Justýna Kaislerová’s graduation project relates to the unfinished urban block between the Smíchov railway station and the Vltava River. It fills in this urban gap with two rationally placed objects – an apartment building and a multifunctional building. Kaislerová’s plan seeks to integrate a variety of functions, among them a petrol station, housing, workshops, and social amenities. This otherwise traffic-congested space is given added value by the creation of two vibrant residential streets.

The residential building is designed as affordable social housing in the form of starter and shared flats. The compact mixed-use building functions as an urban unit that integrates space for work with social amenities. The workshops are envisioned as spaces that can be rented for small-scale craft activities – art, architecture, and design studios, fab labs, textile-making, etc.

The main aim of Kaislerová’s design is to create a symbiotic relationship between seemingly disconnected worlds. It is a symbiosis across typological diversity, a symbiosis of residential and transportation infrastructure. Both buildings’ urban design, form, and construction embody notions of variability and transformability. In terms of style and architectural language, they draw on the historical context of Smíchov’s industrial heritage.