Správa železnic Headquarters
The railway is a historically inseparable and living organism of Smíchov. The new Smíchov Terminal will be one of the busiest transport and railway junctions, connecting Prague not only with the southwestern part of the republic but also with the relevant part of Europe. The administrative building of the highest body of the Czech Railways thus appears to be a natural part of the entire complex. Its windows, offices, stairs, and entire buildings line up along the tracks like trains and wagons in constant turmoil and movement.
The proposal is set in a broader context according to a predetermined regulation. An object with a significant length along the proportions is rhythmic in relation to the existing and proposed block urban structure of Nádražní Street. This creates three dominant masses of buildings A, B, and C. Building A and B form a compact unit connected on the 1st floor by solid matter on the 2nd floor then creates a connection of a lightened supplemented restaurant and catering operation with an outdoor terrace. For this reason, buildings A and B are designed as a building for the General Directorate of the Railway Administration. Building C forms a slightly more independent unit, connected to Building B by a glass bridge on the 4th floor. Object C is therefore designed as an object of organizational units of the Railway Administration.
The house is designed as a reinforced concrete skeleton, for which a construction module of 8.1 meters was chosen. Along the façade, a universal flex space is created, which enables variable merging and division of areas and offices with maximum use of daylight. Sheathing of the main external surfaces 1.-6. The above-ground floor of the building is architecturally designed as a combination of firmly glazed transparent surfaces, transparent opening elements, and horizontal and vertical recessed strips of opaque fields. In front of the glazed parts of the modular façade are raised boxes, glazed from the front, forming an acoustic double-skin façade in the place of the transparent part of the façade.
The source of heat and cold will be a cascade of cold sources in the form of a heat pump in combination with a gas boiler room. With regard to the location of the building with regard to the possibilities for obtaining thermal energy, the use of deep wells, ie. ground-water systems, it will be necessary to choose air-water systems to obtain energy by combining sources from both deep wells and the surrounding area.
Forced low-pressure air-conditioning systems will provide air exchange for all rooms of the building with a permanent residence of persons. Air distribution in offices will take place mainly through under-ceiling induction units in a 4-pipe design, ie. they will be used for both heating and cooling the indoor environment. The units for sections will allow correction for individual settings.
