Tsunami on the Danube. Close prospects for the development of the center of Bratislava

We publish material on the design of large urban development in the Slovak capital Bratislava. The scope of the construction started indicates the inclusion of the city that survived the post-socialist crisis in the number of actively developing European capitals. The correspondent of AB in Bratislava, Elena Klyuchkina, presents four complexes lined up on the banks of the Danube in a queue for implementation. View of the city and Podgradie. Photo R. Yahyayev
How do global architectural trends change the distinctive look of an ancient European city? How resistant are old town planning installations? In order to understand this, a kind of exhibition queue is accompanied by comments from participants and observers of the urban planning process. Among them is the author of one of the projects, Erick van Egeraat, the former chief architect of Bratislava, Peter Benyushka (the author of the competitive project of the complex on the right bank), the Chairman of the Union of Architects of Slovakia, the urban architect, professor Stefan Shlyakhta and hereditary Bratislava woman, formerly the construction engineer Katarina Staikova. The editors also express their gratitude to other Bratislava residents and organizations that have helped in the preparation of the material. This is the architect Marta Kropilakova, journalist and director Olga Kmetyova-Staykova, PR manager of the J & T Finance group, as Marosh Sikora, manager of Interel spol. sro Adriana Shvartsova, R. Yakhyayev, I. Shkolnikova from the Moscow branch of the EEA and others. The flow of investments that flooded the center of Bratislava has already been compared with the tsunami. A vigorous reaction to such a radical intervention in the heart of this small European capital, lying in the geometric center of Europe, is natural. Sayings of famous developers, famous architects, resentment of the patriots of the city - the enemies of the "glass boxes" - and the stormy raptures of their opponents in anticipation of wonderful changes - all of this just recently passed through a whirlwind of opinions in the press, the Internet, in discussion clubs and just on the street. And this is understandable - after all, the building will affect both banks of the Danube, change key panoramic images, in fact - the face of the city. The motto of the grand event was the transformation of the “city by the river” into a city “on the river”. In September 2005, the press announced that the city authorities had taken relevant decisions, and at the same time, development companies announced the beginning of the construction of the two largest planned projects (RIVER PARK and EUROVEA) in spring 2006. The start of construction of the large coastal complex RIVER PARK is spring 2006. Erik van Egeraat, the author of the project, inscribed this object into the embankment panorama with “large strokes”. A lot of controversy is the location of the complex on the territory of the park of culture and recreation, although the site of the future RIVER PARKa is now practically free. The interests of the developer extend to the entire FFP - there are plans to modernize the existing buildings, to revive the park. The requirement of the city authorities is to be extremely cautious when the complex is included in the established silhouette of the city: the spurs of the Carpathians run down to the river, the rich panoramas of the old town and the strong dominant is the Bratislava Castle. Creating a new socially significant object, the author undertook an original move: in order to avoid a possible conflict, the high-rises with Grad put forward one of the volumes over the Danube waters, effectively “laying” the dominant of the complex. The building is a combination of plastically redundant and simple objects - maximally glazed, which, according to the author, should help avoid the feeling of massiveness, clutter, and leave room for air. Provided for the reconstruction and expansion of the promenade esplanade.
RIVER PARK will occupy a Kempinsky five-star hotel with 200 rooms, 340 luxury apartments, 28,000 m2 of high-class offices, cafes, restaurants, shops, fitness center, bank and other services for residents and visitors in an area of ​​43,000 m2. Offices face the noisy highway, housing - to the river. Under the ground are hidden parking lots and boxes for loading of service enterprises.

East of RIVER PARKa, closer to the center in a more distant future, it is planned to implement an equally important project “Zuckermandel” (“Almond in Sugar”) - according to the ancient name of this place, which is part of Podgradiya - the territory is already “the most” in importance in the body coastal area, located between the city and the embankment. The historic buildings on this lacquered piece of the city center with a confectionery name, however, as in the other parts of Podgradiya, were managed to be demolished in socialist times, clearing space for projects that were not fully realized. Evidence of the then simplistic-angular solutions - three panel towers with almost "hruschebnymi" entrails, invading the urban panorama.