Mesto Malina
Eco-Neighbourhood

New sustainable and resilient neighbourhood

Malacky, Slovakia
First Prize winner in restricted international urban design competition

A synthesis of urbanity and nature

Mesto Malina is a synthesis of Urbanity (Mesto) and Nature (Malina).
Mesto refers to the urbanity that we propose, as a contemporary reinterpretation of the place-making tradition of the urban green commons of historical Slovak towns, which combine hard surfaces appropriate for public activity with lush green areas for recreation, and that leave room for community buildings as free-standing architectonic elements articulating the public realm.

Malina refers to the rich nature that surrounds the site: the forests but, especially, the Malina River Natural Reserve (Bio-Corridor and Bio-Center Malina, Natura 2000), which comes in contact with the site all along its southern edge. Our proposal is sensitive and permeable to this natural surroundings through three Urban Bio-Corridors which double as the main public spaces of the neighborhood: the Civic Commons, the Urban Meadows and the Sports Orchards, each with a defined program and distinct landscaping identity, extensively incorporating local and regional plantings and enhancing biodiversity.

Urban bio-corridors: a contemporary reinterpretation of the urban green commons of traditional Slovak towns

There is a lineage of spindle-shaped commons (communal civic spaces) in the Slovak urban tradition. These are formed by continuous facades which define a linear public space with the gates to the town at its ends. In all cases they have a combination of paved and green surfaces, in a proportion that can largely vary; from almost all green to substantially paved. This changing proportion between green and paved brings about very different urban landscapes. The buildings of communal use (church, town hall etc.) are placed as free-standing singular objects in the middle of these spaces.

Mesto Malina as a new neighborhood of Malacky: linking with the town center

The new neighbourhood is linked to the town center and the Caste Park by the remodelling of the existing road in order to incorporate a bicycle lane and also through a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the highway.

Three urban bio-corridors form the green and blue infrastructure and double as the main public spaces of the Mesto Malina neighbourhood

Mesto Malina is inscribed within the metropolitan green and blue landscape infrastructure. At the regional scale of the Bratislava region, north-south Urban Bio-Corridors link to the surrounding natural reserves and forests with the Bio-Corridor Malacky-Široké-Orlovské Vŕšky being planned around and on the project’s site.

At the local scale of the new neighbourhood, three Urban Bio-Corridors cross the site, forming the green backbones of the neighborhood and main public spaces, while linking to the surrounding nature reserves of Malina River and Orlovské Vŕšky. Each urban bio-corridor has a distinct identity resulting from the combination of diverse urban tissues and public spaces.

Project name

Mesto Malina Eco-Neighbourhood

Location

Malacky, Slovakia

Client

Private developers consortium

Year

2016

Status

International restricted competition: First Prize

Program

Masterplan for a new neighbourhood for the the town of Malacky on former military grounds.

Site: 28ha (280.000m2)

Gross built area: mixed use program of 223.000m2 of housing, commerce and public facilities.

Author

Eduard Balcells Architecture+Urbanism+Landscape

Peter Droege, Uli Hellweg, urban designers

Collaborators

Design development and competition

Honorata Grzesikowska, urban designer

Local Architect

Jela sro

Energy Consultant

Schoneger Gmbh

Landscape & Water Sensitive Urban Design

Grimm Gmbh