At the head of the jury of the competition "Brno Exhibition Grounds" will be the president of the Federation of Swiss Architects

The Office of the Architect of the City of Brno (KAM) is organizing an international urban competition "The Brno Exhibition Centre Area". The aim of the competition is to find solutions that will allow for both the successful continuation and development of the exhibition and congress functions of the area, as well as the revitalization of underutilized parts and the opening of a section of the area to the general public for everyday use. The inaugural meeting of the jury will take place on Thursday, April 13, 2017.

The statutory city of Brno has been the owner of the company Veletrhy Brno since last year, which includes an exceptional exhibition area in the city center, which as of December 31, 2016, has a total of 377,973 permanent residents. The exhibition center primarily serves exhibition and fair functions, but also congress, accommodation, transport, and increasingly, cultural and recreational purposes. "The fairs are undoubtedly a family silver, and our goal is their development. We aim to reach a million visitors annually," describes the intentions of the city of Brno, Mayor Petr Vokřál.

The International Urban Two-Phase Open Concept Competition, commissioned to KAM, will investigate the development possibilities of the area. The competition has three main goals. The first is to strengthen the exhibition and congress function of the area as the top priority. The second is to find a new function for the parts of the area that are currently unused - for example, the velodrome area or the former theater building. The third goal is to open a part of the area to the public.

Given the main goal, the materials for the competitors include a development plan for the exhibition center prepared by Veletrhy Brno, a.s., which operates BVV, and Ing. Jiří Kuliš, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the company, is one of the jury members, whose inaugural meeting will be held on Thursday, April 13, 2017. "In addition to a representative from the management of the fairs, the jury will include representatives of the city or independent experts with extensive international experience, such as architect Ivan Koleček, who works in Switzerland, or architect Ivan Reimann from Berlin. The jury will seek urban visions for the development of the area that correspond to the 21st century and respect the limits of heritage protection as well as the economic aspects of fair management," comments on the goals of the competition Michal Sedláček, Director of KAM.

"The management of the fairs is part of the competition jury. Thus, it will make decisions with an awareness of the impact of future steps on the development of Veletrhy Brno. No decisions will be made without acknowledging responsibility to this important company, which is one of the symbols of the city of Brno," added Mayor Petr Vokřál.

Competition proposals will not be limited to the boundaries of the current exhibition area but will also address its transport and urban connections to the surrounding area, especially towards the Svratka River and Riviera, the park around Anthropos, and the area of the Brno Waterworks. This is an idea competition whose results will be used as a basis for the assignment of an area study for the BVV area, which will be discussed with all involved parties and will serve as a basis for changing the spatial planning documentation.

The competition assignment has been gradually discussed with representatives of the city, the operator of the exhibition center, and the independent professional public. On this topic, the Brno Sounding Board was also held on March 3, 2017 (records of the presentations are available on the KAM YouTube channel) and on April 6, 2017, the general public had the opportunity to get acquainted with the competition assignment. The BVV area will be dedicated to a May Walk with the City Architect, which will take place exactly 89 years after the first exhibition, namely on May 26, 2017.

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Composition of the Jury of the Competition

Independent Part of the Jury:
prof. Ing. arch. Ivan Koleček, president of the Federation of Swiss Architects
MgA. Jakub Kořínek, founder of the Brno Urban Circle, organizer of City Interventions Brno
Ing. arch. Zdeňka Vydrová, city architect of Litomyšl and Tišnov
Ing. arch. Petr Hlaváček, former director of the Institute of Planning and Development of Prague
prof. Dipl. Ing. Ivan Reimann (Müller Reimann Architekten, Berlin, TU Dresden)
Ing. arch. Akad. arch. Jiří Klokočka (Waregem, Belgium) - substitute
doc. Ing. arch. Radek Kolařík (Prague) - substitute
prof. Ing. arch. Zdeněk Zavřel (Prague) - substitute

Dependent Part of the Jury:
Mayor Ing. Petr Vokřál, Mayor of the City of Brno
Ing. Jiří Kuliš, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Veletrhy Brno a.s.
Mgr. Martin Ander, PhD., Deputy Mayor of the City of Brno
Ing. Jaroslav Kacer, Deputy Mayor of the City of Brno
Mgr. Petr Hladík, Deputy Mayor of the City of Brno - substitute
Richard Mrázek, Deputy Mayor of the City of Brno - substitute
Mgr. Matěj Hollan, Deputy Mayor of the City of Brno - substitute
doc. Ing. arch. Michal Sedláček, Director of the Office of the City Architect - substitute

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Walk with the City Architect - May 26, 2017
History, present, and future of the Brno Exhibition Centre area and surroundings

> www.kambrno.cz