The core concept of the proposal is to give residents a sense of living in a family house with a garden, whilst maintaining the benefits of urban living that an apartment building brings.

 

The main volume consists of individual apartments as elements inserted between floors slabs. These elements are then clearly legible on the façade, and material combinations create a mosaic which softens the total volume of the construction.

 

The investor’s requirement to create architecture with a large proportion of vegetation was fulfilled with an unusual approach. The entire perimeter of the building on all floors is lined with continuous planters that provide sufficient soil for over 28,000 plants, including lush grasses, herbs, fruit bushes and mature shrubs.

 

Designed with Ferdinand Leffler and Jiří Stiborek of landscape studio Flera, careful selections of plant varieties together with a rainwater irrigation system put in place ensures the perfect environment for lush  greenery throughout the year. A large roof garden with a selection of semi-mature trees crowns the top of the apartments.

 

The project is named after Sakura Japanese flowering cherries. Sakura trees are a prominent feature and can be found both in the adjacent private park, gardens and roof terraces.

 

The residential building contains a total of 64 studio to three-bedroom homes plus three roof villas, designed with Studio Habina of Brno coordinating the technical engineering consultancy. To maximise the green space around the building, all residential parking is provided underneath, cleverly built in to the sloped site, with electric car charging facilities provided for all.

 

The ground floor streetscape is activated by a new café and food shop opening toward the adjacent park which comprises a lushly planted landscape with facilities for recreation, play and shared outdoor cooking spaces.

 

Sakura sets a new benchmark for high quality natural internal daylight, panoramic views, with green planted facades, roofs and gardens being the signature of this forward-looking bio-diverse design approach.