Prague, Hostišovská apartment houses

A technically intriguing refurbishment of seven apartment houses was completed in Hostišovská Street in Prague

Information:

Location: Prague
Investor: Municipal authorities Prague 15
Realization: HOCHTIEF VSB division 8
Type: Refurbishment of apartment houses
Construction time: 09/2001 - 05/2002
Main indicators: Built up area: 11,760 cu.m
No. of dwelling units: 30
Description: The interior of the buildings experienced the biggest changes. The main task here has been to increase the load-bearing capacity of the foundation strips and to eliminate the moisture in the basement area. We dug out trenches round each of the houses to expose the whole basement area together with the foundation strips carrying those houses. Furthermore we restored the horizontal water-proofing in the basement area and also installed a new water-proofing into the vertical basement walls. All refurbished houses have been insulated too. 
The layout of the original apartments with two rooms and kitchen (2+1) on the first two floors did not change during the refurbishment process. Our upgrade provided new surfacing, change of fittings and mains. The layout of the newly constructed apartments is far more interesting. The extension above the original roof has the same layout as the lower apartments yet here the two-level apartments fill the whole of the roof space. The floor area is just slightly above the standard three room and kitchen apartment size but the interconnection of two levels gives a feeling of an unusually large space and light characteristic for these duplex apartments. 
Seven refurbished houses in the peaceful surroundings of Hostišovská Street create a small self-contained architectural complex with its own pleasant flair. We sensitively included a relatively large number of garages inside the complex. The overall engaging look of the refurbished houses is enhanced by the bicolor interlocking pavement, walls around the rubbish collection area made of non rendered sand-lime bricks and full-grown trees that have not been damaged during the refurbishment works.