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Transcript of POLITECNICO DI MILANO · 2 POLITECNICO DI MILANO Facoltà di Architettura e Società Corso di...
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POLITECNICO DI MILANO
Facoltà di Architettura e Società
Corso di Laurea specialistica in Progettazione Architettonica Urbana
PEOPLE MEET IN PETRŽALKA: the requalification of a public space in
a post-socialist neighborhood
Relatore:
Prof.ssa Corinna Morandi
Correlatori:
Prof. Alessandro De Magistris
Prof.ssa Lubica Vitkova (University of Technology of Bratislava)
Tesi di Laurea di:
FABRIZIA COSIMELLI Matr. 725035
NICOLA PETACCIA Matr. 725071
A.A. 2010/2011
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1. THE CITY OF BRATISLAVA: THE URBAN EVOLUTION
1.1 The urban history of the city
1.2 The years of Socialism: the public policies for the housing: the Panelàk buildings
1.3 The post-socialist age: the urban transformation of the city
2. THE PETRŽALKA DISTRICT AND ITS HISTORY
2.1 The history of Petržalka from the past to the present
2.2 Genesis of the different parts of Petržalka
2.3 The district today: inhabitants, housing, connection with the Old city
2.4 Petržalka: past, present and forecasts for the next ten years
2.5 Images Gallery
3. THE SOCIALIST CITIES AS URBAN REFERENCE FOR PETRŽALKA
3.1 The idea of “Socialist city” and “Socialist housing”
3.1.1 Programs and Politics in the socialist city: urban shape, territory, public
3.1.2 The socialist idea of house and the Panelàk buildings
3.2 Petržalka’s past and contemporary references for socialist age residential areas:
3.2.1 The case of Kracow: Nowa Huta
3.2.1 The case of Warsaw: Bielany
3.2.3 The case of Moscow: Kimki-Khovrino
4. THE INTERNATIONAL DESIGN COMPETITION FOR PETRŽALKA, 1966
4.1 The course of the competition
4.2 The construction program
4.3 The contents of the competition design
4.4 The evaluation criteria of the competition designs
4.4.1 The experts’ observations
4.4.2 The conclusions and recommendations of the jury
4.5 Selection of the competition projects
4.5.1 Projects remained for final selection
4.5.2 Projects with honorable mention
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4.6 The project finally realized
5. URBAN ANALISYS OF PETRŽALKA DISTRICT
5.1 Petržalka and the Old city
5.2 Streets and Public transports at local and city scale
5.3 Housing and Building typologies
5.4 Green areas, water and environment
5.5 Functions
6. URBAN STRATEGIES AND CONCEPT GOALS FOR THE AREA
6.1 The project for out flowing the river Danube
6.2 The creation of new strategic axes/poles and the empowerment of the existing ones
6.3 The empowerment of public transport, cycle and pedestrian routes at local and city scale
6.4 The reintegration of the central environmental/functional axis increasing the quality of the existing
green areas and landscape
7. THE PROJECT for the REQUALIFICATION
7.1 Identification of visual axes in the area
7.2 Identification of spontaneous pedestrian routes near the channel
7.3 Creation of a grid defining the public space
7.4 Definition of the different types and uses of green spaces
7.5 Localization of the buildings in the strategic points
8. THE MASTER PLAN DESIGN
8.1 The project for Petržalka into the new water/landscape system
8.2 General Masterplan of Petržalka
8.3 Zoom 1: The new bridge and the new commercial pole
8.4 Zoom 2: The new cultural centre
8.5 Zoom 3: The new sport area
8.6 Zoom 4: The area near Kutlikova street
8.7 Zoom 5: The new tram terminal and the surrounding area
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9. NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR PETRŽALKA WITH THE NEW INTERVENTION
9.1 The re-appropriation of the public space
9.2 Chronological program of the intervention
9.3 Conclusion
10. ABSTRACT IN ITALIANO
11. ESTRATTO DELLA TESI IN ITALIANO
12. IMAGES INDEX
13. BIBLIOGRAPHY
14. ATTACHMENTS:
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Introduction
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What will be the future of Petržalka? Today this issue represents a debate still open.
The construction of Petržalka in the 70s,under the socialist regimen, completely cancelled a part of Bratislava’s history,
imposing a completely different urban character; Petržalka therefore still stands as a strong symbol for both the city and the
citizens.
After 40 years of urban changes, transformations and despite the new millennium advent, it is straightforward how the utopist
urban experiment of those years miserably failed in that district, as well as in many other European ones. Today the area is
obsolete, connected to the rest of the city only through highways and full of massive and out of scale buildings, without
reference points or public spaces able to offer a qualified living. Beyond the serious technological problems and weaknesses
shown by the buildings, the area misses a lot of services for the inhabitants, as well as aggregation spaces; existing green areas
are indeed designed only in the buildings’ courtyards and not at the district scale.
Up to now, the planning about Petržalka has always involved design strategies willing to “fill up” the unplanned voids resulting
from the concepts of the 70s, according to the idea of adding new buildings and new functions in a big scale. Our research
work for the urban requalification of Petržalka focuses on the human scale, based on the value of the existing landscape and
on the recovery of the district identity.
Opposite to the plans of developers, we believe that Petržalka’s historical identity and future lies in its green heritage, in its
park, in its wood, so beloved by its inhabitants and so full of potential for the whole city of Bratislava. In relation to that, our
willingness to add functions to the area aims at proposing a silent but relevant intervention, by creating a hierarchy of scale
between the district and the city, at the same time channeling flows into the area and marking Petržalka’s watercourse
through a sequence of small and big polarities.
Our research does not offer an absolute solution, but rather provides a point of view, a new approach to a still open debate, as
it stems from the idea that the quality arises around the people and can be generated by a scale reduction which could foster
a new urban identity.
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1
THE CITY OF BRATISLAVA:
THE URBAN EVOLUTION
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1.1
11
1.1 The urban history of the city
Bratislava is the cultural and economical capital of Slovakia.
The city is crossed by the river Danube, one of the most
important European rivers. The city has amazing conditions
for the development, due to the massive presence of the
industrial production, a positive geographical position and
a privileged position in communication with the Northern
Europe, including the close distance with Vienna(64km)
and Budapest. Bratislava has quickly increased especially
after the Second world war1. Before World War I, the city
had 42% German, 41% Hungarian and 15% Slovak
population. World War I represented a key milestone in
the history of the city. Bratislava was not directly affected
by the fighting, but its consequences were born by the
people of the city in their everyday lives. The end of World
War I in November 1918 brought major changes to the
map of Europe. The Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved
and the Czechoslovak Republic was created on October
19182. After the city was incorporated into the new state in
January 1919 despite its representatives' reluctance, on
March 27 1919, the name Bratislava was officially adopted
for the first time and Bratislava appeared on the map of
Europe. Left without any protection after the retreat of the
Hungarian army, many Hungarians were expelled or fled
and Czechs and Slovaks took their houses and moved to
Bratislava. In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed neighbouring
Austria in the Anschluss; later that year it also annexed the
still-independent Petržalka and Devín boroughs on ethnic
grounds. Bratislava was declared the capital of the first
independent Slovak Republic on March 14, 1939, but the
new state quickly fell under Nazi influence. In 1941–1942
and 1944–1945, the new Slovak government expelled most
of Bratislava's inhabitants, approximately 15,000 Jews,
with most of them being sent into concentration camps.
1Source: http://www.wikipedia.com 2 Source: http://visit.bratislava.sk
Bratislava was bombarded by the Allies, occupied by
German troops in 1944 and eventually taken by the Soviet
Red Army on April 4, 1945. At the end of World War II,
most Bratislava Germans were evacuated by German
authorities. Following World War II the situation in
Bratislava changed fundamentally. Most of its former
Jewish population did not return from the concentration
camps and, after the city's liberation, most of its German
and Hungarian population was displaced. Bratislava thus
lost much of its unique multicultural atmosphere. The
Communist coup in February 1948 marked a turning point
in Bratislava's postwar development. Czechoslovakia
became part of the Soviet bloc and the buffer zone
between East and West. Europe was divided by the Iron
Curtain. For Bratislava, which immediately after the war
was still linked to Vienna by a tramway, this meant the
construction of sealed borders with the West. Parts of the
city were cut off by the barbed wire used for border
fortification and residents there had to move. The late
1940s and early 1950s were a period of new construction,
and the rebuilding of war-damaged parts of the city,
especially industrial enterprises, which were nationalized
after 1948. The lives of Bratislava residents were affected
by Communist Party repression in the 1950s. The city
annexed new land, and the population rose significantly,
becoming 90% Slovak.
1.1 Historical view of Bratislava, 1800
1.2 Satellite view of Bratislava
1.
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1.2
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The Slovak part of Czechoslovakia industrialized rapidly in
the 1950s and 1960s, villagers migrated in droves to the
cities. The cheapest and quickest way to accommodate
them was to construct towering blocks of flats, clumped
together densely so that essential services could be
delivered to them as efficiently as possible. Large
residential areas consisting of high-rise prefabricated panel
buildings, such as those in the Petržalka borough, were
built. The Communist government also built several new
grandiose buildings, such as the Nový Most bridge and the
Slovak Radio headquarters, sometimes at the expense of
the historical cityscape3. In 1968, after the unsuccessful
Czechoslovak attempt to liberalize the Communist regime,
the city was occupied by Warsaw Pact troops. Shortly
thereafter, it became capital of the Slovak Socialist
Republic, one of the two states of the federalized
Czechoslovakia. Bratislava's dissidents anticipated the fall
of Communism with the Bratislava candle demonstration in
1988, and the city became one of the foremost centers of
the anti-Communist Velvet Revolution in 1989. In the
1990s and the early 21st century, the foreign investments
brought a big boom in the city development.
3 Source: http://www.livingspectator.sk
1.3 View of Bratislava, 2010
1.4 View of Bratislava, 1905
1.5 The bridge Nòvy Most
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1.3
1.4
1.5
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1.2 The years of Socialism:
the public policy for the housing: the Panelák buildings
In 1968 the Prague Spring started in Czechoslovakia4: it
was a period of political liberalization during the era of
domination by the Soviet Union after World War II. When
Soviet Bloc soldiers entered the country, started a period
of increased oppression called “normalization”.
Normalization returned the card-carrying apparatchiks to
their offices, the overwhelming majority of competent
architects were pushed out of work, many emigrated
(particularly the young generation) and a dark time set in
for architecture Historical sections of the city were
demolished to make way for paneláks and massive panelák
neighborhoods arose5.
Concrete was the easiest and the fastest path for massive
building and it helped to sustain the stability of the regime.
4 The historical background for this paragraph has been taken from the book La Storia dal 1900 ad oggi (A. Giardina, G. Sabbatucci, V. Vidotto; Editori Laterza,2001) pp. 503-505 5Source:http://travel.spectator.sme.sk/articles/1213/sight_unseen_slovak_socialist_architecture
Five-year plans dictated how many apartments had to be
built, and production poured on. There were five large
architecture firms such as the one he worked for in
Bratislava. Five-hundred people produce a lot of projects,
and these were state contracts. The system had to work in
order for it to hold together.
Communist-era rulers, to an even greater degree than
post-war city planners in the West, embraced a kind of
anti-aesthetic theory, with utility and thrift as the supreme
values. A pure form of functionalism held sway: the basic
shape for organizing human life became the rectangular
block: the conquest of the functional architecture was
rejected in order to realize urban complexes characterized
by big monumentalism6. This turn caused a regression in
the methodologies, worsening in the new buildings the
general condition of insulation, aeration, green availability,
safeness in the communication. Therefore, bad solution
6 Source: http//: www.wikipedia.com
1.6
16
have been brought to life either in the locational aspect.
The main mistake of this trend was the misunderstanding
of the fact that the duties of architecture are to improve
the living conditions7. This mistake was amplified by the
investments. Facing the problems of building as many
houses as possible, and having a reduced budget, the first
victims of the cuts have been the facilities which
accompanied the houses, the creation of residential areas,
and small interventions like playgrounds and the finish of
the buildings. Therefore a contrast between the didactic
role of the architect and the real image of urban
landscapes. Equally stark was the break from the
vernacular styles favoured by village-dwelling peasants for
centuries. The panelák, pointing to a picture of one of the
first concrete apartment blocks in Bratislava, together with
the later period of the 60s, 70s, 80s, culminates in
Petržalka. The panelák was the spark that started what
became today’s problem and will still be a problem for
generations. And it’s not just Petržalka, but also for many
panelák neighborhoods. After 40 years, the buildings show
heavy technological and insulation problems. Petržalka,
which houses 125,000 people, also still lacks centers,
squares and infrastructure needed to make it a functioning
community. Architects built storefronts into the buildings’
second floors, which they linked from building to building
with elevated walkways. Today many of these storefronts
are empty. That urbanism had its own idea but reality and
the people‘s life went differently. The community on its on
its own has been never able to use the space as the
architects imagined8.
11 L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977 pp. 258 8 Source: http://travel.spectator.sme.sk/articles/1213/sight_unseen_slovak_socialist_architecture
1.7
1.8
1.6 The Slavin Monument
1.7 View of Petržalka, 1990
1.8 Petržalka under construction, 1970
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1.3 The post-socialist age:
the urban transformation of the city
In the first half of the 1990s, Bratislava has been obscured
by booming capitals of neighboring post-communist
countries. The situation though has started to change
rapidly after the parliamentary elections of 1998.
Launching a number of social and economic reforms, it
culminated in the accession of Slovakia to the European
Union in 2004 and subsequently to the Shengen Area in
2007. Expected general improvements in economic and
social condition of the country, and above all the entry of
foreign investment as well as the economic recovery very
soon yielded payoffs in Bratislava. As the largest city and
the capital of the country situated on the western state
border and possessing the most advanced infrastructure,
on the onset Bratislava has benefited the most from the
newly formed situation. In the first decade of the 21st
century, the city has undergone a tremendous construction
boom. Dozens of new residential and commercial districts
emerged and further investments were in the making,
unprecedented within this environment. All of these
circumstances formed jointly a sort of a lab environment,
testing the viability of the economy and the country as
such. And so, as it is often the case in a lab environment,
no one was really sure about the results of this ongoing
experiment. This state of uncertainty was partially
perceived by the locals as a positive sign of progress and a
promise of a better future, although there
were also skeptical voices pointing out to the loss of
unique character and identity of the city. The study
outlines Bratislava and its recent construction
development in the broader context of the 20th century. It
highlights the elements considered essential to the identity
of the city. Analyzing a couple of large development plans,
it illustrates the processes and phenomena having impact
on this very identity. With regards to the changes at the
turn of the millennia that the post-communist cities were
or still are grappling with, there are two lines of thought:
On the one hand, there is the rejection of the development
and its condemnation as being barbaric or uncontrolled,
dissolving the unique urban identity and image. In this
context, the need for planning and regulation is usually
emphasized. On the other hand, there are opinions
appreciating these processes as an affirmation of actual
transformation theories or as a
random development generator where traditional master
planning tools are out of place. These seem contradictory
positions, however, are but complementary perspectives
on the same process that – in the context of post-
communist Central European cities – is not even
historically unique, as Bratislava has been virtually in a
state of constant transformation throughout the 20th
century: from the political changes of the state and the city
in 1918-1939,the two waves of swift modernization prior
and after World War II; beyond this, in the second half of
the 20th century happened the biggest rapid territorial and
population growth9.
9 Source: Article “Bratislava: a city with no character?”
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author MORAVČÍKOVÁ Henrieta, extract from Architektura a urbanizmus n. 1-2 / 201, pp: 34 – 51
1.9 View of Petrzalka
1.10 View of Bratislava
1.11 The shopping centre Eurovea
1.9
1.10
1.11
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1.11
2.1
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2
THE PETRŽALKA DISTRICT
AND ITS HISTORY
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2.1 The history of Petržalka: from the past to the present
At the territory of today’s Petržalka, city district of the
Bratislava, there was located a ford of international
importance already in Middle Ages. The beginning of
settlements in this territory dates back to 13th century.
According to the oldest description of settlement of
today’s Petržalka, there was established village Flezyndorf.
The same territory is mentioned in the document of
Ladislav Kuzmánsky dating back to 1278, by which the
emperor gifted the referred land deserted probably as a
result of Tatar invasion and permanent border commotions
to Bratislava chapter.
The territory, on which Petržalka is being located, is of rich
culture and has been marked by periods of bloom as well
as decline. Year 1672 is connected with the first, so far
known mentioned sacral building on the raised bank of
Pečenské branch of the Danube River. The fundamentals
for terrain adjustments were laid by Maria Theresa with
her order to build dams against floods. Behind the newly
built inshore dam there arose Petržalka´s park called
Sternallee in 177310.
During the period of Napoleon’s wars Petržalka
experienced destructiveness of military siege which meant
a crucible for its citizens. In peaceful times Petržalka was
10 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petzalka
increasingly becoming place of recreation of Bratislava
citizens, at that time stylish café Au-caffé and summer
theatre – amphitheatre Aréna were being built on
Petržalka´s bank of the Danube River in neighborhood of
former propeller station. In 1866 there lived 594
inhabitants in 103 houses in Petržalka. Fires in Petržalka
caused great damage which consequences significantly
affected all district inhabitants; therefore they decided to
create a voluntary fire brigade. Petržalka was indefinitely
connected to Bratislava through the first railway bridge,
constructed in 1891. Previous bridges were wooden and
were often impaired by ice or floods.Although Petržalka
was the biggest village of the Czechoslovak Republic during
1920s, it contained only one folk school. Gradually, over
the next years, there were established more state folk
schools, one civic as well as evangelic folk school.
