The Urban Residence residential complex designed by Compass Architects, located in the wider centre of
Bratislava between the Filiálka railway station and Račianská Street, offered an ideal combination of spatial
comfort and urban living with good access to services for a young family. For their new home, they chose a
duplex apartment with a large terrace on the roof of a tower apartment building. The original rationally designed
layout required only minor structural intervention, consisting of the partial removal of existing partitions and the
creation of a skylight in the main entrance area of the upper floor, which resulted in an overall simplification and
re-lighting of the layout. From an operational point of view, the interior spaces are divided into three basic units.
The smaller part of the apartment, located at 11th floor, is functionally a separate unit containing the owner's
private office, a guest room and service/storage areas. From the hall, which visually separates the study from the
guest room, a spiral, subtle metal staircase leads to the night zone. There is a separate wing of the master
bedroom with en-suite bathroom. On the opposite side are two children's bedrooms with direct access to the
outside. The centre of family life is also in this case the open day zone on the 12th floor, located in direct contact
with the terrace. Its unique views of the urban and natural scenery of Bratislava, together with the opportunity to
create the atmosphere and functionality of the garden of the family house, formed one of the decisive
determinants not only of the interior design itself, but also of the choice of the apartment.
Like the interior itself, this roof garden is functionally divided into several separate units. The
summer kitchen with barbecue and seating area is in direct contact with the living room and dining room and is
ideal for private gatherings with family and friends. This is followed by the owners' private spa area
with Jacuzzi and separate Finnish sauna, which was custom built by Ark Shelter Studio. The design of the
rear roof of the sauna, with a shower directly connected to the children's rooms, creates a kind of play area
where the children can invent their own outdoor activities. The entire exterior area is surrounded by greenery
around its perimeter for aesthetic and safety reasons, which also interferes with the views from the interior.
The material and colour scheme of the interior is dominated by natural materials such as beige-grey
terrazzo flooring, fine plaster and ash wood. These are subtly accentuated by the black solitaires of the
furniture, which refer to the colour of the window and façade frames used throughout the building.
From a functional and artistic point of view, the main aim of the design was to create a simple,
visually unpretentious, yet materially high-quality and timeless space for urban family living.