FIRST PRIZE OPEN INTERNATIONAL URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION

Mandaworks and Hosper Sweden have been awarded first prize in the open international urban design competition in Trenčín, Slovakia. On May 19th, 2014 the results were announced. Mandaworks and Hosper were selected from 59 entrants to receive first prize and awarded € 30,000. The competition was organized by the City of Trenčín with support from the Swiss-Slovak Cooperation Programme and financed by contributions from the Swiss Confederation and co-financed from the state budget of the Slovak Republic. 

The city of Trenčín (57,000 inhabitants) is a compact historic city on the River Váh, forming the administrative centre of Trenčín Region and a natural landmark within the wider area. Strategically, the city is located on the border with the Czech Republic, within an hours’ drive from the capital city of Bratislava. The purpose of the competition was to find ways of connecting the city centre with the river and making use of the space that is currently being transformed due  to the modernisation and relocation of the City's primary railway track. This is a conceptual design that will become the basis for the master plan of the central urban area . 

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSAL

Trencin is one city of many that is built in the Vah River basin. Since the 1930s the River Vah has become increasingly engineered and controlled to ensure the safety and protection of settlements along its banks. This has resulted in a city that has turned its back to an uninviting river landscape.

Our proposal resurrects the natural character of the River by bending the straight engineered levee walls to create a soft, pliable and programmed edge, while retaining its protective function.

This new levee landscape connects the south side of the river to the strong tissue of the historic city of Trencin, by extending its long, narrow block structure to develop a network of shifting and unique plazas, squares, streets and riverfront promenades. The southern waterfront forms a sequence of active recreational public spaces, maximizing the use of the dynamics of the water landscape.

Through the transformed railway bridge a strong and programmed connection is made from the dynamic south embankment to the more extensive landscape of the northern river bed. An ecological centre acts as a central info and meeting point within extensive wetlands and water buffering areas. Within this system a Super Dike is created, which combines water protection with new housing and parking and a vivid urban balcony towards the river and the historic city.

EXCERPT FROM JURY’S REPORT

“[The proposal] best reflects all aspects of the competition and the award criteria . It's a thoughtful proposal in regards to the existing structure of the historic center, sensitively placing of new buildings, and a quality connection to both sides of the [River] Vah. (...).Tracing Trenčín creates quality links between the city and the river, while respecting the natural conditions of the river.”