Economic development did not excluded even Petržalka,
there were established several bigger and smaller
industrial businesses which turned city district into
important traffic crossroads. At that time most of village
inhabitants were significantly poor, which fascism and
tragic accidents resulting from the Munich Treaty which
affected the Czechoslovak Republic, drastically influenced
Petržalka´s development. In 1938 the village was joined to
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2.1 View to the castle from Petržalka, 1890
2.2 The town of Petržalka, 1890
2.3 The park, historical view to the castle
2.4 View of the mein street of the old Petržalka, 1905
2.5 Postcard with view to the old city, 1910
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
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2.6
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fascist Germany. After being liberated by Soviet army,
Petržalka fell upon to Czechoslovakia again. In 1946
Petržalka became the part of Great Bratislava. Since 1973
when the decision of liquidating old Petržalka was made,
current appearance of this housing estate has been
formed. From 1950 and 1965 the number of inhabitants
increased from 190.000 to 271.000. An intense production
of apartments and residential buildings for all the
inhabitants increased slowly in the left side of the city. The
requirements of the project were defined in a way to
predict a raise of the population up to 350.00 inhabitants.
Up to 1973 the areas on the left hand which are more
convenient for a concentrated group of buildings according
to the plans should have been completely end. For this
reason was extended at the right side of the Danube, area
of Petržalka that in the past was completely ignored. In
order to obtain an excellent designed solution for this part
of the city, named Petržalka, an International Competition
was open in june 15th 1955. A huge increase in the
number of houses, apartments as well as citizens
influenced not only appearance but also character of
Petržalka. For improving and dulcifying life, a lot has been
done in the last years, though the benefits can be viable
only nowadays. Constructing more bridges, which allow
the citizens to travel to all Bratislava districts, building the
first Petržalka hospital but also the reconstruction of
buildings which were of great importance in the past, leads
toward still better Petržalka.
2.7
2.8
2.9
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2.2 Genesis of the different areas of Petržalka
Petržalka is divided into seven parts: most of them were
part of the island created by the two channels of water
have been created in different phases: Dvory, Luky, Haje,
Ovsiste, Janikov dvor, Kopcany, ,Kapitulsky dvor. The area
of Dvory is in north-west part of Petržalka: this part was
the last one to be occupied by the panelak buildings: from
the beginning of the century till the 1908s in this part there
have been fields and farms of burgesses. The area of
Ovsiste, in the north-east part of Petržalka: the first this
village of Ovsiste was created in 1921,and there were only
12 houses; in 1946 there were 340 houses; at that time
Ovsiste was an island, property of Palfy family (important
burgesses in Slovak history); there were fields, bottom land
and gardens11. Its first name was Insula Haberm, and after
it got a Hungarian name Zabos. Until the second half of
eighteen century, Ovsiste was in land register of closer
village Prievoz, which today is part of Bratislava. in 1975
the demolition work for Landscape sanitation started and
lasted until 1982. The area of Haje is divided into Stary haj,
Zrkadlovy haj, Haje, and before the demolition work there
were areas with forest, groves, bottom land, forest park,
today small build-up area with horce-race. Zrkadlovy haj is
in the middle part of Haje in Petržalka: prior to the 1970s it
was part of the island and there was a forest park; from
1930 a big Hippodrome in that area helds several horse
11 Source: Bratislava -mesto na mieru- Urban landscapes of Bratislava(Illah van Olijen ,K.Print, Bratislava,2002)
2.10
2.11
2.6 Historical map of Petržalka
2.7 Bathing in the river Danube, 1940
2.8 Fairy in Petržalka, 1939
2.9 View of the panelàks, Petržalka, 1995
2.10 The cafès in the old park, 1900
2.11 Old farms in Petržalka
27
races. The area of Janikov dvor ,(in German “Antonienhof”
is in southern part of Petržalka; it was also an island until
the Panelàk building time, with a small village of few family
houses and farms, which were demolished. In years 1945-
47 of first Czech- Slovak republic, Janikov dvor was in
border territory, and to enter this area was requested
special permission. Today this area ( hunting ground, and
state area, also non-finished building of station) was
mentioned to be served by the subway in Bratislava before
1989, but this project has never been defined. Nowadays
there is a plan to build a stop here for high speed tram
from old city through Petržalka. Also there are several
urban studies which suppose new district with living and
public spaces. The area of Kopcany is situated near
borders with Austria. In the past this was part of the village
Kittsee, which is located in Austria, just near the border
with Slovakia. After the First World war this area became
part of Czechoslovakia. From 1928 is in land register as a
colony called Kopcany, between two railways. After the
first world war there was an important factory for dishes,
today in another city. Now the Kopcany district is famous
for people who do not pay taxes and have problems with
laws. Luky , instead, is in the southest part of Petržalka: it
was built after the area of Ovsiste; before, there were
fields and farms also here. The area of Kapitulsky dvor
(sometimes named Kapitulske) is in western part of
Petržalka. Before the demolition of the 1970s there was
the village of Flantschendorf with wide fields and farms. In
the late XX th century there was built the first cemetery in
Petržalka, the only one still today12.
12 Source: Bratislava -mesto na mieru- Urban landscapes of Bratislava(Illah van Olijen ,K.Print, Bratislava,2002)
2.12 Historical view of the park
2.13 Some panelàks in Petržalka
2.12
2.13
28
2.3 The district today:
inhabitants, housing, connection with the Old city
The area of Petržalka occupies an area of 28,7 km²,
where live 117.227 inhabitants, in
18.000apartments13. The area is characterized by
blocks of flats called paneláks, a neologism for
buildings built made by concrete panels joined
together to form the structure, which were widely
deployed throughout the Eastern Bloc during the
communist era. As the borough was built primarily as
a residential area, it has no clearly defined centre.
Petržalka is divided into three official parts, Dvory,
Lúky and Háje, and further into unofficial parts,
Ovsište, Janíkov dvor, Kopčany, Zrkadlový háj, Starý
háj, and Kapitulský dvor.
Petržalka is connected to the rest of Bratislava by five
bridges, of which three are used for local traffic (Nový
Most, Starý most and Most Apollo) and two for
international traffic (Lafranconi Bridge and Prístavný
most). Starý most, from the first of January 2009, is
closed to all traffic except for public transport,
bicycles and pedestrians. Petržalka is located near a
major international motorway junction, where the D1
13 Source: http://www.petrzalka.sk
and D2 motorways meet.
There is a road border crossing into Austria along
Viedenska cesta near the intersection of the D1 and
D2. The Austrian crossing is called Berg after the
nearby town of the same name. There are no more
border checks from December 21, 2007 with Slovakia
joining the Schengen Area. The only railway station is
located in the western part and is primarily used for
international traffic and for trains to and from Vienna.
There are only buses which connect Petržalka with the
other boroughs. In 1989, construction of a subway
began, but it was stopped shortly after the Velvet
Revolution broke out. Instead, a high-speed tram
(light rail) line is planned, and its construction is to
begin in 2008. There is an incredible high amount of
schools, in the area, according to the ideas of the
project: 11 elementary schools, 19 kindergartens, 20
school canteens and kitchens at kindergartens as well
as Centre of School Services . Gymnasium high schools
include the state-administered Albert Einstein and
Pankúchova 6 gymnasiums and the private Mercury
Gymnasium. The Seat of the University of Economics.
29
The social facilities in Petržalka include : the Facility of
Day Care at Mlynarovičova street and Facility with Day
Care at Medveďova street, both of them being
managed by the city district; Daily Psychiatric
Sanatorium at Haanova street, Sanatorium AT, the
House of Nurses of Mother Teresa, crises centre Gate
to Life (Brána do života), centre Hope (Nádej), Silesian
centre at Mamateyova street.
In Petržalka there are also several sport facilities: the
State Race-ground in the southern part, where there
are regularly organized important horse-races, and
the Fc Art Media Bratislava stadium, in the northern
part. Petržalka has been recently also enriched by
newly-built shopping centers such as Carref our, Tesco
and Aupark14.
14 Source: http://www.petrzalkacity.sk
2.14
2.15
2.16
2.14 Aereal view of the panelàk, Petržalka
2.15 Aereal view of Petržalka
2.16 View of the Eurovea shopping centre and the fairy from Nòvy
Most bridge
2.17 Satellite view of Petržalka
2.16
30
2.17
31
2.4 Petržalka: past, present and forecasts
for the next ten years
The area of Petržalka, for its extension and density
hosts a population almost three times bigger than the
one resident in the old city centre. From the
statistics15 it is evident that in only ten years the
number of the inhabitants in the area decreased of
almost 13 thousand inhabitants, a considerable
number compared to the 5 thousand inhabitants less
than the city centre.
Compared to the Old city, in addition, the density of
the area has increased less than in the city centre;
though, it is estimated that in twenty years the
number of people in the area will increase again and
will overcome the amount reached in 199116. In the
same time, it is clear how the standard of living
conditions has increased through the years: the
number of apartments since 1961 up to 2001
increased three times , and in the same time the
number of inhabitants in apartments is keeping on
decreasing, and in thirty years this value changed
considerably from 3,7 up to 2,54 inhabitants for each
apartment. Therefore, also the average area of the
apartments increased of ten square meters in
comparison with the 70s. For what concerns the
services in the area, according to the statistics17 in
Petržalka the square meters devoted to health
services are much more than in the Old city; in
15 Source: www. Bratislava/data.sk 16 Ibid 17 Ibid
addition, the number of students in selected schools
in Petržalka is much higher than in the city centre, for
what concerns education from kinder garden to
gymnasium, fact which reflects the original idea of the
area of providing the right amount of primary
education services for the people living in the area.
The fields of culture in Petržalka needs to be
improved because there is a strong lack of that kind of
facilities. The numbers of commerce in Petržalka are
quite high but actually these results are given by the
presence of Eurovea and the other big shopping
centers in the area, even though in reality there is a
big lack of small commerce in the area, or small
commerce areas which are affectively working
according to the people. The area o f Petržalka,
instead, has a very big sport heritage compared to the
Old City, because of the wide green areas, the wood,
the hippodrome, and the lake, where it is supposed to
improve the water sports. In conclusion, having
examined the data and the number of statistics, it is
possible to say that the area of Petržalka has a huge
amount of potential in terms of resources and green
heritage which should be valued and improved in
order to bring more urban quality to the living, and to
create attractiveness for this big part of the city so
that this part can be enjoyed by all citizens of
Bratislava and not only by the people living in
Petržalka.
32
2.16
2.18
2.18 Data of Petržalka and previsions for the next ten years
33
2.5 Images Gallery
2.16
34
2.19
2.20
35
2.21
2.22
36
2.23
37
38
2.24
2.25
2.19 View from Petržalka to the Old City
2.20 View from the Old City to Petržalka
2.21 Panelàks in northern part of Petržalka, view 1
2.22 Panelàks in the northern part of Petržalka, view 2
2.23 One school, the panelàks and the channel
2.24 Green and the panelàks in Petržalka, view 1
2.25 Green and the panelàks in Petržalka, view 2
39
3
THE URBANISM OF SOCIALIST CITIES
40
AS REFERENCE FOR SHAPING PETRZALKA
3.1
41
3.1 The idea of “Socialist city” and “Socialist housing”
In the socialist countries the urban solutions are found in
the Marxist ideas of executive power deriving from a
planned economy. The socialist principles of organizing
the housing have been inspired by ideas of reconstructing
the social network, , starting from the family relationships,
towards a total women emancipation, consequently to an
high request of new houses for the inhabitants; this was
done through a strict control of urbanization from the
government18 . The main goals for socialist urban architects
was primarily a quality in the life environment which could
satisfy the needs of the inhabitants. According to the
socialist theories, the definition of the urban areas of the
city presented differences from a case to another. In most
of the countries the cities were defined as “urban” –
gradova (Bulgaria), varos (Ungheria), miasta (Polonia),
orase (Romania)- and were comparable to the sovietic
“gorod”, though there has never been a rigid application of
population of functional criteria in order to determine the
urban areas on a statistic point of view. The main problems
to solve in the socialist post war cities were: improving the
18 Source: La città socialista. Struttura spaziale e politica urbana/ J.H.Bater ; with the contribution of J. H. Bater, A. D. Burnett, F. W. Carter, G. Church, P. A. Compton, A. H. Dawson, R. Anthony French, E. Giese, H. Heineberg, J. A. Matthews, T. A. Reiner, D. J. Shaw, G. Weclawowicz, A. Werwicki, R. H. Wilson; Franco Angeli Edizioni, Milano,1983 p. 21
street grid, preserving the buildings which had historical
and national value, reducing the problem of pollution
caused by the industries, having less crowded district, the
lack of green. In Poland and Slovakia the priority was given
to the reconstruction of the old city centers19. The
compromise between the historical heritage, the economic
development and the socialist transformation was done
thanks to the introduction in the city of socialist symbols
and substituting the name of the street and of new
functions like cinema, with socialist names. The urban life
was always seen as the highest form of socialist life, and
the city was the place where to realize a deeply socialist
society. In the 70s the local authorities started to pay more
attention to citizens (instead of thinking only to the
industrial development) through surveys and political
debates. Socialism in the USSR proposed the model of
“Agrorod”, an administrative unit composed of an
amalgamation of collective farms. For every urban
agglomeration, there is a spatial and rational lay out of the
different functions: industry (separated from the houses by
green belts), services (at local scale for everyday use or
19 Source: L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977 pp.53-54
42
weekly use, and less frequently used services in the city
centre); all citizens must have the same possibility of
access with a minimum economic effort, and time for all
the material, cultural and social services. The socialist cities
tend to uniform themselves: in a first moment some public
buildings and housing of the same are the same in
Moscow, Berlin, Varsaw. Very popular in the 60s are the six
stories buildings and the high towers in the 70s. The
uniforming criteria comprehend also the aesthetic aspect
of the street: statues of heroes, white writings on a red
background, and the central square as place of cerimonies.
The national culture express itself in the architectural
aspect, in the traditional behavior and in the national
theatre. Though in the European socialist Country there is
less availability of services and goods, some services like
cinema, sport facilities, means of transport are superior in
the socialist cities compared to the capitalistic cities. The
industrial areas are more uniformed and always
accompanied by green areas which separate industry and
housing. The social segregation for fields of interest is
almost inconsistent, in the socialistic city, while a certain
trend to characterize the class of the different type of
buildings. For some aspects, the homogeneity of the labor
force in the industrial cities facilitates this architectural
homogeneity. Above all, in every city the low price of the
lease produce the effect that every part of the city is
accessible to every inhabitant or immigrant in relation to
all kinds of income, social condition and race20
20Source: L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977 pp. 98-102
3.2
3.3
3.1 Tower buildings in Petržalka
3.2 The district of Gheorghiu Dei, Romania
3.3 The district of Eisenhuttenstadt, Romania
43
3.1.1 Programs and Politics in the socialist city: urban
shape, territory, public
In the development of the housing and urbanism in the
socialist countries phases and different levels of
exploitation are mirror of the socialist economical system.
Socialism has created an incredible increase in the housing
need, related to the demographical growth. The free
housing was conceived as a social service to the workers:
the idea of organizing the residential areas was expressed
in different goals : “the neighborhood unity”, as a try to
build an integrated society, the “social insediative point”,
and the “social organization of everyday life”21 (in the
capitalistic system, on the contrary, the destination of the
areas and the urban shape are determined by the market
which sometimes is imperfect and corrected by several
different interventions). In the case of Soviet Union, for
example, the market does not exists: the areas and their
organization have always to be fixed with other criteria.
Traditionally Marxism has always considered the bourgeois
city as a battlefield for the class struggle.
Another typical aspect of Socialism is the abolishment of
the traditional contradictions between city and country:
this is one of the reasons why industrialization increased
after the advent of the Soviet power, which tried to create
wide areas with an intense development and very similar
to the occidental concept of metropolitan region.
As consequence, the main goals were: the decentralization
of the productive activities and the reduction of the
residential densities trough the redistribution of the
21 L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977 pp. 248-252
population22. The decentralization would have been
obtained through the development of the satellite towns
or urban areas next to the big cities.
The suburban zones should have worked as oxygen tank
for the cities, and they would have supplied recreational
areas for the population. The satellite towns near Moscow,
for example, turned into be a sort of big dormitories: in
fact, these socialist cities, differently from the American
ones, have all a specialized function, and can be compared
to the green belts of the English cities: there find place only
sports, recreational and agricultural facilities and the
residential areas, with the industrial districts placed
beyond the green belt.
For what concerns the Socialist program for the cities, the
idea of organizing the social life went towards two
different trends: a concentrated one and a scattered one23.
The need of providing accommodation for all the people in
one big building facilitated the organization of a life system
based on the principle of minimizing the single apartment
22 La città socialista. Struttura spaziale e politica urbana/ J.H.Bater ; with the contribution of J. H. Bater, A. D. Burnett, F. W. Carter, G. Church, P. A. Compton, A. H. Dawson, R. Anthony French, E. Giese, H. Heineberg, J. A. Matthews, T. A. Reiner, D. J. Shaw, G. Weclawowicz, A. Werwicki, R. H. Wilson; Franco Angeli Edizioni, Milano,1983 pp.75-83 23 Source: La città socialista. Struttura spaziale e politica urbana/ J.H.Bater ; with the contribution of J. H. Bater, A. D. Burnett, F. W. Carter, G. Church, P. A. Compton, A. H. Dawson, R. Anthony French, E. Giese, H. Heineberg, J. A. Matthews, T. A. Reiner, D. J. Shaw, G. Weclawowicz, A. Werwicki, R. H. Wilson; Franco Angeli Edizioni, Milano,1983
44
and maximizing the use of common services. The theorical
basis was given in the 30s by a special committee, devoted
to define the activity of soviet urban planning and the
utopist ideas which tried to socialize all the aspects and all
the phases of human activities. The work of the committee
was therefore to define different levels of urban
organization with parts interacting from the small to the
big scale, defining the role of each part and giving priorities
in determining the structure of the residential complex, at
the functional internal array24.
In fact, this urban concept was based on the concept of
“Microrejon”(formalized in the 50s and following postwar
years according to the Strumlin theory) as the ideal of a
residential community: a little self sufficient district
considered as the base unit of the residential
development.
Each one of these districts was in fact supposed to
comprehend a population between 10 thousand and 20
thousand inhabitants in an area of 30-50 hectares, with
houses and services like shops, laundries, restaurants,
schools and services for children , and every district should
have been linked to the workplace of the inhabitants.
Therefore, the aggregation of many little districts should
have generated a residential district with a major range of
services for the inhabitants, within a distance of 1000-
1200meters. An aggregation of many residential districts
creates a third level called Urban District (100-300.000
inhabitants).
