Type
office building

Source
invited international competition

Client
Dimnikcobau d.o.o.

Address/Site
Leskoškova road, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Site area
8.908 m2

Building area
4.578 m2

Total floor area
20.998 m2 (above ground)

12.302 m2(below ground)

Program
offices, exhibition space, library, multi-purpose hall, resturant, fitness

Structure
reinforced concrete

Cladding
glass, aluminium

Architect
SADAR+VUGA (Jurij Sadar, Boštjan Vuga, Miha Čebulj, Matjaž Bahor, Lena Vozlič, Anja Mencinger, Aleš Pajk)

cooperation / Construction: ELEA IC d.o.o. , Energy concept: Simon Muhič, Robert Smodiš, Traffic concept: City Studio d.o.o., Fire Safety: Aleš Hudernik, Visualisations: Matija Goljar, Model: Luka Jančič

THREE BUILDINGS  OF DCB

The business complex Dimnikcobau lies in the generic surroundings of storage, production and service buildings in the eastern part of Ljubljana, in the immediate vicinity of the motorway ring. Building the first phase of the complex DCB lll can generate a crucial qualitative change of such a narrow area as well as the wider part of the city. Our proposal for the office complex Dimnikcobau consists of three buildings: a renovated business-storage building DCB l, a new business-storage building DCB ll that substitutes half of the current storage building and a new office building DCB lll. All three buildings are freestanding and are interconnected only at the level of parterre with a moto-plaza, delivery and parking areas.

DCB III

The DCB III building is the main building of the DCB Business Complex. It is twice as tall as the buildings in its immediate surroundings. It is the first building of the area, which has a public space, a raised garden on the mezzanine floor, which is a quality not only for the complex, but also for the entire developing business-service area zones along Letališka Road. The building consists of a podium and superstructure – the towers. Mezzanine is developed on the roof of the podium and on the lowest floor of the tower. The tower expands toward the top on the south side, so that the volume alone shades office space in the higher floors of the tower. So we get a larger outdoor mezzanine area of the garden and a larger area business floors where they are due to rise above adjacent buildings attractive views of the city and the Alps in the distance. The inside of the podium is an introvert developed around two large atriums with greenery. Mezzanine – The garden is accessible by wide steps with the plaza motto. The design of the DCB III building is pragmatic and rational. Tower volume design – inverted prism, is recognizable in on a larger scale of the city.

PODIUM + TOWER: the building is separated into the public podium and the internal business tower. The lowest level is meant for public activities that can expand to the mezzanine – podium roof

ENERGETICALLY – DESIGNED VOLUME: The tower expands towards the top. This is how the south side of the volume can make shade for itself in the summer: the upper level provides shade for the level under it.

OFFICE LEVELS ON THE TOP LEVELS OF THE TOWER ARE BIGGER: The lowest level of the tower with a public programme is the smallest. This is how we can get a bigger outer surface of the mezzanine – garden.

ATRIUMS: offer natural light and a connection with the outside space inside the podium and tower.

The DCB lll building seems cosmopolitan and strong because of the design of window frames and shutters of the tower, which remind of classic architectural elements with the half-bow form. Its material is deliberately incoherent: industrial glass of different transparencies of the podium, a light metal net of the mezzanine pergola, accented window frames, reflex glazing and concrete shading on the east and west side of the tower, the wild greenery in the atriums create rich and diverse ambiances. For work as well as for relaxation.

The DCB lll is an example of how an architectural object can become a generator of progress and change in the wider urban scale of the city. It is a new icon of the north-eastern part of Ljubljana, it is a new public area in the service-storage zone, lifted above the traffic space of the moto plaza.