• Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

  • Spacer

    Spacer

of

Public Realm

Petrol Corporate Building revealed as Enota Architects winning design

The building in Ljubljana, Slovenia, reflects a company transforming itself from an oil trader to a provider of green energy

by Georgina Johnston 05 March 2021 Sustainable Buildings

The cityscape composing tower at the crossroads and the functionally appropriate horizontal lamellas are formally transformed into a uniform volume with a slender and elegant emphasis in the southern corner and a continuous, predominantly green, amphitheatrical roof opening onto the park. 

The terraces on the roof and the park merge into a continuous space, increasing the quality of the working environment and emphasising the company's environmentally friendly orientation. Cutouts in the volume form covered spaces towards the streets (arcade) and at the same time cover the entrances to the building. On the other side the building is facing the park with a large roofed square (loggia).

In its design, the new building complements the orientation of a company that is transforming itself from an oil trader to a provider of green energy. Together with the park, it is designed as a comprehensive arrangement of the area along Ljubljana's middle ring and represents a key point along this road. At the important inner circle crossroads, the vertical element is emphasised in line with the urban design of the city. From this point, the building mass gradually decreases along the street and towards the park. The terrace on the lower part of the roof and the park merge into a continuous space, while the green roof increases the quality of the working environment and emphasises the environmentally friendly orientation of the company.

The cityscape composing tower at the crossroads and the functionally appropriate horizontal lamellas are formally transformed into a uniform volume with a slender and elegant emphasis in the southern corner and continuous, predominantly green, amphitheatre roof opening towards the park. Cut-outs in the volume are forming covered spaces (arcade corridor) towards the streets, as a counterpart to the arcades on the historically important stadium designed by Plečnik and at the same time covering the entrances to the building. 

The generous volume of the building allows the realisation of large multi-storey interior spaces. They are a hybrid between exterior and interior space, in which ideal climatic conditions can be maintained. Between these spaces and the exterior façade, work spaces are organised, comprising closed areas that mostly face the building's exterior façade, while the open work spaces and, above all, the communications and common spaces are oriented towards the inner void. Thus they are naturally lit, as the void is generously illuminated from the large north windows. The voids also allow visual and physical connections through many staircases that connect corresponding rooms in other parts of the building.

Due to the spatial design of the building, all work surfaces are extremely heterogeneous - from the least exposed spaces in distant corners to completely open ones in the middle of the void and without ceilings. Areas covered with a ceiling can also be soundproofed, and this can be done before or even after the building starts operating. All workrooms are completely modular. In combination with the technical raised floor, this modularity offers efficient flexibility. As a result, all functional changes can be carried out without any significant impact on employees or building operation. The partition walls are modular to a 3 m by 3 m steel construction grid and can be moved virtually anywhere across the building.

The programmatic arrangement in the building is usually completely flexible, but of course some rules apply. 

The business programme is located mostly in the southern, higher part of the building, but spreads to the northern part of the building in the lower floors. Here, most of the space is used as a public programme of public utility work. The southern part of the parterre is mainly intended for business visitors. The separation of the business and public entrance area enables smooth operation, for example during events in public spaces. It is possible to connect these spaces if such a connection should prove to be a more convenient solution for the user. The two typologically different programmes are connected on several levels, which allows an interactive and random connection of different contents.

The communication paths usually lead to areas around the inner atriums and allow for a good visual perception of the space and thus easy orientation. These paths are lined with open workspaces, which lead to closed workspaces along the façade. Vertical connections with conventional elevator shafts and (evacuation) staircases allow "randomly" arranged open staircases that usually connect adjacent floors. Like the other communication areas, they allow fast and unusual connections between adjacent programmes and thus become spaces for spontaneous encounters and interactions.

Enota Architects
Slovenia

Want to submit your project to World Architecture News?

Contact The Team