24 Source: La città socialista. Struttura spaziale e politica urbana/ J.H.Bater ; with the contribution of J. H. Bater, A. D. Burnett, F. W. Carter, G. Church, P. A. Compton, A. H. Dawson, R. Anthony French, E. Giese, H. Heineberg, J. A. Matthews, T. A. Reiner, D. J. Shaw, G. Weclawowicz, A. Werwicki, R. H. Wilson; Franco Angeli Edizioni, Milano,1983
3.4
3.5
3.4 View of Pulawy
3.5 General plan of Pulawy
45
In the big cities is also considered a forth level, the so
called “Urban Zone” (more less a million of inhabitants).
Though, an aspect which characterizes the socialist
development at the different urban levels is that once the
houses and the residential areas have been built the
construction of services and public facilities go slower or it
stops completely25 (on the contrary of what happens in the
United States, where the profit pushes for buildin g more
services than the ones needed). For this reason the same
problematic lack of services which characterizes the area
of Petržalka is typical of almost all the socialist areas,
where the lack of money does not allow to complete the
urban layout providing the necessary functions to the
inhabitants.
25La città socialista. Struttura spaziale e politica urbana/ J.H.Bater ; with the contribution of J. H. Bater, A. D. Burnett, F. W. Carter, G. Church, P. A. Compton, A. H. Dawson, R. Anthony French, E. Giese, H. Heineberg, J. A. Matthews, T. A. Reiner, D. J. Shaw, G. Weclawowicz, A. Werwicki, R. H. Wilson; Franco Angeli Edizioni, Milano,1983 pp.90-91
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.6 The “Young People district” in Gdànsk-Gdynia
3.7 The industrial buildings in Khar’kov
3.8 Fragment of the district PKWN in Lublin
3.9 Scheme of the spatial structure of four industrial
districts: Khar’kov, Volgrad, Gor’kij, Min’sk
3.10 General scheme of Lublin
3.11Economical/spatial scheme of the region Gdansk for the
year 1980
3.12General scheme of Georghiu Dej (Onesti, Romania)
46
3.9
3.10
3.11
3.12
47
3.1.2 The socialist idea of house and the Panelák
buildings The socialist idea of house is remarkable for its strict
connection with the idea of society in general, and equity
between its inhabitants. In fact, The concept of the
socialist common house was based on the idea of totally
abolishing the isolation of the family unit and the
housework. With the term house is meant the whole of
social and spatial elements, linked to the function of living,
and with the term insediative is meant the whole of
residential and services26. The development of the spatial
conditions among the residential theme is a very
interesting chapter into the history of Urbanism. The
problem of organizing the house is linked to the structure
of the social cell (family) and to the main technical and
spatial elements (the house, the family, the district). This
theme is particularly important for the city development,
as in this structure it is possible to discover the general
trends of the social transformation. Organizing the house is
very relevant among the urban solutions, because the
concept of the residential complex mirrors exactly the
urban concept and at the same time it generates its main
characters. The special and social elements of the house
comes also from the role that the house has into the
26 L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977 pp. 239
hierarchy of the social needs. The social needs are the
main and most urgent needs , and satisfying these points is
the main social goal in all the world. A very important role
have the general activities in realizing the social goals of
the new living. in the socialist thought, the new forms of
living and everyday life are a very practical problem of Urss
after the revolution27: here is also applied the
Functionalism between the two wars, which had been
object of theorical thoughts during the 20’s and 30’s:
houses made of modular buildings and equipped with all
services, big residential complexes, collective building, and
collective houses. The panelak buildings mirror the idea of
social housing, as the main goal of the new socialist
residential areas was to give a new house (the same to all
the citizens) to all the citizens moving from the country to
the city, and the big blocks with standardized apartments
and common services seemed the better solution to reach
the social goals of the socialist mission.
27 L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977 pp. 241-247
48
3.15
3.14
3.13
3.13 Interior of a panelàk
3.14 Old people in Petržalka
3.15 Panelàk
49
3.2 Petržalka’s precedent and contemporary
references for socialist residential areas:
The socialist urban references for Petržalka go back to the
30’s. In Slovakia, in the time of reconstruction there is a
very interesting estate, as this country shared with Poland
the rationalist idea of living. Characteristic of the new
trends is the project of the district Lochotin a Plzen realized
in the years 1946-47 by a Slovak functional pioneer. In East
Germany, among the most interesting realization of the
post war it is relevant the residential complex in the
central part of the reconstructed Rathenow, built from one
of the pioneers of the movement28. The idea of organizing
the social life went towards two different trends: a
concentrated one and a scattered one. These possibilities
and these perspectives are open especially in the big cities
and, for some aspects, in the new city. In the East Germany
is possible to mention the trend to concentrate the units
and the centers. In Hoyerswerda there has been a
concentration of services and units: there have been
recreated complexes of medium dimension, with their own
centers, linked to a big urban centre, where are set the
28 Source: L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977
Post, the administration building, the house of Culture, the
cinema, a mall, an hotel. In Swedt there have been built big
residential complexes, but also here the creation of local
centers has been necessary the creation of local centers
beyond the Mall. In Halle-Neustadt was accepted the
principle of creating residential complexes of bigger
dimension, with 16-20 thousand inhabitants. The new city
of Gheorghiu Dej, in Romania, which started its
development in 1959, showed during the years the trend
of increasing the structural elements. It was designed a big
residential unit with more than 15 thousand inhabitants.
Looking carefully at what was built in Poland, Russia,
Slovakia and Czech republic, Germany, Bulgaria, Jugoslavia,
Romania, Ungaria, it seems evident the overlapping of the
trends from last period with the new trial of renewal and
new trends and conception. In the changes of the spatial
composition of the residential complexes what is
characteristic is, above all, the technical-aesthetical
evolution of the scheme, linked to the introduction of the
industrialization processes and in the residential
architecture.
In the socialist countries the residential industrialization
was at the beginning far from the technical and economical
50
perfection. The residential industrialization has without
doubt a great importance for the technical- aesthetical
form of the city in its whole. Industrialization promoted the
principles of repeatability, which is in line with the
functional conception of the colonies and the insediative
points. One of the pioneers of residential industrialization,
Hans Schmidt, underlined how the application of
industrialized methods needed open residential systems,
which in the same time resulted particularly convenient for
the city in the hygienic-sanitary aspect. The changes in the
composition of the urban population, the variations in the
occupational structure, the activation of the work, the
changes in the urban structure, had reflections in the social
stratification of the city. In addition, they contributed to
the development of the structural units in the residential
areas29.
29 L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977 pp. 264-271
3.16
3.16 The kinder garden and the housing in the district
Michelska in Prague, 1970
51
3.2.1 The case of Kracow: Nowa Huta
Another urban example slightly precedent to Petržalka,
and structured according to a strong functionalist urban
layout, is the district of Nowa Uta, founded after the
Second World War (in 1949 ) as a separate town near
Kraków (which is the third biggest Polish city after Varsaw),
city of great cultural importance for its historical,
architectural and urban heritage. Nowa Uta is one of the
four different urban districts which compose Kracow:
Krawod (south-east), Stodmiescie (inner part), Nowa-Uta
and Podgorze (on the right of the Vistola river), and these
parts gravitate around the old city according to a strong
monocentric system. Nowa Uta was founded in 1949, on
terrain resumed by the Communist Government from
former villages of Mogiła, Pleszów and Krzesławice30 , in
order to absorb the urban drift happended after the
construction of the Lenin iron foundry, supposed to be a
huge centre of heavy industry. In 1951 Nowa Uta was
joined with Kraków as its new district, and the following
30 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowa_Huta
year was also started31 the tramway connection. The fame
of this district was given by the fact of becoming an ideal
town for the communist propaganda, populated mostly
by industrial workers. The creation of this satellite city
together with the Lenin metallurgic centre was the
evidence of a new economical impulse from 1945, which
led to a very well planned reconstruction conditioned by
an economical regimen which defined a new general urban
array and the creation of the “Big Kracow”32, which at the
same time caused contrasts between the big housing
development and the old city. Today the city of Kracow
counts 1.689.648 inhabitants33 and almost the 15% live in
31 Nowa Huta. Crumbs of Life and the Meanders of History/ Wydawnictwo Towarzystwo Slowaków w Polsce, Kraków, 2003; 32 where the old restored city had to assume new roles and meanings, Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowa_Huta 33 Number estimated in 2003 according to the Statistics , source: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varsavia
3.18
3.17
3.17 Nowa Huta, aerial view
3.18 Nowa Huta, bird view
3.17
52
the urban district of Nowa Uta34. Still today, as the other
modern industrial complexes and the new built residential
areas, the district of Nowa Uta suffers for a strong isolation
from the old city. The designs for Nowa Huta were created
in an unbelievable short amount of time (supposedly the
first housing estate was designed in three days), and the
first buildings of the later Krakow district were erected in
1949.
The first furnace of the steelworks (for the name “Nowa
Huta” identifies the purpose of the town, meaning “New
Steelworks”) was finished in 1954, and the People's
Theater (Teatr Ludowy) was built a year later35. According
to the urban analysis of J. Guzika, it is possible to outline
the different parts of the district of Nowa Huta, according
to this subdivision : the centre of urban aggregation (1),
the industrial areas (2) , the green areas (3), and the
residential part, consisting of the residential part of the
years 1950-60 (A), the district of Bienczyce (B), the district
of Wzgorza Krzeslawickie (C). In particular, this district
(which counts almost 15 thousand inhabitants) is
remarkable for its residential array, which takes advantage
of the land features ( a dislevel of almost 30 meters)
dividing the two main axes in two subunits linked by the
green space, and the main service centre at the
borders.The district of Bienczyce, instead, is remarkable for
its residential layout, organized around three axes which
define the residential system divided into three big areas,
subdivided in a regular way into many smaller parts
characterized by linear blocks of buildings, each one with
its green area and its services. homogeneously.
34 Studi di Urbanistica/ U. Cardarelli, T. Colletta, T.Giura, M. Tarantino,Vol.4, Dedalo libri,Roma 1980 35 http://www.krakow-poland.com/Tourist-Attractions/Nowa-Huta
Source: http://www.zyciekrakowa.pl
3.19
3.20
3.21
3.19 Model of the district of Nowa Huta
3.20 Project for the district Wzgorza Krzeslawickie in Nowa Huta
3.21 Urban scheme of Nowa Uta according to J.Guzika
53
3.2.2 The case of Varsaw: Bielany In Poland, and more intensely in Warsaw, in the years
1966-70 happens a policy of decentralization and
functional strengthening of the city. The concentration of
the investments for the reconstruction of the city created a
strong imbalance in comparison with the surrounding
areas of the city, and for this reason a plan for the
metropolitan complex of Warsaw was conceived, starting a
policy of urban cooperation36. The urban residential works
between the 60’s and 70’s are therefore characterized by a
great variety of situations: from the organized functional
units, to the groups and residential complexes which are
strictly linked to the near residential areas. Then, more and
more the need of new types of residential organization is
perceived. An example of the level reached in the
residential strategies at the end of the 50’s is the
realization of M. e K. Piechotek in the district of Bielany in
Varsaw. The district is built according to the old urban grid,
and divided into two parts, the area of Bielany II (A) and
the the area of Slodowiec (B). In the district are visible the
centre and the belt of services (1), the schools and
36 Source: Le trasformazioni urbane di Varsavia nel Novecento-una guida bibliografica /Alfredo Boscolo; Quaderni del dipartimento di discipline storiche dell’Università di Bologna, Carocci editore, 2004
kindergardens (2). In Bielany it is also evident the intent of
organizing the children’s life and the recreational activities
inside the residential area, while the services for adults are
located outside of it37. This realization, which derive from
the polish idea about the living, present some real
modifications: organizing the interior of the units according
to the childrens’ needs and the abolishment of traffic.
Another meaningful innovation in the concept of the
Piechotek is the introduction, in the residential complex, of
some small productive businesses. The designers of Bielany
used different building typologies, from the eleven stories
buildings to the ones with two stories. The district of
Bielany is in addition an example which exactly fits the
existent system of infrastructures; it is remarkable that
also the main contemporary realizations in Slovakia show
therefore similar trends in the urban spatial research.
37 Source: L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977
3.22
3.22 View of the housing in Bielany
3.23 Functions in the area of Bielany
3.24 Plan of Bielany
54
3.23
3.24
55
3.2.3 The case of Moscow: Kimki-Khovrino
The wide Russian district of Khimki-Khovrino, instead, fits
clearly into the big urban network. In Urss the organization
of the residential areas was really developed and showed
five different levels from the small to the big scale. In the
big cities it is possible to distinguish “the urban system”,
the “urban district” which comprehends some residential
areas, the “Microrejon” and the “residential unit”, which
corresponds to the Polish “colony”38. The urban districts
might have a mixed character, residential or industrial.
In Moscow it is possible to mention the huge area of the
north-east districts: there, the urban grid shapes the single
districts, often characterized by a various array; a lot of
different areas with different dimension take place: in the
east and north-east part for example, the districts of
Khimki-Khovrino, Fili-Izmajlovo e Chorosevo-Mnevniki.
The district of Khimki-Khovrino is divided into two parts,
where the array is linked by a common green part with
general facilities. Khimki-Khovrino and the other
mentioned districts are also divided into areas of 15-
38 L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977 pp. 260
20thousand inhabitants, where often the major districts
are integrated units where the areas for the schools (three
or four schools) are unified and the services can be more
developed.
In the case of Khimki-Khovrino the sub districts show a
structural division in six-eight residential groups
(“colonies”) with a population of more less two thousand
inhabitants, like the Ruzinov district in Bratislava (with sixty
thousand inhabitants, with a system of big sub districts,
where are collocated six or seven colonies of inhabitants).
For what concerns the social organization and the services
organization, the population in an insediative unit is
between 5-6thousand and 10-12thousand inhabitants. In
case of buildings with five stories, the current standards in
the socialist countries reaches an area of 20-40 thousand
ha. While in the areas of new investment, in order to have
an accessibility to the transport system of 500 meters, the
area reaches 60-100 acre with a population of 20-25
thousand inhabitants. Therefore, in this case, it is possible
to pass from the unit with two school to a complex with 3
or 4 schools and also 5 schools. These possibilities and
these perspectives are open especially in the big cities.
3.25
3.25 View of the housing in Kimki-Khovrino
3.26 Experimental complex of Novi Ceremuski
3.27 Plan of Kimki-Khovrino in Moscow
56
3.26
3.27
57
4.1
4.1
58
4
THE INTERNATIONAL DESIGN
COMPETITION FOR PETRŽALKA, 1966
59
4.1 The course of the competition
The International Competition for designing the District of
Petržalka, in the southern area of Bratislava, brought great
interest either in the same country than abroad39. This
have been one of the most important international
competitions after the Second world war, and not just for
the number of projects but for its content. A similar and
rare interest was found only in some scattered cases at the
world scale. The Competition involved several different
interested parts, which at the same time contributed to
increase the fame o f Bratislava in all the world. Though
the number of projects was not the highest in relationship
with the difficulty of the requested solution, the interest
for this area continued to increase also after the end of the
Competition. Beyond the participants, a great number of
local newspapers, and several institutions, including some
39 The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka
/Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH,
Bratislava, 1969 p.10
universities and administrations of foreign countries
requested detailed results of the competition and,
according to the jury, a lot of discussions and different
studies regarding the problems in Petržalka have been
held. The basic principles of the new concept were
determined according an analysis of all the projects
presented in the Competition. The publication of all the
projects presented at the competition was therefore a
strong help for all the institutions and administrations who
were interested in the designing problem, and which could
find interesting points for discussions and seminars, which
contributed to enlarge the fame of Bratislava in all the
world. The territory on the right bank of the Danube which
is the object of the town-planning solution is bounded by
the flow of the river and assumed outlet canal. This canal is
to ensure a definite protection not only of the present
unprotected Petržalka against floods but is to protect the
town itself. The condition of the water sign level of the
Danube in 1850 show us that a greater part of the central
region of the town is insufficiently protected from the
4.1 Project n° 46, view of the model
60
floods which have occurred more times within a 1000
years even when measures have been affected against the
extraordinary rising of the level in 1954-55. Thus Petržalka
would have changed into an island lying directly in the
opposite side of the city the position expressively increases
the significance and mission of the new district. These
circumstances considerably influenced the town-planning
solution. The territory is limited by the flow of the Danube
and the outlet canal. It covers an area of about 1806 acres
(including the area of the outlet canal which is 161 ha). At
that moment Petržalka had about 15.000 inhabitants living
in 4113 flats40. The living quarters predominantly consisted
of ground floors family houses with the exception of
particular ones. Their dispositions were primitive and
without even modest hygienic equipment. Besides this, the
houses are not only virtually old but also obsolete in the
buildings technique sense of the word. Most of the roads
have no bottom construction but only a strengthened
bottom with an exigently adjusted surface. The distribution
of gas and public water supply has been performed only in
the last years in a part of former Petržalka. The
canalization could be performed only after the protection
of the territory against floods. The main and only reason of
this condition, which is a contradiction to the present
degree of development of the left bank regions of the
town, lied in the historical fact that, up till 1946, the so
called Ovsiste belonged to the community land-register of
Prievoz, on the left bank, and Petržalka was an
independent community being the greatest village in pre-
war Czechoslovakia. In spite of the fact that its inhabitants
were mostly employed in the city, the community was
administered not only according to the village of that time
40 The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka
/Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH,
Bratislava, 1969 p.45
but its construction was also effected in this manner.
