differentiated environment both inside and outside the complex. At the same time, they form a screen that visually and functionally separates the industrial operations from the main traffic routes.

Office Building

Through its architectural vocabulary and use of traditional materials – timber, concrete, glass and steel structures with shading sails – the two-storey rectangular office building evokes the connection between the plant's core activity and water and hydraulic structures on watercourses.

The dominant wall with timber cladding and punched window openings also forms part of the flood protection. It adjoins a glazed section shaded by a system of independent, offset sails and terminated by a reinforced concrete gable.