Two thousand eighty-four

Author: Bc. Eva Truncová

Year of foundation: 2021

Brno University of Technology
Faculty of Architecture
Department of Urban Design
Degree: Master
Year of studies: 6
Artwork supervisor: Ing. arch. MArch Jan Kristek, Ph.D.| Ing. arch. Jaroslav Sedlák

The thesis aims to find and propose an alternative solution to the development project on the brownfield site of the former Kras factory in Brno. A multifunctional apartment complex, which implies all the current "trends" of development construction, is currently being built in this area. I was motivated by the idea if there is and what is the form of a local alternative to this "logic of development".

The proposal seeks alternative ways of planning and designing buildings. It addresses the question of the relationship between the building, its surroundings, existing regulations and energy efficiency, together with the idea of adaptive living.

Whether it is done consciously or it results from the current demands on public space, which only a few question, the space is built to meet the demands of clarity, absolute transparency and easy controllability supposedly implying safety. The second mode of control, also brought about by modernity, is the control of the indoor climate through the mechanical management of the environment, or through the use of fossil fuel energy for heating, cooling and ventilation. Current requirements for indoor environmental comfort assume a constant and homogeneously tempered environment regardless of the external climate or the time of year.
Both modes of control permeate all scales of the urban environment and have a direct influence on its organisation, form and, above all, its modes of use.Developers, and their commissioned architects, repeat proven business models without much regard for the context of the site and incorporate this 'logic of control' into their buildings and their surroundings. Housing complexes are planned as a single unit with a rigid structure and only minimal possibility of later alteration. The domain of control permeates from the public space to the door of the dwelling unit. Inside, social control turns into total control of the internal climate of the apartment, where the boundaries between the seasons and day and night are blurred.