Attempts of the previous city administration of Bratislava,
to work out at least a common mutual harmonious plan of
construction, met with a negative attitude from the
administration of Petržalka. After connecting Petržalka to
the city, the political administrative conditions did not
improve, and the technical assumption did not change,
especially regarding the hydrological problem and the
protection of the territory against floods. Then the
economical part of the complex solution comes all the
more expressively into the foreground. Studies of this
solution are at a stage of discussion with the appropriate
departments and by the end of June 1968 decision will be
made according which solution will make use and adjust
the flow of the Danube in such an optimum and
harmonious way so that all regions of the city will be
definitely protected against floods lasting a thousand
years. The competition conditions, obligatory and
informative enclosures and answers to questions, inquires
provided the participants with sufficient knowledge in
order to understand the purpose of the competition, to
know the involved territory and detailed data about the
program in the development and construction of the new
Petržalka. The purpose of the competition was to gain new
and deeper cognitions about general tendencies in the
creation of a living environment of the basis of town-
planning conceptions designs and ideas of a higher
progressiveness which form assumptions for such a level of
this environment as to provide its inhabitants and users,
considering the psychological standpoint, with full, uniform
and long termed conditions for a happy life on a high
technical and cultural level. Most of the inhabitants at a
productive age will be working in regions on the left bank
of the city, mostly in its centre. On the other hand, various
arrangements of a whole city and extra-city equipment
which will be built in the new district will be sought after
by inhabitants of the whole city and by its visitors.
61
Petržalka was not conceived, in the original intent, as a
“living bedroom” but as a formation which through its
attractiveness will form conditions for a constant and
healthy pulsing life. Thus, the composition of the
competition study is to follow the creation of such a town
planning formation which will become an expressive factor
in the whole scheme of the city for regeneration of not
only the physical but also of the physical strengths of the
human which has been weakened by the ever growing
pretensions of mechanized and automatized production as
well as by activity in other branches beginning with
education through distribution up to research and applied
science. The whole concept of the design is to follow up
such a composition, connection and relation of the
separate functional components so that after the
construction of the new Petržalka, Bratislava, will really
become a city on the Danube41.
41 The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka
/Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH,
Bratislava, 1969 p.46
62
4.2 The construction program
The construction Program required to solve on a given
territory42:
-The housing territory for 100.000 inhabitants was with a
complex public equipment and an extent of 60.000
inhabitants till 1980, and the remaining 40.000 inhabitants
till the next period. Till 1980, the fund of flats was to attain
the standard 13.2 square meters of living area for 1
inhabitant with average of 3.1 persons to a household and
2.6 inhabited rooms to a flat. The new construction would
have to count with an average of 45sm of inhabited area
and 3.12 rooms to a flat. The realization in the construction
of flats will begin on free areas, whereby demolition of the
existing housing fund is allowed in the first place in Stary
Haj, and Ovsiste. A gradual demolition of the housing fund
is also considered in Petržalka. The organization lay-out
and the structure of floor building was left to the free
consideration of the competitors. Indicative and
informative data about these factors were given in the
auxiliary enclosures:
-The area for the construction of industry was obligatorily
determined in the map enclosures as regards the situation
and extent;
-The limited territory is not supposed to be used for
current plant and livestock agricultural production;
42 The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka /Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH, Bratislava, 1969 p.46
-The position and area for the water supply worked as well
as for the canalization. Cleaning station should be also
obligatorily determined in the enclosures;
-The thermal power station was included in the industrial
area.
Further, the program required to place a number of
buildings and equipments of a whole city and extra city
significance, that is, especially:
-The Faculty of physical chemistry of the Slovak technical
University for 500 students with a boarding-school for
about 75%-80% of the students- with an area of about
30ha.
-The Research Institute for the Czechoslovak Academy of
Sciences for physical chemistry, with an assumed area of
about 10-15 ha.
-A park for recreational rest including a building for a
permanent circus;
-An exhibition hall with an area of about 30-40 ha;
-Some sport equipment of an importance for the whole
city: a complex sport stadium with playgrounds for 60-
70.000 visitors; areas and equipments for special water
sports (rowing in boats, kayaks, etc..) summer swimming
pools for 50.000-60.000 visitors;
-To complete the existing horse-race track on an
international level;
-A motel with a capacity of 180 beds and auto-camping for
300 cars
63
- A cemetery area of about 25ha.
The competition conditions devoted special attention to
the solution of green and water areas. Besides dispersing
the green areas into housing formation for an active and
passive rest of the inhabitants, they mostly required to
follow the following principles43:
-to preserve the existing park of Janko Kral and consider it
as a part of the park zones of the city mutually connected
and, therefore, propose its extension with regard to the
dispersal of buildings and equipment of a whole city and
extra city character: to foresee the least possible
disturbance of the green parks by communication lines and
intensified traffic; to substantially preserve the present
natural features of the massive forest which will be formed
into a forest park and will be one of the most important
parts of the recreation equipment of a whole city
significance; to produce adjustments of banks and dikes of
the outlet canal as far as this is in connection with the
placing of summer pools, facilities for water sports,
etc..was left to the free consideration of the competitors.
In effecting this task, the basic protective function of the
canal should not be disturbed; to produce adjustment of
the Pecen branch of the Danube and of all the smaller
branches or their filling up was also left to the solution of
the competitors; to preserve the Chorvatske branch, the
existing summer swimming pool Lido and the lake which
was formed by dredging gravel, and it is required to
appropriately adjust them. From the stand point of solving
the communication network, the district of Petržalka is
touched not only by the internal city transportation region,
dispersed on both banks of the Danube, but also
individually and expressively by the railway, road and ship
transportation as outgoing communications abroad
43 The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka /Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH, Bratislava, 1969 p.47
through Hungary and Austria with which the district
directly borders. In solving the problem of transportation,
the conditions required to thoroughly preserve the
generally used present principles, that is, to form an
integrate, balanced and economic transportation system
with correctly differentiated and categorized
communications. The competitors received comparatively
detailed and completely obligatory, directive and
informative enclosures and data of which the following are
especially indicated: to foresee a complete reconstruction
of the present railway network with a new overbridging of
the Danube is foreseen. However, realization will be begun
till around 1980, and up till then the present railway
equipment must be preserved. These circumstances must
be considered, especially as regards the construction of the
district in stages; the water transportation on the Danube
did not substantially concern Petržalka. It would have been
necessary to preserve the shuttle transportation of
passengers and it is to be foreseen that further
development of connecting both banks will be effected by
shuttle transportation; as the structure of the road
transportation would have gradually changed in the near
future, individual motor transport would have grown and
the transport forecast would have come out of the
presumption that in 1980, the degree of motorization will
achieve a ratio 1:5.25 (from this degree of motorization
will be 1:75, and the degree of saturation is considered
1:39 for all motor vehicles)44.
In Petržalka the mobility of inhabitants would have grown
till 1980 up to 685 drives per inhabitant and 45% would
have be directed to central region, 40% to other parts of
the city on the left bank and only 15% to the district itself.
44 The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka /Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH, Bratislava, 1969 p.48
64
During the last years international tourism has
considerably grown as regards the intensity of motor
transport on roads leading through the territory of
Petržalka. The roads are indicated as E15 (north Sea-
Prague-Bratislava highway E5) and E 16 (Gdansk-Zilina-
Bratislava-on).The degree of growth in the intensity of
transportation cannot be ascertained even by estimation
and therefore it was required to assume a four
communication reserved for motor transport. It was
assumed to build several new bridges to ensure
transportation across the Danube, that is: -a fish square (in
the meantime the construction of the bridge has already
begun), the present bridge from Safarikovo namestie, the
Safarik Square would have been reconstructed for road
transportation in its whole width after transferring the
railway track18. After 1980 a further bridge would have
been planned for internal city transportation as a
continuation of Kosika ulica-Kosika street; further road
bridges are being planned as a continuation of Mlynska
dolina (in the western part of the city) as well as a second
one parallel to the railway bridge (in the eastern part of
the city). These two bridges will enable to transfer the
highway lines from the left bank to the right bank so that
transportation will not have to pass through the centre of
the city. The solution of this connection passing between
the park and the centre of the present construction of
Petržalka was prepared by the masterplan and was not
obligatory for the competitors. The transport forecast
assumes that the requirements on transport caused by a
growth of mobility of inhabitants can be mastered only by
giving preference to collective city transport which is to
participate by 70%. It is assumed that trams and buses will
be used as transport means. Trolleybuses are excluded
from straight terrains but competitors can freely consider
to suggest a perspective high progressive kind of
transportation reserving the appropriate areas. The
conditions contained informative, respectively, directive
data about transport lines which would effectively connect
the single functional regions on the left and right bank of
the river. The following points were obligatory: only bus
lines can be exclusively led across the bridge from Safarik
namestie, Kosika street; for the needs of the city collective
transport it will be further necessary to make a design for a
new wagon-depot with a capacity of 150-200 wagons and
for an appropriate number of transformer stations in an
effective positions. The air transport had no strict
requirements on the limited territory but requests
limitation in the heights of buildings indicated in the
obligatory competition enclosures. Solution of the network
of technical equipment on the territory with the exception
of the communication scheme and transportation
equipment as well as of the dispositional studies of the
buildings was not required. The competition should have
contained18:
-A solution for town-planning study at a scale of 1:5000
-A master plan at a scale of 1:5000 and a model at a scale
of 1:5000
-An accompanying report, filled in form of technical-
economical data of the design
-An official author’s envelope with an envelope for return
address.
65
4.3 The contents of the competition design
According to the main Architect Svedko (one on the main
architect from the committee)all proposals and projects
presented in the competition can still be divided in five
groups, according to the type of project45:
Projects which are continuous in functional
principals of urban design (division in zones with services)
using the classic grid scheme.
Projects similar to the 1st point but avoiding all the
classical urban principles
Organic urbanism like the case of Candilis proposal
in Toulouse la Miraile
Concentration of object in to a fix form as a big
plastic composition
Without an individual concept which handles the
organization of the structure
The winning project was the one from Stanislav Talas and
Jozef Chovanec. This second architect renounced in
cooperating in the project, maybe because of “the
degradation of first winning ideas, as a famous rumor
stated20. This degradation was caused by the compromises
of many politics and the clumsiness of building production.
Despite of this, the basic goal was fulfilled. Habitation is
alive, starting to creating its own subculture and built it on
reduced moments from times of idealistic dreams of big
competition. The competition condition contained a
45 Source: The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka /Kamil Gross;Vydavatelstvo Slovensko fondu vitvarnych, Bratislava, 1969 p.48-49
detailed description and explanation regarding contents of
drawings, forms, ways as well as other items of single parts
of the competition design. The competition enclosures had
an obligatory part contained: topographical plans 1:10.000
and 1:5000 into which it was necessary to draw the design
and the form for technical-economical data. This form was
to be filled in with appropriate numbers by each
competitor46. Informative enclosures were given in the
form of a brochure which contained auxiliary enclosures,
data and documents providing competitors with necessary
information for working out the conception of the town-
planning study. Further information, data and auxiliary
enclosures were received by the competitors in the
framework of answers to questions and inquiries,
especially: -schematic map of the city and its environment
indicating a geomorphological relief-map of the territory,
grown up green areas of forests and parks, a scheme of
railway network, main communication roads and streets,
etc: - panoramic photo view of the territory on the left
bank;-profile scheme of the outlet canal; -developing
assumption of children in households; hydrological and
meteorological data, etc..; more detailed data about kind
and quality of forests in Petržalka;-explanations and
informative data about the extent of public equipment of
housing information, especially in schools and hygienic
equipments.21
46 Source: The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka /Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH, Bratislava, 1969 p.48-49
66
4.4 The evaluation criteria of the competition designs
The jury was formed by seven members (among which Mr
Andrè Gutton, President of the Institute of Architects,
Paris, France and Mr. Prof. Arthur Ling, from the
Department of Architecture and civil planning of
Notthingham University, UK)21. The first session of the jury
was held on November 10-11th 1966, all members were
present. Mr Prof Arthur Ling was elected chairman and Mr
Ing. Arch. Stefan Svetko, vice-chairman. The jury
acquainted themselves with the approved master plans
and immediate program of construction of the town. After
a survey of the town, especially of the territory on the right
bank of the Danube, the jury dealt with questions
submitted y a number of registered participants of the
competition. The jury decided in what manner to answer
these questions as regards the extent and contents,
whereby individual consideration should be devoted to the
question of respecting the character of the natural
environment of the territory on the right bank of the river
and its connection to the existing town. The jury,
therefore, decided that it was necessary to provide the
competitors with further informative enclosures and data
which have already been mentioned in the previous
chapter chapter of this publication. The jury further
appointed a committee to open designs as well as experts
to make observations on competitions entries in respect of
transportation and economic problems. Mr Prof. Ing.
Marka was appointed expert for transportation and Mr.
Ing. Teodor Bilka, for town-planning economics. Both were
to select further members according to their consideration.
At the same time jury gave instructions as to the
thoroughness of the general expert observations of all
designs for the next session of the jury. The second session
of the jury was held on june 3-4th 1967. After going over all
of the formalities the jury permitted all of the submitted
designs numbering 84, to be judged. The jury determined
the main criteria for judging, which they finally expressed
in the following terms21:
The quality of the new urban environment;
The integration of Petržalka with the existing
environment in relation to
a. The existing town and especially its centre
b. The preservation and development of the existing
landscape features
The integration of Petržalka with the existing
environment in relation to
a. building equipment
b. the main communication system, the district facilities
and other local means of transport, including pedestrian
ways.
Economy of the designs in relation to:
a. the design of the district as a whole
67
b. the technical solution, and
c. its realization in stages.
The above criteria for judging mentioned in the closing
record are substantially the principles and standpoints
expressed as a whole which the members of the jury
adopted during their discussions in detail. When
considering the mission of this publication we further
indicate the most important concrete principles and
standpoints for judging:
-the basic idea of the idea of the complex urban concept is
to show synonymously and expressively the lay-out of the
town on both banks of the river, especially the connection
of the new district with the central region of the towns;
- the quality of the urban composition in relation to the
human as user and visitor of the visitor of the district
should be judging according to the level of public, intimate
spaces and buildings which these spaces create on an
optimum human scale;
- preservation, eventually, development of the present
landscape features which depends from the extents with
which the expressive existing green and further
development of the park and extensive massive of forest
on the embankment will be exercised as well as from the
aspect that the composition should not only have the
appearance of the town undisturbed but should enhance it
at the exposed views from main accessible
communications coming from Austria and Hungary;
-mutual connections and dependences of separate
functional components should be valued according to the
present principles of urbanity newly created living
environments with respect to the specified territory of the
district and contents of the program of its construction.
This individually concerns the connection of equipments
and buildings of a whole city and extra city equipment on
the left bank regions of the town;
-the physical and aesthetical standpoint means the
emotional effect of the whole composition as well as of its
separate parts not only with respect to its inhabitants and
users but also as regards the visitors to the district;
- quality of solving transportation depends from the
extent, respectively from harmony of ensuring continuity,
safety and differentiated traffic of every kind and by
meeting the requirements of the determined competition
conditions. The expert observation will be taken into
consideration to an appropriate extent when evaluating
the proper design;
- economic solution can only be of a help in judging the
town-planning studies and evaluating them. However, it is
necessary to devote attention to the economic conception
when judging the proposed construction in stages;
-inventiveness of the basic urban composition should be
judged according to the level and extent of asset for the
conclusions and recommendations of the jury to the
inventor, that is, for working out the final proposal for the
construction of the district47.
After studying the competition designs individually, all
members of the jury began to judge them with active
participation of the experts. The jury then provisionally
classified the designs in three, respectively, in five
qualitative categories.
The jury further decided to proceed according to the rules
for international competitions in the line of architecture
and urbanism, issued by UIA in 1965, so that each member
of the jury has the right to request a justifiable new
judgment of a low classified into a low category and the
jury unanimously decided to eliminate from further
judgment 55 projects, eliminating other eleven projects
from the 35 projects remaining. The experts were asked to
work out a detailed criticism for the remaining 24 projects,
and domestic numbers of the jury were appointed to study
47 Source: The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka /Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH, Bratislava, 1969 p.49
68
the accompanying reports of designs. The third and closing
session of the jury was held from June 23-27, 1967. All
members of the jury were present. After getting
acquainted with the contents of the accompanying reports
and hearing reports by the experts, the jury unanimously
eliminated from further considerations other 6 projects. So
that the following 18 projects remained for the final
selection22:
1,6,7,21,23,30,37,40,41,42,43,46,53,65,68,74,79,85.
Members of the jury were appointed to work out
proposals for the evaluation of the designs. The prepared
proposals of the evaluation were discussed and adjusted at
the plenary meeting of the jury. According to the results of
all proposed evaluation designs, the jury came to the
conclusion that none of these fulfilled the qualitative
criteria and requirements of the competition conditions to
such an extent as to justify awarding it a 1st or 2nd price. In
these circumstances the jury unanimously decided to:
a. Combine the monies set aside for 1st, 2nd and 3rd price to
give a total of 200.000 Kcs and divide this equally to
provide 5 third prices;
b. To divide the sum of 60.000Kcs, giving six equal rewards
each.
The jury further decided unanimously to award a high
commendation to other ten designs for partial quality and
more expressive partial ideas22. Among these ones, was
mentioned the Italian project of the architects: Alessandro
Mendini, Mario G. Olivieri, Paolo Viola (ing.), Luciano
Boschino, Francesco Mendini, Emilia Rossi, Antonio Susini,
Ettore Zambelli, Rossana Zambelli-Raitieri. Team workers:
Arch. Fabrizio Carola, Francesco di Salvo. Design: Paolo
Scheggi22.
In deciding about the high commendations according to
the appropriate rules of the mentioned international
competition order of UIA , the jury took into consideration
justified recommendations of some of its members and
accepted acknowledgments regardless of the fact whether
it proceeded for final selection. In conclusion to this part
we point out that according to the statement of the jury
the submitted designs represent a wide variety of town-
planning conceptions, notions and ideas. They range from
those which are purely schematic and theoretical based on
a rectilinear or axial conception to those which are free
and flexible in composition, taking the existing landscape
as a starting point for an artistic sculptural or even
fantastic approach to the design of a new form of
environment. A similar variety is represented even in the
character of the proposed building up of an entirely wavy
flowing in the most different types of housing buildings,
from enclosed blocks and stereotyped rows throws
flowing, grill, octopus like and striking forms of objects. We
further point out the evaluation of the winning schemes,
awarded and highly commended schemes are literally
indicated in the illustrated part.
