DUNA
Architects/Students: Emma Voisin Isdahl, Karoline Haukjem, Espen Egeland, Stian Nærøy, Hillevi Nilsson, Veronika Sløk Tvedt, Åsmund Hårklau, Linda Figueiredo, Julie Barfod
Teachers: Espen Folgerø, William Aarsland, Veronika Kotradyová, Lukaš Šíp, Tibor Varga, Martin Uhrík, Prof. Ing. Veronika Kotradyová, PhD (BCD Lab - Body Conscious Design Laboratory); The municipality of Kalinkovo, Slovakia, Sigurdur Gunnarsson
Next to Europe’s second longest river, The Danube, in between reed and hovering trees, you’ll enter a curved wooden room facing the horizon, just big enough for you and your kids to grab a lunch while looking at the birds nesting in the river. The project is a result of a design-built workshop as a collaboration between Bergen School of Architecture(- BAS) and Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava(STUBA).
Duna is placed at Hrušovská zdž 18 kilometers outside of Bratislava,
the capital of Slovakia. The site is known for its vast birdlife during the winter season and during the summer season people use the area as a public park. Along the site runs a paved bike road, it stretches through Slovakia, Austria and further into Germany. Last year almost 40.000 bikers biked the famous stretch. Duna creates different perspectives for the visitors, and creates a pause for pedestrians and bikers passing by.
We wanted the construction to be as subtle and gentle to the consist- ing site as possible. The foundation consist of several big scale earth screws, which are easily removed manually if necessary. The structure is made out of 95 percent wood. Consisting of 5 CNC-cut plywood beams stretching 12 meters in total length. Both the interior and exterior clad- ding is made out exible wooden boards from local Slovakian pine. The cladding is placed in layers to provide su cient strength.
The site is the most important wintering place for some species of waterbirds in Europe(such as the Golden eyes duck) and in Central Europe(the Tufted ducks). If the winter is cold enough, more than 100 000 birds can be encountered within this area and more than 115 species of birds are registered. As a result, this site is a part of a protected area for bird species. Species commonly seen during the winter season is tufted ducks (Aythya fuligula), common pochards (Aythya ferina), common Golden eyes (Bucephala clangula) and the Smew (Mergellus albellus) and rather rare species such as Pygmy cormorants (Phalacrocorax pygmeus) and also the magni cent White-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) are to be found here.
During the migration period, with spring migration beginning in February and ending in may and autumn migration beginning in August and ending in November. Great numbers of various species are common, especially mute swans (Cygnus olor) as well as common po- chards and tufted ducks (Aythya ferina, A. fuligula). In addition, practically all the types of the Anatidae family (including ducks, geese and swans) and huge numbers of terns (Chlidonias sp.) can be spotted there. The same goes for more precious species, as for instance Caspian terns (Hydroprogne caspia) or ospreys (Pandion haliaetus).
In nesting period the rare Mediterranean gulls(Icthyaetus melano- cephalus) are to be found as well as the black-headed gulls (Chroico- cephalus ridibundus). In summer, the turquoise common king sher (Alcedo atthis) can be seen flying over the water surface. Visiting Duna as a hiking destination, you’ll find your place to sit down and have break. Information and drawings about the different bird species is hung up in the inner room, spreading amousing information about the bird activities happening on the site. Duna is a place for everyone, either if you’re a professional bird photographer or just curious about nature.
