Trenčín, City on the River

It is not often that urban design interventions have the potential to transform a city far beyond the project’s immediate space and to decisively shape its future long term development. We approached this competition as a unique opportunity to transform Trenčín into a city with a high quality of life for its citizens and a world-class destination for international visitors and businesses alike, through a sustainability-led urban regeneration scheme.

The project’s central concept is balancing urban activity between the two banks of the Vah, considering the riverfront as a generator for the city as a whole. The present disparity, with the north bank poorly serviced and the south bank over-privileged, if not over-saturated, hinders the city’s sustainable development in the long term, limiting its potential and future opportunities. Our proposal aims at dynamically integrating the north bank into an urban system much greater than a mono-centric urban expanse where the old core dominates. We aim at transforming the north bank into a location that not only matches the old core in terms of the quality of its urban environment and attractiveness but equally contributes to the city’s prosperity, offering new possibilities for its development.

Our tools are both spatial and programmatic. The new north-south connection, reserved for pedestrians and cyclists, in combination with an opening of the city’s access to the water through the creation of public space and the rearrangement of traffic flows, form the spine of our proposed spatial reconfiguration. At the same time, a reprogramming of the territory along both banks of the Vah creates a network of attractors along the river, making the most of these new links and connections and enhancing a sustainable multi-functional use of the area.
 

Images from top:

1. Photorealistic view, from South Bank
2. Overview, panoramic view
3. Overview, plan view
4. Concept diagrams, key features
5. Concept section
6. Axonometric view, public boulevard and high-speed underpass transport reconfiguration
7. Sustainable neighbourhood concept sketches
8. Sketch, South Bank
9. Photorealistic view, public terraces by new bridge
10. Photorealistic view, from North Bank