69
4.4.1 The evaluation criteria of the competition designs
It has already been mentioned that in connection with the
judging activity of the jury, the expert observations had
been worked out in two stages. According to instructions
of the jury the experts performed a general observation of
all competition designs at the first stage, that is:
-observations were made as to whether the requirements
of the competition conditions were met in solving
transportation problems, as regards the connection of
routes to the separate kinds of transportation concerning
the obligatorily determined points48. The observations
checked on the relationship with each functional area and
on the required categorization of communication
relationships on the base. According to these criteria each
design was arranged in classified groups;
-technical-economic observations dealt with problems of
meeting the requirements of the construction program of
the district without checking the statistical data which had
been indicated by each competitor after filling in the
official form. According to this investigation with respect
to the present application of the technical-economic
indexes, a provisional qualitative degree of solution was
determined. At the second stage only 24 designs were
judged by the experts. These remained for final selection
after the elimination procedure by the jury. The experts
48 The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka /Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH, Bratislava, 1969 p.50
worked out already more detailed observations for these
designs, that is:
-in solving the transportation problems the connection of
the separate kinds of transportation to the obligatorily
determined connecting points was investigated more
carefully once again. Further, the solution of each kind of
transportation was judged from standpoint of economic
realization and the traffic itself. In conclusion to the
judgments there is a brief evaluation of the solution of
each competition design;
- technical-economical level in the solution of the
mentioned 24 designs was judged in such a manner that
the extent of the single functional areas and the
percentage of participation in relation to the area of the
whole district and in the framework of the housing
territory was checked, respectively, ascertained. Further,
the basic indexes were ascertained, and especially the
average number of floors in the housing,the density and
the number of inhabitants, the stages, etc..
The possibility of accurately ascertaining the data,
especially, as regards the areas, was considerably
dependent on the thoroughness of the graphical work up
of the competition design and according to the way it was
presented. Due to this fact it was not very well possible to
achieve an entire numerical harmony between the total
areas of some designs with the data of
70
partial functional areas. However, this circumstance does
not influence the possibility of judging the qualitative
degree of solution.
The result of the experts observations are included in two
tables as follows:
- the table for solving transportation contains a general
observation of all competition designs. A detailed
observation is not included for the reason that its
conclusion are contained in the evaluation of the jury
appropriately adjusted to a suitable extent. The evaluation
of the jury are literally mentioned in connection with the
illustrations of the prize winning and award winning
designs;
- the table of technical-economical data contains numerical
results of a detailed expert observation of 24 designs and
their classification according to qualitative degrees. The
mentioned data in the table enable a mutual confrontation
of urban economy as well as a comparison of indexes
applied in various countries and religion;
In referring to the expert observations, we consider it
necessary to point at the character and purpose of the
competition. The invitor was conscious of the fact when
compelling the competition condition that to require
designs and ideas of a higher progressiveness for a town-
planning study solution of a district and at the same time
to achieve their optimum in harmony with the solution of
the transportation, and the technical-economic level of the
designs, is really a task which exceeds the framework of a
competition. Therefore, the invitor opened the
competition to get ideas and profound impulses. At the
same time, however, these circumstances inevitably led
the jury to the fact that expert observation were only a
help for a complex judgment and evaluation of each
competition design.
71
4.4.2 Conclusions and recommendations of the jury
In concluding the results of the competition the jury
summarized its conditions49 which are to be followed in
the construction of Petržalka, as well as its
recommendations to the National Committee of the City of
Bratislava, regarding the procedure in preparing the final
design for construction.
The ideas emanating from the projects receiving prices or
awards comprise a valuable source of inspiration for the
preparation of the plan for Petržalka particularly in respect
of:
The need to achieve a close relationship between
the existing city and its extension south of the
Danube
The importance of preserving and enhancing the
existing landscape qualities of the site
The opportunity of developing the waterways as
basic elements in the designs
The desirability of avoiding rigid solutions which
overemphasize theory or monumentality at the
expense of the natural landscape and the human
scale
The necessity of integrating all the major functional
elements of the plan into a comprehensive design;
The need of an in-built flexibility in detail to allow
for change and growth:
49 Source: The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka /Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH, Bratislava, 1969 p.51
The paramount importance of creating human
environment in which people as individuals and as
members of a community feel that their needs
have been met in an imaginative and convenient
way.
It would have been easier for the jury to give advice to the
authority as further steps to be taken in the preparation of
a final design for Petržalka if the jury had found it possible
to single out one design which would had shown superior
quality and progressiveness in the urban solution to all
other designs. It was difficult, however, to place the final
selection of projects in any order of merit because of the
variety of solutions and ideas contained. The jury was of
the opinion that none of the schemes had completely
solved the particular problems of the new Petržalka and it
was for these reasons that the prize money was divided
into five equal prizes. It is only possible, therefore, to draw
attention to the wealth of ideas, principles and
conceptions that they and those receiving awards and high
communication contain. The jury attempted in the list
above to emphasize the main principles which, it feels,
have emerged from this competition.
For the procedure in preparing the construction: it would
have been necessary for a special project-team to be
established by the City Council for the final plan. In order
that the results of the competition could have been
analyzed and fully understood in relation to local
conditions. It was considered desirable that a discussion or
72
seminar should be held by Slovak architects and other
experts concerned so that a series of main conclusions can
be drawn up.
Following this, the prizewinning projects should have been
brought into further discussions so that advantage could
have been taken from their investigation and ideas, and
the conclusions of the previous discussions put to the test
as a wider basis. It would have been necessary if the
authors of the prize-winning projects could have managed
in some way –however modest- to make practical
contributions to the realization of the final plan24.
There are therefore some particular problems in respect of
which the jury wishes to make the following observations
or recommendations:
1. The Canal: If the Hydrologists have decided about the
absolute necessity of enlarging the cross-section of the
river on front of the city, the jury is of the opinion that
most of the economical and rational solution would be to
widen and deepen the river moderately. The construction
of a canal and new bridges would be expensive and would
limit the new district towards the west and the south. This
solution, however, can be acceptable only under the
presumption that the embankments of the Danube would
not create a slightly aesthetical dike but they would have
the character of a promenade with a free architectural
conception. These embankment would be freely planted
with trees in order to preserve their present appearance.
2. Main communication: in the first stage a road should be
constructed, making use of difference in the level of the
present dike, or of the future embankment with
connection to the Prague highway, and the new bridge to
the east. This road would pass through the new district
parallel to the river. It would be partially covered and
situated in parkland so that it would not separate the
district from the river. The road would serve the
augmented traffic on the left bank. In the second stage a
new bypass would be constructed to the south of the city
in the direction of Austria and to the highway Prague-
Budapest.
3. It is necessary to expressively determine the
construction on the territory in Petržalka again in such a
manner that only such industries will be allowed which will
not be harmful to hygienic and quiet living or to the
construction of residential areas because of dust, smoke,
noise, etc.. It is required, therefore, to give preference to
the construction of laboratories, research centers and
similar equipment.
4. It will be necessary to protect the natural features (the
forests, waterways, lakes, etc..) By widening the Danube
use can be made of the excavated earth to create a new
landscape.
5. The new district should not be so rigidly planned that it
becomes impossible for future generations in the light of
changing needs, to continue to works already begun.
6. The housing units should be varied in form so that the
inhabitants can have a wide choice in a composition which
allow in detail for change in character, scale and
architectural conception, providing people with a lively
human environment.
7. The best parts of the old city should be preserved for
future generations and new buildings should be designed
of this age but in scale with the existing buildings; the city
with its squared boulevards, pedestrian streets, and
embankments, should be the starting point for a modern
study of the future Petržalka as a city district set in a
landscape of forests and waterways with its unique
position on the Danube50
50 Source: The International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka /Kamil Gross;Vydavatelstvo Slovensko fondu vitvarnych, Bratislava, 1969 p.60
73
4.5 Selection of competition projectsIn this part we publish views of the competition designs; the area extent and eventually, also the number of views of single
competition design is differentiated according to the degree of their evaluation by the jury; the views contain the solution of
the master plan at a scale of 1:5000, of the model and eventually a characteristic detail; the view of the model is taken either
from the south side or the north-west side (approximately from the castle hill on the left bank)51.
51 The description of the winning projects: 7,42,43,46,74,1,6,23,53,68,79, are presented in The book International urbanistic Competition – Bratislava Petrzalka /Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH, Bratislava, 1969 pp. 61-78
4.2
4.3
4.2 Project n° 53, views of the model
4.3 Project n° 7, view of the model
4.4 Project n° 42, view of the model
74
4.4
75
4.5.1 Projects remained for the final selection
Project n°7 ( Bratislava, CSSR: Tibor Alexy, Jan Kovan, Filip Tkrnus)
This scheme combines a linear lay-out parallel to the Danube with development in depth at right angles to it. This satisfactorily
expresses both the individuality of the new district and its vital significance as an extension to the existing city. This project is
commended for its rich variety of housing forms which creates spaces of different dimensions as an essential part of the urban
environment. The connection between the old town and the new district centre is strong in character but its form requires
study. Less successful is the architectural emphasis of the north-south axis which dominates the structure in too forcible way
disrupting the existing landscape and the meandering waterway. The transport system is complicated and expensive, involving
a sunken motorway. But the system of communications as a whole is capable of development towards a satisfactory solution.
There is a balanced content and the project can be implemented in stages.
4.5
76
4.6
4.7
4.5, 4.6, 4.7 Project n° 7, views of the model
77
Project n° 1 ( Brno, CCSR : Vladimir Palla, Silvester Vagner, Josef Krejcik, Eric Vrtis)
This project has a concentrated linear form parallel to the Danube45. This enable natural features of
the site to be preserved. There are interconnections between various social facilities east to west,
whilst there is a community connection with the south. The educational buildings on the southern
periphery have good contacts with the parkland. In the interior, intimate urban spaces are proposed
and the housing development does not involve a large proportion of high buildings. the overall
layout, however, has a rigidity which would make it difficult to meet changes in social or
technological requirements in the future. It is arranged to allow for self-contained stages in
construction, although the new centre in the position proposed would involve an early demolition of
the old Petržalka.
4.8
4.9
4.8, 4.9, Project n° 1, views of the model
78
Project n°53
(Yugoslavia: Vladimir Music, Marjan Bezan, Nives Stark)
This is an imaginative scheme with characteristics of
flexibility and variety25. Its transport structure is over
elaborate and expansive although it has been studied in a
wider regional scale. A strong connection is provided to the
existing city by an extensive spine consisting of pedestrian
walk-ways in association with the public buildings and shops.
This spine also gives an effective link with parkland to the
south where the existing natural features are preserved. The
water ways are integrated into the housing areas which have
a variety in form of disposition allowing for easy staging in
development and for changes in social needs.
4.12
4.11
4.10
4.10, 4.11, 4.12 Project n° 53, views of the model
79
Project n°42 (Olomouc, CSSR: Karel Typovsky, Jaroslav Novacek, Vit Alamek)
This project is remarkable for the manner in which not only the existing landscape is preserved but also for the way in
which new parks are created encircled by blocks of flats of 8 to 20 floors45. The housing areas are divided into sub-
districts with social facilities are located on the first two floors of the surroundings curved blocks of flats. The bank of
the Danube is retained for parks and open spaces and only opposite the castle is an architectonic relationship
expressed with the old city. Here are located the eastern end of the park. The communications system is simple and
efficient but the motor-way inevitably divides the residential areas and the centre from the park, although pedestrian
ways at a different level are proposed. A distributor road encircles the residential areas and the park. Although the
scheme is somewhat exaggerated in scale and form, particularly as regards the centre and overwhelming size of the
flats, its structure as a whole is sound and definite and provides the basis for further development towards a scheme
which is both practical and more humanized.
4.13
80
4.14
4.15
4.13, 4.14, 4.15 Project n°42, views of the model
81
Project n°43 (Tokyo, Japan : Shiojiro Yamane, Denji Ogura, Yashimosa Okuma, Masashi Mijakawa,Hiroshi
Taginuki, Jiro Onuma, Josuma Myojyo, Tzuneiko Hongo)
The stated aims of this project45 are: a continuity in planning from a single dwelling to the city ; harmonious proportioning of
space between pedestrians and motorists sequential experiences; a pattern that allows for growth. A spiral with three “lines
of life” points to the district centre whilst links are provided with the existing city and an exchange route connects them
laterally. A public recreational and cultural zone is sited on the bank of the Danube are a single monumental plaza
commanding a panoramic view of the old city with the castle as a focal point. The traffic arrangements are well conceived. The
flowing housing courtyard are linked by shopping arcades and a served on one side by car parks, off the distributor roads and,
on the other, by open space and school. Public buildings are located at strategic points. This is very carefully considered
scheme, sensitively detailed and respectful of the existing landscape and waterways. The repetition of similar housing units
appears though monotonous on the model. The jury appreciated the avoidance of excessive dramatization and
monumentality. It considered the project well-balanced, economic and capable of realization in stages. It was concerned,
however, about the possible self-containment of the plan which might tend to make the district a separate satellite.
4.16
4.17
4.16, 4.17, 4.18 Project n°43, views of the model
82
4.18
83
Project n°46 (Los Angeles, California, USA : G. Vernon Russel, Anton Jemric, John Mc Keown Jr, Lianne Paxton)
This projects shows a profound appreciation of the existing landscape with its shape and waterways45. Its author senses that
Petržalka might become a unique island-city extension if regard is paid to natural assets and liabilities; he seeks to extend the
free of the landscape to the architectural and circulation patterns, avoiding rectilinear solution as anachronistic. the “stacks”
of apartments and low-rise extensions serrated in plan and skyline are grouped alongside or associated with the waterways
around a large park, which allows the retention of the existing Petržalka for the time being. The use of waterways for pleasure
and transport is proposed. Some aspects of the transport elements of the plan can be faulted and the district centre is isolated
but in the opinion of the jury these criticisms do not invalidate the contribution, this project make towards the creation of a
new urban environment with strong functional recreational area for the whole city as well as a modest visual
acknowledgement across the river. There are proposal for the economical utilization of the alluvium gravel for dikes, roads,
etc.. and for the manufacture on site of prefabricated housing units, the excavation forming new lakes and water-ways, which
could be used for transporting the new building elements. The jury considered this project to be one of great originality
showing a deep concern for the landscape qualities of the site.
4.19
84
4.20
4.19, 4.20 Project n° 46, views of the model
4.20
4.20
85
Project n°74 ( Wien, Austria: Roland Rainer, Albin Arzberger, Herbert Karer)
This project is highly with a strong relationship to the existing concentrates development in three communities around a
district centre and there are strong pedestrian and traffic links between them25. The exhibition area, the university and sports
facilities are located on the river bank, so enabling the majority of existing landscape to be retained. Its transport elements are
carefully considered, particularly as regards the level of the level station and the level of the local tramway which serves all
areas in a most economic way. Each community is made up of five neighborhoods, different in character, containing a variety
of dwellings which built-up to a high level of awards. The social facilities, as well as the parking spaces, are incorporated in
circular complexes. The jury considered this project to have a convincing structure with a most suitable relationship with the
road pattern of the existing city. It felt, however, that the standardized neighborhood unit was no conductive to change as the
development proceeded and that such a highly organized scheme was more suitable for implementation over a very short
period. These critics, could, it was considered, be met by the introduction of a great variety and a less rigid design in detail.
4.21
86
4.22
4.21, 4.22 Project n°74, views of the model
87
Project n°23 (Berlin, Germany : Merete Mattern, Manfred Waltz, J. Akni, Mike Mott, Hermann Mattern)
Whilst the jury recognized the qualities of the scheme n°1,
it also appreciated the contrasting message of this project-
a reaction to the rectangular and schematic approach and
an advocacy of town planning as an artistic and sculptural
activity25. The jury welcomed the comprehensive
approach in developing large-scale forms of landscape into
townscape preserving the meandering water-ways and
creating new ones by building up the ground formation so
enhancing the urban composition. This cannot be
considered as a scheme to be implemented as it stands. It
is a beginning, a vision, a reminder that town cannot be
human if they rely only upon scientific, lifeless formulas
from the computer.
4.23
4.24
4.25
4.23, 4.24, 4.25 Project n°23, views of the model
88
Project n°68
This project consists of two spines incorporating
pedestrian ways which are linked by a third spine at right
angles to the Danube extending from the existing park to a
new railway station25. As the park end, the connection
with the existing city is weak and the new district appears
to be a satellite rather than an integral part of Bratislava.
The housing areas lie at right angles to the two spines and
are of linear form allowing the penetration of green
parkways on either side so providing a good living
environment with easy access to open space and
educational facilities. Although the housing elements are
mechanically expressed, the organization of the scheme is
very expressive.
4.26
4.27
4.26, 4.27 Project n°68, views of the model
89
Project n°79 ( Frunze, Russia: V. Lyzenko, A. Abalian, V. Kurbatof, V. Cubenko)
This project consists of a series of compact neighborhoods
circular on form, formally disposed in the landscape, which
is substantially preserved25. The circular neighborhood
consists of buildings of 10 up to 28 floors, open at the
groud level and with built-in social facilities on the first
floor above where is a pedestrian walk. Despite its faults,
this scheme shows strength of character and originality
particularly in its attempts to provide an environment in
which public and private activities can be more readily
associated. The transport arrangements are generally
satisfactorily but the monorail is badly related to the
concentration of people and in any case would be
expensive in case of ¬¬¬ population growth.
4.29
4.28
4.28, 4.29 Project n°79, view of the model
90
91
4.5.2
Projects with honorable mention
Project n° 17 (Montereau, France: Henry Poney, Jan Maniaque, Albert Longo, Alain Fabre)
The project is commended for the reason that it contrasts with current planning theories by creating a
framework which allows more freedom and flexibility in the achievements of a variety of living
environments by different forms and densities of the buildings.
Project n°18 ( Karlsruhe, Germany: Uwe Freidinger, Rachid, Jarkass)
This project has vigorous formal qualities with strong relationships with the existing city,
but ignores the existing landscape features and its transport arrangements are incomplete.
4.30
4.31
4.32
4.32, 4.33 Project n° 18, views of the model
4.33
4.30, 4.31 Project n° 17, views of the model
92
Project n°21 (Wien, Austria : Robert Ruchitzka, Helmut Heisenmenger, Eric Holfmann, Jork Klinger, Rudolf Vieden) This project has a strongly articulated linear plan at right angles to the Danube. It has some excellent theoretical qualities but
unfortunately fails to pay sufficient attention to the existing landscape features.
