The Ostrava concert hall will be designed by six foreign studios

Ostrava - The design of a new concert hall in Ostrava, which is expected to cost approximately 1.5 billion crowns excluding VAT, will be proposed by six foreign studios in an international architectural-urban competition. They are to submit their proposals to the city by February, with the winner expected to be announced in June. This was stated today by Mayor Tomáš Macura (ANO).

The city announced the competition on August 22 and at that time revealed that it had directly contacted three world-renowned studios - the team of American architect Steven Holl, Polish Konior Studio, which designed the concert hall in Katowice, and the Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects. The Danish participant in the competition proposed a concert hall for the Symphony Orchestra located in Reykjavik. Now, from an additional 31 applicants, the expert jury has selected three more studios based on references and submitted portfolios: Architecture Studio from France, the German Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, and Dutch Van Dongen - Koschuch Architects and Planners.

The concert hall is expected to be built next to the House of Culture of the city of Ostrava. The city demands that the building be exceptional not only from an architectural standpoint but also have top-notch acoustics. The hall will serve as the base for the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava, which currently resides and performs in the cultural house built between 1956 and 1961 in the spirit of modern classicism, which does not meet the requirements for modern concert facilities.

"The jury selected from 31 applicants for the competition, and it was quite a difficult choice because all 31 studios were truly reputable," Macura stated. He reminded that applicants had to have references from similar types of buildings and had to demonstrate their ability to ensure the acoustic aspects as well. The mayor believes that the selected architectural studios guarantee that the competition will have the highest quality. "The last fully-fledged concert hall built in our countries was Prague's Rudolfinum from the late 19th century," the mayor recalled.

The competition is expected to be in two rounds, and the city anticipates that two, at most three proposals will advance to the second round.

In 2017, the city established a special fund where it allocates money for the construction of the hall. So far, it has deposited 100 million crowns into this fund and will continue to contribute more funds. According to estimates, 600 million crowns for the construction should be provided by the state. The Moravian-Silesian region is to pay 300 million crowns.