For decades, the city of Bratislava has been planning to transform the space between two bridges on the southern bank of the Danube into a new city center. This area is considered strategic in terms of city development plans with the intention of creating a compact riverside city. The location is one of the most valuable building plots suitable for development in the capital, thanks to its proximity to the historic city center and the new city center, as well as its location on the southern bank of the Danube River.
The goal of the competition is to bring high-quality architecture to the territory with an area of 85,000 m2, which will bring residential as well as commercial development, high-quality public spaces and greenery to the territory. The project also includes the construction of complete civic amenities in the given location and will meet the highest energy requirements with a positive impact on the environment. The proposed territory does not touch inundation areas or the protected area Soví les, the protection of which will be one of the priorities of the competition.
"I am convinced that the project with the working name "Southbank Bratislava", as it is defined not only by its excellent location, but also by its scope, has a strong potential to become a full-fledged part and complement of the center of Bratislava and at the same time an attractive and comfortable place for life, work and leisure time. We consider using the architectural competition institute as the most suitable way to find the best and highest quality concept for this area. I believe that by combining the participation of international as well as domestic studios, we will get a unique architectural solution at the end", says Juraj Nevolník, executive director of Penta Real Estate Slovakia.
The competition will be two-round, while the first round is designed as an open pre-qualification round, from which three proposals will advance to the second round based on the evaluation of the expert jury. Three invited architectural studios also advance directly to the second round. These are the world-famous architectural studios of Zaha Hadid Architects, Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). In the second round, the jury will evaluate six proposals, from which one winner will emerge. Ateliers that advance to the second round will be honored with the sum of 30,000 euros. The results of the competition will be announced on February 28, 2023.
Proposals will be assessed by a 9-member expert jury with two alternates. Five members of the jury and one substitute are external experts - architects and urban planners, another four members of the jury and one substitute are representatives of the developer Penta Real Estate.
External members of the expert jury:
Prof. Ing. Arch. Eva Jiřičná, CBE, AI Design (architect and designer)
Ing. Arch. Juraj Benetin, Compass (architect and urban planner)
Igor Marko MA Arch ARB, Marko and Placemakers (architect and urban planner)
Dipl. Ing. Peter Gero, Peter Gero Consulting (architect and urban planner)
Ing. Arch. Ján Doubek, Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava, Section of Architectural Competitions
Substitute: Ing. Arch. Kornel Kobák, Vice-President of the Slovak Chamber of Architects, AVK architects, FORFORM (architect and urban planner)
You can find more information about the competition on the website www.competition.southbank.sk and also in the Penta Podcast here.
