Sakura is a new residential community located atop one of Prague’s 7 hills with panoramic views across the city. The core concept of the design was to give every resident a sense of living in a family house with a garden, whilst maintaining the benefits of urban living in an apartment building. As designers, the challenge was to reinvent this brownfield site as a new typology of green city architecture, where the mix of apartments would enable a diverse community to grow. The team took an unusual approach to realise the client’s dream of creating family homes surrounded by nature. The entire perimeter of the building was lined with continuous planters that hold sufficient soil for lush vegetation. The apartments appear to be ‘inserted’ between horizontal gardens. These dwellings are then clearly legible on the façade, creatively pushed back and forward to optimise daylight penetration to every living space, promise views across the historic city, and create privacy for quiet living.

The nature wrapped 7-story building comprises 67 residences, which are a combination of boutique studio to three-bedroom single-story homes, spacious duplex loft ‘houses’, topped by 3 three-bedroom penthouses. Material combinations of digitally fabricated folded aluminium panels, loft style floor-to-ceiling triple glazed timber windows, and white render elements are creatively forming a sculpted mosaic which softens the overall volume. Passive solar shading is provided by the 1.1km of lushly filled planters, minimising solar gain during the summer months, but encouraging natural light to flood the interior spaces. A host of further sustainable strategies are incorporated, including green roofs which act as gardens and gather rainwater for automated irrigation of the façade planting, accumulation of rainwater run-off, LED lighting, 100% electric car charging, low-flow taps and showers, triple glazing, natural timber floor finishes, and a highly insulated and recyclable façade.