Project n° 37(Dusseldorf, Germany; Thomas Robaschik, Mir Szabo, Rudolf Baumann, Jochen Brandtner)
The quality of this project lies in its consideration of the new district and its transport arrangements within wider regional
context. In contrast, its details are purely schematic.
4.34
4.35
4.36
4.37
4.34, 4.35 Project n° 21, views of the model
4.36, 4.37 Project n° 37, views of the model
93
4.6 The project finally realized
The final project for Petržalka does not belong to any of
the projects presented in the competition, as the final
response of the jury did not consider any of the projects to
perfectly match to answer all the points requested. The
final Masterplan of the area shows different
characteristics, divided into different residential areas
(built in different phases) and located around a central
axes where it was planned the area with public services.
This axes was generated by the big pedestrian bridge
(today closed to the public) which was an extension of the
main street of the city (Sturova, which arrives to the
centre). As in many others socialist areas, the urgency of
answering to the primary needs, which are the houses for
all citizens, the lack of money, caused the fact that only the
residential part of the project to be realized with the main
services to the citizens (like schools and post offices),
ignoring all the central part of different kind of services.
This lack was the main cause of the failure of Petržalka and
the reason why it seemed at once a dormitory area.
The different areas, built in different phases, show
different building typologies, which reflect the different
architectural experimentations and influences before and
after socialism. Compared to the building typologies of the
competition designs, it is easy to identify how in those
projects it has been pursued a major level of research and
complexity, compared to the socialist typologies spread
out in the previous years; though, the buildings realized
reflect a backwards look at the first socialist
experimentations, with the same failures and old-
fashioned ideas for the years Petržalka was built. The
north-east part of the area was the first to be built, and it
has an introvert disposition in comparison with the central
axes, orientated towards the landscape component of the
wood, which separates from the river; the building
typology reminds the one in Moscow and Nova Huta of the
second phase, a layout with a central open space and
services in the middle, in the part which costs the planned
axis of services for the area, in order to give a more
introvert aspect compared to this and open towards the
landscape, while in the meantime there are residential
blocks which remind the building typologies of the
residential areas in BIelany, Chimki-Chovrino (Russia) and
Nowa Huta (Poland). Proceeding towards the southern
part of Petržalka, the typologies are mainly with central
courtyard, with semicircular blocks which create circular
squares. This typology of buildings here used works more
than other typologies, revealing a better control of the
space, theme which represents the main problem of the all
area of Petržalka. The north-west part, which costs the
Panoska Cesta street and the industrial part on the left side
of the area, and is the third to be built, and reminds the
typology already used in Bielany, Chimki-Chovrino (Russia)
and Nowa Huta (Poland), with residential buildings of
different dimensions and buildings for the services (mainly
schools, posts) together with smaller dimension blocks.
This area costs the central axis in a more scattered way,
with blocks of different dimensions, with blocks of various
dimensions without a precise array of open spaces, which
94
seem to be more a not characterized open space than a
formal square. The northern part of Petržalka , in addition,
which is also the most recent one, shows building
typologies with central courtyard and “C” shaped, more
rigid in comparison with the typologies built in the
southern part, but they keep the same layout with services
(schools and post offices) of the all other residential areas;
the blocks are arranged in a introvert centric way
compared with the channel, costing the railway and the
Panoska Cesta street. In a symmetrical way to this, another
area costs the highway which reaches Vienna, (the Panoska
Cesta in the opposite side) and the small residential area
with more recent single houses. It is possible therefore to
deduce how the competition design proposals for
Petržalka were more refined and with more functions and
services, better integrated with the residential part,
compared with what was finally realized. For what
concerns the final shape of the buildings, it is clear how the
projects with organic shapes and more related with the
landscape around (like the projects n°42 and 46) have not
been taken into consideration, compared with the squared
lines and the more rigid articulations given by the
precedent architectural socialist examples. In addition, it is
to say that the economic component of the production
process gave influence on the design choices, as the
standardized productive process in the socialist building
trade finally determines specific design choices, very fast to
realize, to the detriment of a more qualified design and
more careful of the real needs of the citizens.
95
5.1
96
5
URBAN ANALISYS OF PETRŽALKA
DISTRICT
As first approach with the area we passed through a long
time analysis where we considered all the urban
components which characterize the area and its
relationship with the city of Bratislava ( the link with the
Old city, the infrastructures, the public transports, the
functions and services in the area). We produced some
schemes which represent the current situation, focusing on
the characteristic and interesting aspects of the area,
elaborating a precise description of the urban situation of
Petržalka, highlighting the weaknesses the main problems
to solve and the urban potential as the starting point of our
project of requalification.
5.1 Scheme: Housing concept of the area
97
5.1 Petržalka and the Old city
The district of Petržalka is linked to the city centre trough
five bridges: two for the highway, one old pedestrian
bridge and two bridges with the connection for cars to
allow them to cross the Danube. The bridge Novy Most is
the world's longest cable-stayed bridge in category with
one pylon and with one cable-stayed plane . The bridge
Kosicka is located between the current Pristavny (Port)
Bridge and the Old Bridge originally built by the Russian
army after World War II. The connections between
Petržalka and the Old city are only through buses: in fact,
after several purposes, the idea of having an underground
line getting to Petržalka was finally rejected as the soft land
where Petržalka lies has serious problems with excavations
because of the water floods. Consequently to that, the
proposal of having a high speed tram line has already been
proposed and accepted. Another aspect which separates
Petržalka from the Old City, beyond the Danube, which is a
natural and physical barrier, is the position of the highway
which, even more than the Danube, gives the sensation of
being a strong and impassable part of the area, especially
to the pedestrians, who have just the choice of using some
uncomfortable and narrow pedestrians bridges which link
one side to the other and do not have the strength of
valuable connections between the commercial area (where
Aupark stands, which is an attraction point for all the city)
and the residential Petržalka. In addition, it is to say that
the only part of Petržalka which is deeply and really used
by all the people of the city is the park which costs the
river: in fact, that part is really appreciated by the sport
lovers from all the city, and it is probably the only part of
Petržalka, as people living in the Old district still feel in a
very strong way their status of “Old city citizens” and want
to keep their ideal difference from the “Petržalka citizens”.
5.2 Scheme: Petržalka and the strategic areas of Bratislava
98
5.2
99
5.2 Streets and Public transports at local and city scale
In the analysis of the infrastructures in the area we
considered first of all the hierarchy of the streets which
serve the area, the system which links Petržalka to the rest
of the city and the close Austria, Vienna above all. The area
in fact is in a strategic position for the closeness to the city
centre and Vienna, which is linked by a regional train
system, thanks to which a lot of workers living in Petržalka
reach every day their work place there. For what concerns
the mobility at local and city scale, Petržalka suffers for the
strong presence of the highway in the northern part, which
is a strong barrier which separates the park and the new
commercial area of Aupark (which is the most “lived” part
of Petržalka from the rest of the city, from all the
residential part, which suffers consequently for functional
an infrastructural loneliness.
The area in fact was designed for cars, and is completely
encircled by the highway and the two beltways, but the
pedestrian and cycle connections are completely inefficient
or absent. The biggest problem involves the pedestrian
accessibility to the area and the infrastructures, as beyond
the buses there are no other means of transport
connecting Petržalka to the rest of the city: the project of a
metro line which could link the area with the old city was
rejected as Petržalka’s ground, once an island, does not
allow to realize this intervention; instead, the project of an
high speed tram connecting with the rest of the city is
nowadays under design and comes also to be one key
point of our strategy for the area.
5.3 Scheme: Streets and public transports in Bratislava
100
5.3
101
5.3 Housing and Building typologies
The area of Petržalka is characterized by several building
typologies, different for the plan, the array of the buildings,
the height. In all the different parts composing Petržalka
the buildings have an introvert array, and face the
courtyards where the schools lie. The typologies are
divided according two different categories: line shaped or
with staircases in the middle. The line shaped typology is
the most spread, with nine up to eighteen floors: the
buildings have different layouts and are assembled in
different ways in order to form geometrical shapes, C
shapes, broken lines, and their height decrease
progressively from the area near the channel towards the
inner housing areas. In the line shaped typologies the
staircases are well visible, and in the last few decades their
facades have been painted in order to distinguish the
several buildings. The typologies with staircases in the
middle are spread mostly in the northern part of the area,
and stand like towers of variable height, between fourteen
and sixteen floors. In the southern part of Petržalka these
buildings stand together with the line shaped buildings
creating some broken line shapes. The common character
of the buildings is to have the canteen in the basement or
sometimes the shops in the first floor. In several buildings
the basements host the shops, but in almost all of them
the commercial function is not strong enough to stand as
reference points in each small housing area of the district.
For what concerns the structure of these houses, all the
buildings have columns up to the first floor, and from the
second one the structure is made by the precast panels
assembled in the building site.
5.4 Scheme: Housing typologies in Petržalka
102
5.4
103
104
5.5: Housing typologies in Petržalka
5.5
105
5.4 Green areas, water and environment
The area of Petržalka has a very consistent green heritage
and potential. First of all, this is caused by the fact that
Petržalka was originally and island, and it was actually
surrounded completely by the water, thanks to two
branches of the Danube, which spitted into two parts
joining against the floods in the south of Petržalka. This
particular layout has been really positive for the growth of
a consistent green belt of wood, which today stands as the
biggest natural richness of the city. Nowadays the Danube
surrounds Petržalka only in the northern part, as in the
70s, when the residential project for Petržalka became
reality, the local administration and the experts decided to
cover the smaller branch of The Danube, giving it the
appearance it has today. This decision, though, revealed to
be a failure as in some particular times the floods rich a
very high level of water giving some problems of
incontinence. In addition to the particular natural layout of
the area, the area of Petržalka is very attractive under the
aspect of the sport activities: the central part, where is the
artificial water channel, is very much appreciated by
running and roller skating lovers, and also the southern
part, from the area around the hippodrome (which attracts
fans from all the city during the races) going to the area
next to the lake, which has a very big potential for water
sports. Though the residential area is densely rich in terms
of green areas, surrounded by the wood and the
agricultural fields, there is a deep lack of green facilities
and leisure, so that finally it is very difficult for the
inhabitants to enjoy the green heritage they have.
Therefore, in our design proposal, we consider to ask
ourselves how to give urban quality to the existing green
areas, creating different types of them, and developing the
potential that this space can have for its inhabitants.
5.6: Green typologies in Petržalka
106
5.6
5.6
107
5.5 Functions
The Petržalka district, in the way it has been particularly
designed, is very rich in services like schools, post offices
and municipalities. For what concerns other kind of
services, these should have been in the area according to
the original project, but they have never been realized
because of lack of money. The most relevant problem of
this area is the highway, which like a barrier separates
Petržalka from the area of the park and the stadium. The
analysis on the area proved the need of creating a mix of
services in the central part, in a well planned system which
could link the different part of the district, which results
completely patchy and scattered. From the map of the
functions in the area it is evident how the number of the
schools is even higher than the number needed; the sport
activities are concentrated around the schools and some of
them are relevant at city scale, like the stadium, the Arena
and the hippodrome. The commercial areas are
concentrated in few points with big Malls and shopping
centers, which attract citizens from all the city but do not
fulfill the Petržalka citizens needs.
5.7 Scheme: Existing functions in Petržalka
108
5.7
109
110
6
URBAN STRATEGIES
AND GOALS FOR THE AREA
6.1
6.1 Scheme: Existing functional poles in Petržalka
111
6.1 The project for out flowing the river Danube
In the course of the centuries the river Danube near the
area of Petržalka suffered for many modifications: till the
end of the XIX century Petržalka was an island, surrounded
by the channels and periodically liable for inundations
which caused big problems to the inhabitants, damaging
the inhabitants’ houses and crops, as the area was famous
for its fertile earth and its wide cultivations. At the end of
1800 the local authorities first decided to modify the
course of the river, and in the 50s the authorities decided
to drain up completely the channels, and Petržalka became
a uniform area as we know it today. Nevertheless, after
this intervention of draining of the Danube, a lot of
problems of floods came because of the lack of the
channels which contributed to canalize the water in
different directions. Therefore, the local authorities are
thinking to face this phenomenon creating again a net of
canalizations and waterways which could go cross the area
and link the riverfront of the old city to the water basin at
south of Petržalka. The project of outflow has been carried
out by the University of Technology of Bratislava together
with the University of technology of Vienna in 2005. The
project, named Bajoproject ,had several different goals:
the renewal of the relations between the neighboring
northern boroughs of Bratislava across the Morava River
with municipalities in Austria, the activation of new cross-
border by development of urban and transport
infrastructure in the direction of Devínska Nová Ves –
Marchegg– Gänserndorf: improving the walking and cycling
connections across the River Morava in the area of
Devínska Nová Ves, and the development of international
cycling paths along the River Morava with facilities within
urbanised parts of the settlements; secondly, the
restoration of the historical relations and ties with
neighbouring Austrian and Hungarian municipalities in the
southern part of the city Petržalka – Berg – Wolfsthal –
Hainburg; Building up a central space around and alongside
the historical route to Vienna; the creation of four
development ring roads connected above the motorway to
Austria Jarovce – Kittsee – Brucka/L and Hungary Rusovce
– Rajka – Hegyeshalom, and an anti-flood protection of
Bratislava in the form of the new Danube channel, which
will bring back the phenomenon of water to the urbanised
environment of the city, as well as recreational areas.
6.2 Project for out flowing the river Danube
112
6.2
113
6.3
6.4
6.5
8.1 The project for Petržalka into the new water/landscape system
114
6.6
115
6.2 The creation of new strategic axes/poles and the
empowerment of the existing ones
For the development of our intervention strategy we
focused on the infrastructural aspect, focusing on the most
important infrastructural axes, defining their function and
their influence on the surrounding territory. The main
infrastructural axes, which are also the main streets are the
Dolmosenka cesta and the Panonska cesta, highways which
link the city with Hungary at south. Along these axes lie
different poles, at city and local scale, attraction poles
which bring attention to the area of Petržalka. On the axis
of Dolmozenka cesta there are city attractions like: the
commercial center of Aupark, the Fairy, and the station
which links the city of Bratislava with Vienna, which is an
important node for all the commuters working there and
living in Petržalka. On the Panonska cesta are other poles
like the Mall Eurovea, the Faculty of Economics and the
Hyppodrome, which attract flows from all the city. We
therefore focused on the lack in the main axes which
historically departs from the old city centre and through
the old bridge gets to Petržalka crossing it and creating a
crack which separates the area in two parts. This central
part, which in the phase of creation of Petržalka was
disposed for the services and functions missing in the
district, and then never built for the lack of money, sees
today some poles at the city scale like the Stadium but
above all at the district scale, like some commercial units
as Billa, Lidl, a small cultural centre (which became one of
the few reference points of the area), some churches and
some other commercial units standing next to the channel.
This missing axis, which has a great landscape potential
thanks to the channel and the big green central space,
today is left abandoned. In our intervention strategy we
propose to revaluating this potential and re-establish the
original function of this axis, adding the new functions and
missing public spaces increasing at the same time the value
of the surrounding landscape.
6.3Scheme: Existing green, streets, water system
6.4Scheme: Project for the new water system
6.5Scheme: The new green system
6.6 Scheme: The new water and landscape system
6.7 Scheme: Axes and strategic functional nodes
116
6.7
117
6.3 The empowerment of public transport, cycle and
pedestrian routes at local and city scale
In order to obtain an efficient link between the district ,
the Old City centre, and the city in general, we considered
the project (already proposed) of a fast tram line which
could link the centre with the Petržalka area, crossing it
from north to south. In the same time our strategy has the
goal of solving other two infrastructural problems, as the
development of the railway Bratislava-Vienna and the
improvement of the pedestrian connection between the
area close to the park and the residential area from which
results separated because of the highway, which like a
barrier obstructing the flow of pedestrians in the
residential district. In fact, costing the area around the Mall
Aupark, it is possible to cross the highway only through
narrow pedestrians bridges which cost the street in four
different points. Though, getting through them is not very
inspiring, and so they are not much used. In our
intervention strategy there is therefore the intent of
talking the massive presence of the barrier, and developing
more the connection between with the mall and the park,
inviting the pedestrians to cross the highway. At the same
time the strategy involves also the railway station of
Petržalka, of great importance for the commuters which
everyday go to work in Vienna,: nowadays the station is
little accessible, reachable only from Rusovska cesta and
not from Panovska cesta, one of the two main
infrastructural axes which cross Petržalka. Empowering the
strategic role of the station it is possible to create a link
with the core of the area, improving the usability and the
accessibility for the commuters.
6.8 Scheme: The new tram line
6.9 Scheme: Empowerment of the existing cycling line
6.10 Scheme: The new pedestrian routes
118
6.8
119
6.9
120
6.10
121
6.4 The empowerment of the existing green areas and
landscape through the reintegration of the central
environmental/functional axis
In order to give value to the urban green in the area we
consider the hypothesis of reconverting all the green
space existing in the central part in a multipurpose green
axis where the landscape, the buildings and the
infrastructures interact Naturally, in order to create spaces
which give breath to the district tackling the massive
buildings in Petržalka. In detail, the goals to obtain in the
requalification of the area are of different typologies: for
what concerns the open space, our strategy has the
mission to differentiate it in squares, green areas with
facilities, green for sport, naturalistic greenery, picnic
areas, boulevards, in order to create a mix of possible uses
of the area. The mobility has a fundamental role, with the
fast tram line which has the role of structural axis for the
new intervention. The buildings that are about to be built
are more a filling of the public space than a presence which
face the surrounding context. The intent is also to face the
theme of identity in the area, where the inhabitants have
difficulties to distinguish the different part of the area, or
to find their own house: our strategy points at the
differentiation of the area in three parts, characterized by
the presence of three different functional themes like: a
commercial theme for the northern part (closer to the old
city centre and the commercial area of Aupark; a cultural
theme, with the core in the area around the cultural
building already existing (where we suppose a link with the
station) and a theme that involves the sport and the nature
in the southern part of the main central axis, where there
is the lake, the hippodrome, the wood and a big green
heritage. These interventions are supposed to be punctual,
concentrated around four main strategic nodes: the first,
to be placed in the area around the beginning of the
channel, where there are the shops Billa and Lidl , and a big
free area to design; the second one to place in the area
surrounded by the curve of the channel; the third one near
the crossing with the street Painstunska, where there is
already a small functional pole; the fourth to realize near
the last stop of the tram, close to the last curve of the
channel, where is possible a link with the new residential
area, at south of Petržalka.
