Važecká Street, Košice, Slovakia. The transformation of a heat exchanger into a culture and sports center as part of a project for the EHMK 2013, the European capital of culture by the enviable hands of Slovene Atrium Studio. An architcturally dramatic fusion of culture and sports.
Faithful to its re-stylists aesthetics, this former heat exchanger creates a relationship with the enclosed environment of where it is located, the residential district of Nad Jazerom, unorthodoxically exploring spatial and dispositive possibilities and protruding with clean lines an organic connection between the interior and exterior. Inserted in a surrounding context of industrial type buildings, this geometric structure stands out, unconventional and intringuing in a stary, head-turning kind of way.
The existing building’s design is easily characterized by folded triangular shapes, between which long windows timidly peek, in the form of slanted cut out pieces, that help to express the exchanger’s transformation. The angular form extends the building out into the public space with an unexpected climbing wall, an obvious allusion to the sporty character of the project.
The heat exchanger center bears five different interconnected floors, all turned into gallery spaces and each fulfilling a different function. A cloistered rooftop proudly secretes four trees and a spacious lounge area, thought for visitors to relax in.
By night, it is a mere jewel of concrete colorfully lit in the heart of Košice.
image © atrium studio
image © atrium studio
Aug. 27, 2013
Design Academy Eindhoven
Strate College
British Higher School of Art and Design
Scuola Politecnica di Design
LOFT 42
World Architecture Festival
