X. Bohuslav Fuchs Prize - awarded projects
for the winter semester 2015/2016
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Conversations with the Wall
Prepared by: Bc. Kristýna Trojanová
Project Leader: MArch. Ing. arch. Jan Kristek and Ph.D., Ing.arch. Jaroslav Sedlák
"There is a wall in Líšeň, by the Stránská skála. Around the Zetoru complex. I am trying to provide an honest account of it. It is impossible to grasp. Lines in space and time. It defines the entire area, represents its value.
I want to take away the feeling of what is within me when I am at the wall. To attempt to mediate it."
The studio assignment for me was to work on the area of Líšeň, specifically the Zetoru manufacturing plant and its surroundings. It is a former industrial area, part of which is unused, dead. A public area in the city that is not accessible and cut off from its surroundings.
The task was to conduct an exploration of the area, an in-depth analysis resulting in a map. A map in a modified form, which will have a deeper meaning and into which the character of the place, the genius loci, will be projected.
The main medium investigated for me became the wall. A concrete modular boundary separating the area of the complex from its surroundings. I mapped the area using my own experience. The sense and experience in the given location I prioritized over the objective knowledge that can be gained through available sources, measurements, etc. In the process of testing and exploring the site, the effort to try and verify manifested itself completely naturally. The tool for measuring length is not the meter unit, the measurement of time takes place more in the realm of experience than in the actual counting of minutes.
Awareness and experience is the main topic. Subsequently comes the verification of what one perceives, feels. Through various approaches to the medium of the wall, I tried to capture its length, module, material, and age. With each subsequent experiment, I was able to better understand the connections and relationships in the area. This helped me to concretize and coherently capture the medium of the wall.
At first, I tried to bypass the wall. I found that in some parts of the area, the wall cannot even be approached and that the barrier is formed not only by the concrete wall, but also by overgrown vegetation. The next step was to capture the material, focusing on detail, as I transferred individual wall fragments onto sheets of paper using frottage. The result varied when using different types of paper and charcoal.
Then I moved on to specific interventions. I demonstrated the linearity of the wall. With white chalk, I drew a line on the wall, clearly expressing the continuity of the wall. In the following test, I painted one part of the wall gray. This erased the timeline and at the same time added another layer to the area. By unifying and "cleaning" the wall in this way, its monumentality fully resonates. The paint applied to the wall was simultaneously printed onto paper, and I examined the information obtained in this way.
The final gesture that unified all previous ones was the creation of a cement path around the wall. This emerged from the awareness of the movement of time, the dynamics of the surroundings, and the statics of the wall. I highlighted what was already on the site. I pointed out the impact the wall has on the area. I conserved a small part of the surroundings.
Through repeated visits, meetings with the wall, and the interventions I conducted in the designated area, I gradually discovered the phenomenon that arises from long-term exploration of a thing. Thanks to verification, observation, and conscious experience, I can approach city problems from a different perspective. I am learning to name the problem, abstract its most distinctive features, and define myself against them. In that, I see the greatest benefit of my work this year. That a person allows the given location to affect them has positive consequences for the entire process of work, whether it’s about creating analysis, explorations, or shaping proposals. Walking, looking, and being attentive is the foundation of creation.
The questions that arose during the research, to which I tried to respond within the local context, were: What is a barrier, how do urban boundaries function? How does the relationship of whole vs. detail manifest in space creation? What is scale? What causes the feeling of monumentality? Is continuity important for the functioning of the urban whole? How does the feeling of genius loci arise? How to obtain a simple account of a place? How to capture the essence of a place? When does a relationship with the area arise? What is a line? What is linearity?
The feeling that I gained and which ultimately prevailed in forming the response is that temporality is the main guide to the entire place.
Thanks to the length and the many experiments through which I captured the atmosphere and character of the place, I became aware, from a certain phase, of an absolute transformation, where testing a specific thing changed and generalized the whole problem. I was very surprised to reach such generally valid conclusions and principles when exploring a specific thing. This finding significantly deepened my existing experience. During the investigation of the phenomenon of the wall, I documented my experiences and insights in the form of photographs and writing, which significantly helped me in specifying and clarifying my stance on the wall.
