Overall locality solution

That the complex of the former sugar factory, given its position and size, can have an absolutely crucial impact on the future development of Šlapanice, is clear. While it is, at the moment, situated outside the center of the town’s social life, which is, obviously, located around the Masarykovo sq., Zámečnického sq. and the grammar school triangle, it, however, lies on the historical link between this triangle and the train station, next to the policlinic and the football fields. The ultimate argument is simply to acknowledge the sheer size of its area, which allows for a variety of uses, sure to influence the life of many a town. However, there are several “buts,” significantly affecting future development and potential power of the new town center. Ecological burdens, which complicate spatial arrangement and limit the use of new areas, and, to some extent, uncertainity about the investing power of the town, as well as an absence of a specific assignment.

Granary

Mainly defensive nature of granaries, protecting what’s inside against unwanted climatic effects as well as against strangers, creates, on purpose, a feeling of something inaccessible, closed inwardly into itself. With openings functioning primarily as a means of ventilation, a granary can be imagined as a windowless house. This design aims to offer a new understanding without a significant loss of the original substance, while preserving the image of the house. From closed to open, from technical to civic, from silent to speaking. In the rhythm of present tectonic of the facade, the house opens social spaces for a dialogue with the outside attention. Thus, the house draws energy into itself, it comes alive, it manifests actions, it is a symbol of the town’s cultural acitivity. The structure of the interior, thanks to respecting the triple tracting, remains largely preserved, corresponding to the use of the building. It is also the main means of expression of the interior, offering a direct contact with the original building and its values.

Mrs Ditrychová is a chairwoman of an owners association. With the support of other members of the commitee, she wished to enhance the quality of living for herself and her neighbours. We started off with a study with a whiff of development (roof superstructure, complex renovation, adding of an elevator, enlargement of loggias). After a clash with the reality of the owners association, several appeals, dozens of hours of meetings and presentations, we ended up with a subtle intervention, which, nevertheless, significantly increases both the utility and market value of all the flats in the building. Loggias of a hardly usable 1.1m depth have been enlarged to approx 2m with the use of a cantilever construction. Every flat now has one continuous loggia instead of two smaller ones. The individual owners themselves could opt for a lowering of windowsills, direct access to the garden, loggia floor material. With the exception of removal of windowsills in some of the flats, the original construction remains untouched. Steel weldment cantilevers are designed in such a way, so as to provide a static remediation of sensitive panel block connections. The cantilevers have been treated with an anti-fire coating, rest of the steel construction has been hot dip galvanized. The ceilings above the enlarged area are made of steel-reinforced concrete, the floors are larch or plastic wood, according to the wishes of the individual owners. The construction allows for additional installation of glass panes.

The new bridge over the river Svitava has slim parapets, elegant shapes and a dignified, robust body. It’s a bridge with a silhouette of a classic arched bridge, whose construction doesn’t reach to inordinate heights. In it, the classical is wed to contemporary shape, defined by an ideal hydrotechnic solution, contemporary materials and details – the pylons are shaped like boulders in the river.
The new bridge defines its surroundings. Its location delineates sufficiently generous space in the vincinity of the weir. It preserves the valuable local landmarks of the chimney and high-rise buildings of the malt-house, with which it then completes an identity with the new urban waterfront with embankment, residential stairs, as well as with nearby alluvial growths and of course the river Svitava!

It is our ambition to complete the eastern edge of Uhříněves. With the building of a new school, an opportunity is created to insert into the area a complex, which, in its extent from the new school square to the green space on the edge between the city and the country, will bring together disconnected fragments and dull the edges of previous precipitous development of Uhříněves.

It will complete the missing infrastructure, ranging from that which is obviously lacking to the less visible (not just the school, but also public areas, safe pedestrian and cycling paths for children, areas for social/organisational/sports use, etc.).

Thus, into the area, we insert a complex which is divided, fractal-like, in a logical and understandable succession, in which the scale is decreased and privacy increased: a square with two buildings (a school and a sports hall) -> a school -> 1st and 2nd stage of elementary school -> individual clusters -> individual classes. Coresponding to these steps of the succession are individual public and private areas, ranging from a square to the main school foyer to the public areas of the clusters to the individual classes.

The school works in such a way that whether a pupil arrives on foot, by bike, bus, or is dropped off at the K+R spot by their parents, they appear on the school square in front of the school and sports hall. From the square through the gate they enter the school grounds and around the school yard the school building, where they find themselves in the midst of action in the foyer, which connects the various parts of the school and where, if needed, the whole school can assemble and from where one enters the first stage via the southern gallery and the second stage via the northern gallery.

After an analysis of the assignment and the fused complex of Mayer factory, we demolish the two southern buildings of the factory, putting in their place a new building with a concert hall and 60 underground parking spots. The remaining services are located in the old buildings, with the effort to develop their potential as much as we can, while minimising any large modifications.

Crucial factors that we consider are the suitability of the spaces for the intended new uses, functionality of the whole and easy orientation of the users. All public cultural institutions located in the Mayer factory complex must be easily accessible. Thus, we change the original marketplace – pillar hall into Large foyer, which includes a café and a library. In its size, repetition of the columns, lighting and the subtlety of the construction, we see one of the greatest architectural achievements of the factory! From here all the parts of the building can be accessed. That means a multi-purpose hall, puppet theatre and a stairwell leading to Fun learning centre and Children’s amusement park located higher up in the three-storey northern building. The municipal library Slavoj has been moved from number 152 to the ground floor. All the institutions on the ground floor share the common public facilities – toilets located in a narrow elongated building in the middle of the complex, mobile cloakrooms and cash registers. During larger concerts, the foyer can serve as a bar or a café – it is possible to install mobile bars, which use facilities in the wing between the hall and the foyer. It can be used as an exhibition area – thanks to the direct access for vehicles from the outsiede, even large objects can be installed in the foyer. The café and the library are its organic parts. Through the vestibule, a historical entrance to the marketplace, it opens into the náměstí Republiky square.