Competition project for Wenceslas Square

In last year's competition for a new design of one of the most important squares in the Czech Republic, this project received no awards or recognition at all. The jury overlooked the proposal by young graduates of Professor Emil Přikryl's School of Architecture (in collaboration with traffic engineer Antonín Žižkovský). It would be a shame for the idea of this project to fade away, and therefore I took the liberty of presenting it on the pages of archiweb, which primarily deals with publishing winning proposals and completed constructions.

New Wenceslas Square:
An open space of the square with a free center as an undeniable quality. A generous, cultivated space for the public. The square as a right to public space, a means of expression. A platform, a stage, and an audience. A unified urban space without struggling trees. A contemporary surface, glass-concrete, at the same level across the entire area. Newly designed rental spaces in the passage, New Gallery (24320 m²), under the square, connecting all underpasses. Lighting from above. The main road relocated to a tunnel behind the Museum, parking underground, a friendly calm circular tram, and a limited speed regime.

Square Area:
The medieval module of Wenceslas Square's foundation (2x22 earth ropes) as a grid for the newly defined area. Further division into cubits as a design module (division of the square area, shape and placement of furniture and communication, height of objects). Cubits and ropes as a human scale. Glass-concrete, as an interactive surface, a screen changing with the play of light. A platform for creating ornaments, depicting historical events, and celebrations (light Czech flag, inscriptions, interactive shapes). Spaces of all floors connected by pulsating significant elevators, representing life and activity of the metropolis. Positions of the proposed objects in the square (fountains, canopies, sculptures, model of the square with adjacent passages, etc.) determined by the positions of previous historical objects in the square. For example, the outline of the former theater (lower part of the square) as an area for cultural events and markets. The upper part: an area for gatherings, celebrations, and demonstrations. The center of the square as free resting spaces with fountains, canopies, sculptures, benches, and a model of the square.

Transportation Solution:
A circular single-track tram line on both sides of the square with a loop behind the Museum building. Safe crossing, democratization of the sides. A prospective ideal connection of the historical center with the tram circuit (Old Town and Lesser Town Circuit). Bidirectional low-floor vehicles, exit toward the square. A service communication network in a traditional sense. Longitudinal parking on the surface of Wenceslas Square limited only for service, stopping, taxi, and parking for the disabled. Quiet traffic (residents, workers) in the second and third underground basement levels. Ramps in Opletalova and Štěpánská streets, always in both operating directions. Access for visitors and guests to the upper profile of the square by the Museum with further continuation into longitudinal service roads. The lower part of the square as a pedestrian zone, without public vehicle access to the surface. Strengthening the service transport with two-sided supply corridors in the Gallery floor with the possibility of supplying directly to the basements of adjacent buildings (1080 m). The space of the square itself in one level of the surface, vehicle and automotive lanes marked with different surfaces of bricks or decor in the seams between the tiles.

Urbanism:
Surroundings of the National Museum: an open area with loose and high-quality tree planting, bordered by the circular tram. The possibility of developing the area next to the Museum with a cultural character object. Optionally, covering the railway station's track (connecting the station including new parcels above them to the city center). Strengthening the transverse boulevards lined with trees at the sites of former fortifications (Republic Square - National Theater and the proposed boulevard Main Station - Museum).

Conclusion:
A dignified, representative, contemporary, and pulsating heart of the city. A new landmark for Prague. A new symbol.