6.11 Scheme: The central environmental/functional axis
connecting the areas of the district
122
6.11
123
7.1
124
7
THE PROJECT FOR THE
REQUALIFICATION
125
7.1 Identification of reference visual axes in the area
In order to identify the matrix of our project, so that our
design goals could be reached, we started observing the
pre-existing residential area of Petržalka, made up of so
introvert and scattered parts that seem like lonely islands
in the whole district. In order to break the mutual
loneliness emphasized from the big central whole today
abandoned, we started with tracing some ideal and visual
axes which cross the watercourse in may points linking the
different areas. These axes, which are made up of green
and paths with trees, graft into the courtyards of the
existing buildings, which today are abandoned lawns, and
small playgrounds; from these existing courtyards , the
general plan is to graft paths with trees which could link
each area with the project area, where it is supposed to
have a specific array of the public space with paths, lawns,
facilities, and naturalistic green. In addition to the axes
which link the different areas of Petržalka from a side to
another, the general plan is to place some axes which
create a flow of lines which according to the project merge
to the north crossing the highway, creating a bridge which
at the different levels (infrastructural, pedestrian, traffic)
could cross the barrier of the highway, and which could
invite all the flows of pedestrians coming from the old city
to enter the area of Petržalka, through a track which could
led the pedestrians and the cars into the area. Therefore,
the system of axes crossing the project area linking the
different areas with a net of paths and trees lines together
with a system of visual axes which merge into the bridge
like flows merging into the Old city, create a base matrix
which defines at a first level the basic articulation of the
public space.
7.1 Concept sketch for the masterplan
7.2 Scheme: Visual Axes in the area
126
7.2
127
7.2 Identification of spontaneous pedestrian routes near
the channel
In order to identify a reference grid for the articulation of
the public space, we observed how in the course of the
time, beyond the spaces carefully and strictly designed in
the socialist era which characterize the area, a lot of
spontaneous pedestrians routes which cross the area of
the channel form a side to another, in a very random way.
These routes, traced in the existing green and mostly
without ending, define a patchy track which costs all the
design area. In order to articulate the public space, taking
into consideration the visual axes as a mean to link the
different parts of the area, we started considering these
routes with the idea of creating a more free fruition of the
public space, resulting from the observation of how
spontaneously the inhabitants of Petržalka love to walk
along and near the channel to reach their destinations.
In order to recreate this usage and habit, we considered a
hierarchy of secondary lines which could lay on the grid of
primary visual axes we have defined: in this way we have
tried in this project to grant a walkability which could offer
a multiplicity of alternatives and different routes, either
with naturalistic routes and paths or open spaces near and
along the channel defined by the track of this grid, which
creates a landscape system integrated also with the
disposition of the buildings and the functions that we
designed to place in the area.
7.3 Scheme: Spontaneous routes near the channel
128
7.3
129
7.3 Creation of a grid defining the public space
From the observation of how the landscape is structured
thanks to the soft movements of the channel (which in our
strategy has a strategic role, in order to give value to the
natural landscape of the area) we opted for a grid which
could be as a support for the creation of public indoor and
outdoor spaces. Thanks to the visual axes and the lines
generated by spontaneous pedestrian routes, we created a
landscape system which takes into considerations the lines
of the watercourse, which in this way comes to be
emphasized in the area. The landscape lines that we
created, in order to create piazzas, walkways and paths,
turn in to be an ideal transposition of the curves and the
watercourse, especially in the central part of the channel,
where it turns and the lines create like an offset of the
lines of the watercourse, and together with the lines of the
visual axes and the new paths (which synthesize and
repurpose the original inhabitants’ habit to walk freely in
the area next to the river), a system of accessible system of
public spaces from all the different parts of the area, which
different array of the buildings in relationship to the lines
of the watercourse. The kind of intervention takes into
consideration also the theme of Identity, and consequently
the inhabitants today’s difficulties to identify and
distinguish the different areas of Petržalka and their
houses, or to orientate themselves into the area. Our
strategy has also therefore the goal of placing different
arrays of squares and public buildings along the channel ,
creating some new focal and reference points for the
inhabitants, differentiating the several parts of the district.
7.4 Scheme: Grid defining the new public space
130
7.4
131
7.4 Definition of the different types and uses of green
Being aware of how careful needs to be the design of the
green areas as it shapes the form and the appearance of
the city like the architecture of the buildings, we used in
our design strategy different types of green : the green
related to the mobility, which comprehends the green
spaces included into the flows of the urban environment
(like the green of the parking spaces, near the traffic areas,
the green used as street furniture); the green related to
the urban space, which comprehends a lot of green
differentiated on the basis of their structure and spatial
dimension and the green spaces related to the goal of
improving the quality of the urban spaces, also in a
landscaping way (with green courtyards, gardens, park,
wood, paths with trees, lawns); the green related to the
territorial green, including the wood which characterizes
the north, north-east, and the east part of Petržalka, and
devoted both to the ecological and ornamental function.
The general plan of our concept is therefore to use the tree
rows as axes articulating the public space in multiple use
destinations, like squares, lawns, and park. In addition, in
the southern part, with a stronger naturalistic
characterization, and with naturalistic pedestrian routes
getting to the Danube, we planned a possible agricultural
land use of some fields, from which the Petržalka
inhabitants can benefit.
7.5 Scheme: New Urban green
132
7.5
133
7.5 Placement of the buildings
in the strategic points of the intervention
For the placement of the new functions in the area we
chose six focal points along the channel which could be
considered as new strategic and functional reference
points for the area. The main goal of our strategy is the
willing to integrate as much as possible the buildings in the
surrounding landscape, in order to create an harmonious
whole of opens spaces and public buildings: this
intervention is possible proposing buildings which, for their
shape and structure seem like coming out of the ground,
thanks to green coverings with mild, walkable slopes that
stand silently into the surrounding landscape. This idea
reflects the willing to contrast the rigid formalism which
characterizes the area and to requalificate the landscape of
the area without adding new massive and standing
buildings. For what concerns the functions to add, we plan
a hierarchy of roles between the buildings near the
channel: in fact, the general plan is to give a city scale
relevance, in order to create interest in the area of
Petržalka (the ones near the bridge are thought like a door
to the area, while the ones at the end of the channel like
attraction point which could create a strategic point where
will be the last stop of the tram. In the northern part,
where is the commercial area hosting the shops Billa and
Lidl, and beyond the highway near the area of the park and
the stadium, we planned the construction of a commercial
pole: this will be also in relation to the new station,
planned for the regional train terminal supposed to be
built also in that area in the future. Going along the
channel, where is the big twist of the watercourse, today
stands a small cultural centre which represents also one of
the few reference points of the area: exactly in this area
we planned to keep this destination use creating three new
buildings (instead of the existing small one) a square, and a
park around them. Going south, where are the streets
Romanova and Kutlikova, other groups of buildings and
squares are in plan, with functions for the district; in our
strategy is also planned to build a group of buildings and
squares in the area near the last stop of the tram, in a
similar way to the ones planned in the northest part of the
district, so that also that part of Petržalka could become an
attraction pole for the whole city.
7.6 Scheme: New public buildings
134
7.6
135
8.1
136
8
THE MASTER PLAN
137
8.1 Concept strategy
8.2 General Masterplan
8.3 Zoom 1:
The new bridge
and the new commercial pole
8.4 Zoom 2: The new cultural centre
8.5 Zoom 3:
The new sport area
8.6 Zoom 4:
The area near Kutlikova street
8.7 Zoom 5:
The new tram terminal
and the surrounding area
8.2
138
8
8.3
139
8.4
140
8.5
141
8.6
142
8.7
143
144
9
NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR PETRŽALKA
WITH THE NEW INTERVENTION
145
9.1 The re-appropriation of the public space
With this intervention of requalification we would like to
re-establish the human scale in Petržalka, bringing back its
origins, when it was a small town and its park was a place
of interest and attraction for all the city, where took place
fairies and events of European resonance. In addition, the
agricultural theme in the area of Petržalka brings many
perspectives, both in the recovery of the identity of the
district, with the creation of urban vegetable gardens and
in the functional aspect interacting with the near
agricultural areas and the creation of a farmer market
which could bring back again the attention on the local
products. The idea of giving new value to the public space
proposing different thematic poles along the channel
(commercial, cultural, sport, agricultural), comes from the
willingness to differentiate the several parts of the area
and the public space above all, which nowadays has a big
lack of characterization and attractions. The area of
Petržalka, like all the other urban contemporary and
precedent experiments, proved how the concept of public
space spread in those years failed miserably, showing how
it was inadequate and not adapt to the inhabitants’ needs,
changing so fastly and needing flexibility. In the original
project the idea of public space was referred only to the
buildings courtyards, and therefore only playgrounds and
little sport fields were designed in order to answer to the
basic inhabitants’ needs; no any other public space
common to all Petržalka has ever been thought and
designed. In the course of the time has become evident
how the inhabitants need to live their district beyond the
basic functions that it can offer, and how the free time is a
valuable resource to be preserved in the design of
adequate public spaces, outdoor and indoor. Our strategy
propose to re-establish an equity between the inhabitants
and their public space, and to allow them to use a precious
resource which today they are not able to enjoy.
146
9.2 Chronological program of the intervention
According to our strategy, we propose to realize the
intervention following different phases. First of all, the first
and most important step for the area is the infrastructural
connection with the Old City, therefore the construction of
the fast tram line, according to the already existing project.
In addition to that, the same importance have the
pedestrian and bicycle connections, with the
empowerment of the bicycle line route and the pedestrian
routes along the river. Once the connections have been
improved, the next step is to realize the park, the trees
lines and the paths, so that the inhabitants can enjoy at
once the green and its facilities. When then the new
buildings and the new function are placed in the site, the
outdoor spaces like squares and related areas can be built
as well and fully integrated in the park around. In an extra
amount of time also the tree line connected with the
existing courtyards can be realized, in order to complete
the graft of the new intervention into the surrounding
environment.
147
9.3 Conclusion
What will be the future of Petržalka? Our proposal has
tried to give an answer to this issue, a new point of view.
Opposite to the plans of developers, we believe that
Petržalka’s historical identity and future lies in its green
heritage, in its park, in its wood, so beloved by its
inhabitants and so full of potential for the whole city of
Bratislava.
In relation to that, our willingness to add functions to the
area aims at proposing a silent but relevant intervention,
by creating a hierarchy of scale between the district and
the city, at the same time channeling flows into the area
and marking Petržalka’s watercourse through a sequence
of small and big polarities. Our research work for the urban
requalification of Petržalka focuses on the human scale,
based on the value of the existing landscape and on the
recovery of the district identity.
Our approach to the problem has borne from the direct
experience we had of the area, walking through it, talking
with the inhabitants, visiting the interior of a panelàk,
using the existing outdoor spaces used by the inhabitants
after seeing with our eyes what is the Petržalka’s reality.
After 40 years of urban changes, transformations and
despite the new millennium advent, Petržalka suffers today
for the same urban mistakes as many other contemporary
European areas do. Our goal is therefore to create the
missing public and aggregation spaces for the whole area,
following one another in a fluid and dynamic way into the
green. In this way, this area, which represents a such
important heritage for all the city, can become again a
reference point for the city like it was in the past, when all
Bratislava citizens came in Petržalka to relax and enjoy in
their free time the beauty of its green heritage and his
relationship with the natural environment. Today
Petržalka’s face is completely different, but we hope that
in the future this area would become able to offer again a
nice and quality free time to all Bratislava citizens, like it
did.
148
149
10. Abstract in italiano
Il quartiere di Petrzalka rappresenta per Bratislava ai giorni nostri una problematica urbana ancora aperta. La sua
nascita, negli anni ’70, per volere del regime, che ha cancellato completamente una parte di storia della città e del
suo passato, imponendo un carattere urbano completamente differente, rappresenta una fase amara ed irrisolta per
Bratislava e per i suoi abitanti.
Dopo 40 anni di cambiamenti urbani, trasformazioni delle città e l’avvento del nuovo millennio, risulta ancora più
evidente quanto l’utopico esperimento urbanistico di quegli anni sia fallito miseramente a Petržalka come in
moltissimi altri analoghi quartieri europei. Ad oggi l’area si presenta obsoleta, collegata al resto della città solo dal
punto di vista automobilistico, piena di edifici imponenti e massicci, spaesante e fuori scala, priva di punti di
riferimento e di spazi pubblici che offrano agli abitanti un abitare di qualità.
Oltre ai seri problemi tecnologici e alle carenze di cui soffrono gli edifici, l’area manca completamente di servizi alla
persona e spazi di aggregazione; il progetto del verde esistente riguarda soltanto le corti degli edifici e non è pensato
a scala di quartiere; mancano delle funzioni di riferimento che possano configurarsi come punti strategici sull’area. Al
giorno d’oggi la pianificazione che riguarda Petrzalka ha sempre coinvolto idee progettuali che tendono a “riempire”
il vuoto di risulta della pianificazione degli anni ’70, con l’idea di aggiungere nuovi edifici e funzioni mancanti.
Il nostro lavoro di ricerca per la riqualificazione parte invece dalla scala umana, dalla valorizzazione del paesaggio e
dal recupero dell’identità di quartiere; al contrario dei developers, noi crediamo che l’identità storica ed il futuro di
Petrzalka siano nel suo patrimonio verde, nel suo parco, nel suo bosco, così amati dai suoi abitanti e così pieni di
potenziale per tutta la città di Bratislava.
In relazione a questo, il nostro intento di apportare le funzioni mancanti nell’area si vuole delineare come un
intervento silenzioso ma presente, che apporti il nuovo in una gerarchia di scala tra il quartiere e la città,
convogliando i flussi all’interno dell’area e scandendo il corso del canale di Petrzalka in una nuova successione
diversificata di piccole e grandi polarità.
Il nostro lavoro di ricerca, più che offrire una soluzione assoluta e compiuta offre un nuovo punto di vista, un nuovo
approccio ad una problematica sull’area sempre aperta e combattuta, con l’idea
che la qualità nasce attorno alla persona e da una riduzione di scala che possa creare una nuova identità urbana.
150
11. Estratto della tesi in italiano
7. IL PROGETTO DI RIQUALIFICAZIONE
7.1 Identificazione di assi visuali nell’area
Per identificare la nostra matrice di progetto che ci consenta di raggiungere i nostri obiettivi prefissati siamo partiti
dall’osservazione dell’area esistente, costituita da parti così introverse e disposte in maniera scattered in tutta
l’area, come nuclei isolati. Al fine di rompere l’isolamento reciproco enfatizzato dal grande vuoto centrale oggi in
stato di abbandono abbiamo iniziato con il tracciare degli assi visuali /ideali che scandagliassero e attraversassero
trasversalmente in molteplici punti il corso del canale congiungendo le varie aree.
Questi assi, che si configurano come viali alberati e percorsi pedonali, si innestano nelle coorti degli edifici esistenti,
che oggi sono costituite da prati non curati, aiuole e piccoli campi di gioco per bambini; da questi esistenti si
prevede di innestare dei filari alberati e dei viali che congiungono ciascun court yard con l’area di progetto nello
spazio centrale , dove si prevede una specifica organizzazione dello spazio pubblico con piazze, parco attrezzato e
percorsi naturalistici. In aggiunta gli assi che collegano da un lato all’altro le varie parti di Petrzalka abbiamo previsto
una disposizione di assi che dall’area e dal canale creano un flusso di linee che progettualmente confluisce verso
nord attraversando la highway, e creando un ponte che a vari livelli (infrastrutturale, con il tram, pedonale,
automobilistico) riesca a superare la barriera stessa costituita dalla highway, e che sia di migliore invito per i flussi di
persone provenienti dal centro storico, ad entrare nell’area di Petrzalka, attraverso un tracciato differenziato che
porti sia i pedoni che le auto che la pubblica viabilità all’interno dell’area. Dunque, il sistema congiunto di assi che
attraversano la zona di progetto congiungendo gli estremi delle varie aree con una rete di viali e filari alberati
insieme al sistema di assi visuali che convertono nel ponte come dei flussi che convergono verso il centro città,
danno vita ad una matrice base che definisce ad un primo livello la base dell’articolazione dello spazio pubblico.
151
7.2 Identificazione di percorsi spontanei lungo il canale
Nell’identificazione di una maglia di riferimento per articolare lo spazio pubblico, abbiamo osservato come nel corso
del tempo si siano generati, nell’area in esame, al di fuori degli spazi progettati rigidamente che caratterizzano
l’area, una serie di percorsi pedonali spontanei che attraversano l’area del canale da parte a parte, in maniera
casuale. Questi percorsi,tracciati nel verde abbandonato esistente, molti dei quali sono senza terminazione,
tracciano un disegno disomogeneo nel terreno che costeggia tutta l’area di progetto.
Per l’articolazione dello spazio pubblico, basandoci come premessa sugli assi visuali che abbiamo tenuto in
considerazione come strumento per legare le varie parti dell’area,siamo partiti proprio dalla consapevole
considerazione di questi percorsi, nel nostro intento di creare una fruizione più libera dello spazio pubblico, frutto
dell’osservazione di come spontaneamente gli abitanti di Petrzalka amano passeggiare lungo o vicino al canale per
raggiungere le loro destinazioni.
Con l’intento di ricreare questa consuetudine, abbiamo considerato una gerarchia di linee secondarie che si
appoggiassero sulla griglia di assi visuali di cui abbiamo parlato in precedenza: in questo modo abbiamo cercato di
garantire una percorribilità dello spazio che offra una molteplicità di alternative e di percorsi differenti, sia a livello
naturalistico con viali vicino ed in prossimità del canale, sia con viali spazi aperti e piazze delineati dal tracciato di
questa griglia, che crea un sistema paesaggistico integrato anche con la posizione degli edifici e delle funzioni che
abbiamo progettato di disporre nell’area.
7.3 Creazione di una griglia che definisce lo spazio pubblico
Per creare una griglia che possa fare da supporto alla creazione di spazi pubblici, sia aperti che chiusi, quindi piazza
ed edifici, siamo partiti dall’osservazione di come il paesaggio è articolato grazie ai movimenti sinuosi del canale,
che nella nostra strategia di progetto ha un ruolo centrale e strutturante nell’intento di valorizzare l’area a livello
paesistico. Grazie all’utilizzo degli assi visuali e delle linee generate dai percorsi pedonali spontanei abbiamo creato
un sistema paesaggistico che considera anche le linee dell’andamento del fiume, il quale viene così enfatizzato e
posto in un ruolo centrale.
Le linee di paesaggio che abbiamo voluto creare, per organizzare piazze, passeggiate e verde attrezzato, risultano
quindi una geometrizzazione ideale sia delle curve che dell’andamento del canale( soprattutto nella parte centrale
in corrispondenza dell’ansa del fiume, dove le linee hanno un andamento tale da creare una sorta di offset del corso
d’acqua) , ed insieme alla griglia di assi visuali ed ai nuovi viali (che sintetizzano e ripropongono l’originaria
consuetudine degli abitanti a percorrere in maniera spontanea l’area vicino al fiume)viene creato un sistema di
152
spazi pubblici fruibile ed accessibile da tutte le diverse zone dell’area, con configurazioni diverse degli edifici a
seconda dell’andamento del canale.
Questo tipo di intervento tiene dunque anche in considerazione il tema dell’identità, ovvero la difficoltà attuale
degli abitanti di identificare con facilità le diverse zone di Petrzalka e la propria abitazione, o ad orientarsi all’interno
dell’area. Nella nostra strategia quindi, prevediamo di inserire differenti conformazioni di piazze ed edifici pubblici
lungo tutto il corso del canale, realizzando l’obiettivo di creare dei fulcri nodali lungo di esso che possano anche
diventare dei punti di riferimento per gli abitanti differenziando le varie parti del quartiere.
7.4 Definizione delle diverse tipologie di verde
Sapendo come il verde necessiti di una progettazione consapevole e come quella dello spazio verde contribuisce
insieme all’architettura dell’edificio a definire forma e disegno della città, così abbiamo utilizzato per il nostro
intervento di riqualificazione differenti tipologie di verde52: il verde legato alla mobilità, in cui rientrano gli spazi
verdi dislocati all’interno dei flussi di utilizzo degli ambienti urbani ( come il verde dei parcheggi, verde nel traffico,
verde d’arredo); il verde legato allo spazio urbano, dove rientra un’ampia gamma di tipi di spazi a verde distinguibili
sulla base della loro struttura e della dimensione spaziale esigibile per essere impiantati, gli spazi legati comunque
all’obiettivo primario di migliorare la qualità dello spazio urbani, anche in chiave paesaggistica ( verde parietale,
verde pensile, cortili verdi, giardino o giardinetto pubblico, parco, bosco, alberature, alberi isolati, argini, banchine,
prato alberato, prato, siepi); ed il Verde legato al territorio urbano, dove rientra la grande categoria del verde
territoriale, riconoscendo come tale “Boscaglie o fasce boscate o siepi naturalistiche, e spazio incolto, ubicate nella
zona nord, nord-est ed est di Petrzalka, e destinate sia all’uso ecologico ambientale che ornamentale” (orto-campo
coltivato, boscaglie o fasce boscate o siepi naturalistiche, spazio incolto).
Nella destinazione d’uso degli spazi aperti nel nostro progetto il nostro concept prevede di utilizzare i filare alberati
come assi che articolano lo spazio pubblico in più destinazioni d’uso differenti, differenziando tra le piazze, le zone
di verde libero ed il parco attrezzato. Inoltre, nella parte sud, con una caratterizzazione più forte dell’aspetto
naturale, ed i percorsi naturalistici che arrivano fino al Danubio, abbiamo anche previsto una possibile destinazione
d’uso agricola di alcuni terreni di cui possano fruire gli abitanti del quartiere.
52 Source of the definition: Un atlante del verde Urbano per differenziare l’offerta di spazi Verdi / S. Mengoli, Linea Verde-Epe Edizioni, Milano, 2006; pg. 50-58
153
7.5 Disposizione degli edifici nei punti strategici di intervento
Per la disposizione delle nuove funzioni nell’area di intervento abbiamo scelto sei punti focali lungo il canale che si
possano configurare anche come nuovi punti di riferimento strategico e funzionale nell’area.
Aspetto fondamentale della nostra strategia è ll’idea di integrare il più possibile gli edifici nel paesaggio circostante
così da creare un insieme armonioso di spazio aperto ed edifici pubblici: questo nel nostro intervento è possibile
proponendo degli edifici che, per la loro conformazione, sembrano quasi “uscire” dal terreno circostante, grazie a
delle coperture verdi di discreta lunghezza e dolce pendenza, calpestabili, che creano come delle “colline verdi” che
presediano silenziosamente il paesaggio circostante.
Questa idea riflette il nostro intento di opporci al rigido formalismo che caratterizza l’area e di intervenire con una
riqualificazione che apporti un arricchimento paesistico dell’area senza aggiungere delle nuove emergenze che si
staglino nell’area di progetto. Per quanto riguarda la sfera di influenza delle funzioni da inserire, prevediamo una
gerarchia di ruoli tra gli edifici lungo l’asse del canale: infatti, la nostra strategia prevede che i nuovi edifici da
inserire all’inizio e alla fine dell’area abbiano una rilevanza sovra locale, così da attirare e creare interesse nell’area
di Petrzalka (quelli in prossimità del ponte da configurarsi come “una porta” sull’area , quelli alla fine come una
attrazione che crei interesse nella parte terminale dell’area residenziale, in corrispondenza anche del capolinea del
tram).
Nella parte nord, in corrispondenza dell’area che si estende in prossimità dei negozi Billa e Lidl giungendo sino
all’attraversamento stradale della superstrada costeggiando il parco e lo stadio, si prevede la disposizione strategica
di un polo commerciale, in relazione con il nuovo edificio della stazione ubicato proprio in quella zona e previsto in
seguito alla creazione di un nuovo snodo ferroviario regionale.
Procedendo lungo il corso del canale si giunge alla grande ansa, oggi caratterizzata dalla presenza di un piccolo
centro culturale che costituisce uno dei pochi punti di riferimento per il quartiere; in corrispondenza di quest’ultimo
si prevede la valorizzazione di questa destinazione d’uso con la creazione di tre edifici (che vanno a sostituire il
piccolo edificio esistente) lungo il canale relazionati reciprocamente per mezzo di piazze ed un parco attrezzato che
li circonda.
Più a sud, in corrispondenza delle strade Romanova e Kutlikova sono previsti altri due nuclei di edifici, con funzioni
previste alla scala di quartiere; nell’area adiacente al capolinea del tram, infine, è previsto un ulteriore nucleo di
edifici e piazze adiacenti, che si configura in maniera analoga all’altro ideato in accesso all’area, ovvero come un
polo attrattore a scala cittadina.
154
155
IMAGES INDEX
1.1 Historical view of Bratislava 10
Source: www.travelspectator.sk
1.2 Satellite view of Bratislava 12
Source: www.google.it/maps
1.3 View of Bratislava, 2010 14
Source: www.google.it
1.4 View of Bratislava, 1905 14
Source: book Petržalka. Engerau –Ligetfalu/Jan ComaJ,
Bratislava, 2008
1.5 The bridge Nòvy Most 14
Source: www.google.it
1.6 The Slavin Monument 15
Source: www.google.it
1.7 View of Petržalka, 1990 15
Source: www.travelspectator.sk
1.8 Petržalka under construction, 1970 16
Source: http://www.petrzalkacity.sk
1.9 View of Petrzalka 18
Source: http://www.petrzalkacity.sk
1.10 View of Bratislava
Source: www.travelspectator.sk
1.11 The shopping centre Eurovea
Source: http://img.cas.sk
2.1 View to the castle from Petržalka, 1890 19
Source: book Petržalka. Engerau –Ligetfalu/Jan ComaJ,
Bratislava, 2008
2.2 The town of Petržalka, 1890 22
Source: book Petržalka. Engerau –Ligetfalu/Jan ComaJ,
Bratislava, 2008
2.3 The park, historical view to the castle
Source: book Petržalka. Engerau –Ligetfalu/Jan ComaJ,
Bratislava, 2008
2.4 View of the mein street of the old Petržalka, 1905
Source: book Petržalka. Engerau –Ligetfalu/Jan ComaJ,
Bratislava, 2008
2.5 Postcard with view to the old city, 1910 22
Source: book Petržalka. Engerau –Ligetfalu/Jan ComaJ,
Bratislava, 2008
2.6 Historical map of Petržalka 23-24
Source: book Petržalka. Engerau –Ligetfalu/Jan ComaJ,
Bratislava, 2008
2.7 Bathing in the river Danube, 1940 25
Source: http://www.petrzalka.sk
2.8 Fairy in Petržalka, 1939 25
Source: book Petržalka. Engerau –Ligetfalu/Jan ComaJ,
Bratislava, 2008
2.9 View of the panelàks, Petržalka, 1995 25
Source: http://www.petrzalkacity.sk
2.10 The cafès in the old park, 1900 26
Source: book Petržalka. Engerau –Ligetfalu/Jan ComaJ,
Bratislava, 2008
2.11 Old farms in Petržalka
Source: book Petržalka. Engerau –Ligetfalu/Jan ComaJ,
Bratislava, 2008
2.12 Historical view of the park 27
Source: book Petržalka. Engerau –Ligetfalu/Jan ComaJ,
Bratislava, 2008
2.13 Some panelàks in Petržalka
Source: www.google.it
2.14 Aereal view of the panelàk, Petrzalka 29
Source: www.google.it
2.15 Aereal view of Petrzalka
Source: www.google.it
2.16 View of the Eurovea shopping centre and the fairy
from Nòvy Most bridge
Source: Nicola Petaccia
156
2.17 Satellite view of Petržalka 30
Source: www.google.it/maps
2.18 Data of Petržalka and previsions
for the next ten years 32
Source: http://www.norc.sk
2.19 View from Petržalka to the Old City 34
Source: Nicola Petaccia
2.20 View from the Old City to Petržalka
Source: Nicola Petaccia
2.21 Panelàks in northern part of Petržalka, view 1 35
Source: Nicola Petaccia
2.22 Panelàks in the northern part of Petržalka, view 2
Source: Nicola Petaccia
2.23 One school, the panelàks and the channel 36
Source: Nicola Petaccia
2.24 Green and the panelàks in Petržalka, view 1 37
Source: Nicola Petaccia
2.25 Green and the panelàks in Petržalka, view 2 38
Source: Nicola Petaccia
3.1 Tower buildings in Petržalka 41
Source: www.google.it
3.2 The district of Gheorghiu Dei, Romania 42
Source: L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e
struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of
Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977
3.3 The district of Eisenhuttenstadt, Romania 42
Source: L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e
struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of
Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977
3.4 View of Pulawy 44
Source:Ibid.
3.5 General plan of Pulawy
Source: Ibid.
3.6 The “Young People district” in Gdànsk-Gdynia 45
Source: Ibid.
3.7 The industrial buildings in Khar’kov
Source: Ibid.
3.8 Fragment of the district PKWN in Lublin 45
Source: Ibid.
3.6 The “Young People district” in Gdànsk-Gdynia
Source:Ibid.
3.7 The industrial buildings in Khar’kov
Source:Ibid.
3.8 Fragment of the district PKWN in Lublin
Source:Ibid.
3.9 Scheme of the spatial structure of four industrial
districts: Khar’kov, Volgrad, Gor’kij, Min’sk 46
Source:Ibid.
3.10 General scheme of Lublin
Source:Ibid.
3.11Economical/spatial scheme of the region Gdansk for
the year 1980
Source:Ibid.
3.12General scheme of Georghiu Dej (Onesti, Romania)
Source:Ibid.
3.13 Interior of a panelàk 48
Source: www.google.it
3.14 Old people in Petržalka
Source: www.google.it
3.15 Panelàk
Source: www.google.it
3.16 The kinder garden and the housing in the district
Michelska in Prague, 1970 50
Source: L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e
struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the contribution of
Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977
3.17 Nowa Huta, aerial view 51
Source: www.google.it/maps
3.18 Nowa Huta, bird view
Source: www.google.it/maps
157
3.19 Model of the district of Nowa Huta 52
Source: L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e
struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the
contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano,
1977
3.20 Project for the district Wzgorza Krzeslawickie in
Nowa Huta
Source: Ibid.
3.21 Urban scheme of Nowa Uta according to J.Guzika
Source: Ibid.
3.22 View of the housing in Bielany 53
Source: www.google.it
3.23 Functions in the area of Bielany
Source: L' urbanistica dei paesi socialisti : città, territorio e
struttura sociale / Edmund Goldzamt ; with the
contribution of Paolo Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano,
1977
3.24 Plan of Bielany
Source: Ibid.
3.25 View of the housing in Kimki-Khovrino 55
Source: Ibid.
3.26 Experimental complex of Novi Ceremuski 56
Source: Ibid.
3.27 Plan of Kimki-Khovrino in Moscow
Source: Ibid.
4.1 Project n° 46, View of the model 60
Source: International urban Competition
Bratislava Petržalka /Kamil Gross;VYDAVATELSTVO
SLOVENSKO FONDU VITVARNYCH, Bratislava, 1969
4.2 Project n° 53, View of the model 76
Source: Ibid.
4.3 Project n° 7, View of the model
4.4 Project n° 42, View of the model 77
4.5, 4.6, 4.7 Project n° 7, views of the model 78
4.8, 4.9, Project n° 1, views of the model 79
Source: Ibid.
4.10, 4.11, 4.12 Project n° 53, views of the model 80
Source: Ibid.
4.13, 4.14, 4.15 Project n°42, views of the model 82
Source: Ibid.
4.16, 4.17, 4.18 Project n°43, views of the model 83-84
Source: Ibid.
4.19. 4.20 Project n° 46, views of the model 85-86
Source: Ibid.
4.21, 4.22 Project n°74, views of the model 87-88
Source: Ibid.
4.23, 4.24, 4.25 Project n°23, views of the model 89
Source: Ibid.
4.26, 4.27 Project n°68, views of the model 90
Source: Ibid.
4.28, 4.29 Project n°79, view of the model 92
Source: Ibid.
4.30, 4.31 Project n° 17, views of the model 93
Source: Ibid.
4.32, 4.33 Project n° 18, views of the model 93
Source: Ibid.
4.34, 4.35 Project n° 21, views of the model 94
Source: Ibid.
4.30, 4.31 Project n° 37, views of the model 95
Source: Ibid.
5.1 Scheme: Housing concept of the area 98
5.2 Scheme: Petržalka and the strategic areas of
Bratislava 100
5.3 Scheme: Streets and public transports
in Bratislava 103
5.4 Scheme: Housing typologies in Petržalka 104
5.5: Housing typologies in Petržalka 106
5.6: Green typologies in Petržalka 108
5.7: Existing functions in Petržalka 109
6.1 Scheme: Existing functional poles in Petržalka 111
6.2 Project for out flowing the river Danube 113
6.3 Scheme: Existing green, streets, water system 114
6.4 Scheme: Project for the new water system
6.5 Scheme: The new green system
158
6.6 Scheme: The new water and landscape system 115
6.7 Scheme: Axes and strategic functional nodes 118
6.8 Scheme: The new tram line 120
6.9 Scheme: Empowerment of the existing cycling line 121
6.10 Scheme: The new pedestrian routes 122
6.11 Scheme: The central environmental/functional axis
connecting the areas of the district 124
7.1 Concept sketch for the masterplan 126
7.2 Scheme: Visual Axes in the area 128
7.3 Scheme: Spontaneous routes near the channel 130
7.4 Scheme: Grid defining the new public
urban space 132
7.5 Scheme: New Urban Green 134
7.6 Scheme: New public buildings 136
8.1 136
8.2 137
8.3 138
8.4 139
8.5 140
8.6 141
8.7 142
8.1 Concept strategy 137
8.2 General Masterplan 139
8.3 Zoom 1: The new bridge
and the new commercial pole 140
8.4 Zoom 2: The new cultural centre 141
8.5 Zoom 3: The new sport area 142
8.6 Zoom 4:
The area near Kutlikova street 143
8.7 Zoom 5: The new tram terminal
and the surrounding area 144
159
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
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Shaw, G. Weclawowicz, A. Werwicki, R. H. Wilson; Franco Angeli Edizioni, Milano, 1983
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Santacroce, Ed. Mazzotta, Milano, 1977
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Bratislava, 1969
8. La Storia dal 1900 ad oggi /A. Giardina, G. Sabbatucci, V. Vidotto; Editori Laterza, 2001
9. Bratislava -mesto na mieru- Urban landscapes of Bratislava/Illah van Olijen ,K.Print, Bratislava,2002
10. Studi di Urbanistica/ U. Cardarelli, T. Colletta, T.Giura, M. Tarantino,Vol.4, Dedalo libri,Roma 1980
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12.Le trasformazioni urbane di Varsavia nel Novecento-una guida bibliografica /Alfredo Boscolo; Quaderni del dipartimento di
discipline storiche dell’Università di Bologna, Carocci editore, 2004
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Linea Verde-Epe Edizioni, Milano, 2006; pg. 50-58
160
WEB SITES
http://www.petrzalka.sk
http://www.norc.sk
http://www.petrzalkacity.sk
http://www.google.it/maps
http://www.living.spectator.sme.sk/articles/manualne-vlozene-clanky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petzalka
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3052507.stm
http://living.spectator.sme.sk/articles/manualne-vlozene-clanky/socialist-era-housing-estates-face-major-overhaul
http://travel.spectator.sme.sk/articles/1213/sight_unseen_slovak_socialist_architecture
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/64508
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varsavia
http://www.provincia.pistoia.it/RISORSE_TERRITORIO/SIT/Progetti/OsservatorioVerdeUrbano/Evidenza