The conclusion of the analytical activities is a catalog, containing and presenting the individual experiments. It connects different fragments together and tries to provide a comprehensive account of the wall. It approaches the examined issue, even though the entire process of creation was based on place, time, experience, and a purely personal experience. It presents the relationship and importance of its emergence between the creator and the object of creation. Although the experience is an individual matter and partially non-transferable, I try to convey it to the viewer in the purest form possible.
Absolute Absence
Prepared by: Bc. Norbert Obršál
Project Leader: Ing. arch. Barbora Ponešová, Ph.D., Ing. arch. Jan Foretník, Ph.D
Runaway Unofficial Guide
Prepared by: Bc. Alexandra Sýkorová and Bc. Matěj Halinár
Project Leader: MArch. Ing. arch. Jan Kristek and Ph.D., Ing.arch. Jaroslav Sedlákk
Link to the video map - HERE.
Green Wedge
This area has never been intensively built. The territory was unsuitable for construction because there was a lake surrounded by clay and sandy soils. In the Baroque period, the first idea arose to utilize this area to expand Lužánky and thus create the so-called green wedge, which would connect the city center with the countryside.
Later, waste began to be dumped here and temporary workers' colonies were built. Then the area was "smoothed out," from which the colloquial term "Planýrka" originated. The idea of the green wedge was revisited by the architects again in the mid-20th century.
"Brno Sports Dream"
At the beginning of the 20th century, the idea arose to build sports facilities on this vacant lot close to the center. In 1922, the 2nd Czechoslovak Spartakiad took place at Planýrka. Prospects for a sports future were disrupted by war, but after it, in 1950, a bold proposal for the largest sports center in Czechoslovakia by architect Bohumil Fiala emerged. The project's goal was also to connect the park and sports facilities with the countryside and forests beyond the city.
The connection had a strong potential for the city, as well as for its inhabitants, who would have close access to nature and would not have to cross a concrete jungle filled with metal predators. Only a small percentage of the project was realized. The area is now dominated by Královopolské machine works, a railway line, a shopping center, and a freeway. The entire area has the character of an impenetrable and opaque island.
Mapping/Analysis During Running
The goal of mapping was to find the connection between the city center and the countryside, the aforementioned green wedge. For the analysis, we decided not to deviate far from the history of the place, and as a means of mapping, we chose running.
The result of the mapping is a running circuit that revealed the qualities and potential of the environment as well as its shortcomings and flaws.
The runner is a person who wants to move through all urban spaces. Running in the city in the 21st century is a new type of sport. It differs from running on a track and on a single fixed route. In this urban-landscape environment, one runs and perceives their surroundings more than their body.
Running Circuit
In Lužánky, a circuit is run in a renovated romantic park from the 19th century. The sports stadium behind Lužánky is a 20th-century circuit with an improved surface and perfect conditions for athletic performance, with precise measurement of distances run. In both cases, the runner runs in a stereotypical circle. But try to imagine a circuit where the environment, surface, level, situations, and terrain change throughout the route.
New Sport
When running through unknown places, physical performance takes a back seat. The runner focuses less on their body and more on the environment and the route. Running becomes a tool for exploration and an adventurous expedition through urban landscapes. In the space, one must move and orient themselves quickly, choosing spontaneously according to surfaces, terrain difficulty, and accessibility. Often, barriers must be overcome, and quick adaptation is required. One perceives strongly the horizontality and surfaces. They discover barriers and simply overcome them. Different rules apply to them. It changes the perspective on the city and its accessibility and continuity.
Urban Landscape
The city has many barriers. No one feels this as much as the runner, who has a sense of fluidity and rhythm. It is easier to adapt to the city than to fight against it and to change one's thinking. Barriers and problems should not be taken negatively but learned how to overcome and use to one's advantage.
Running Manual
The running manual aims to help the runner navigate the urban landscape and motivate them in running. Obstacles and inconveniences don’t have to always be bad if one finds a way to overcome them. The runner cannot change the environment but can begin to think differently about it. First and foremost, they should not fear failure. There is no greater pleasure than getting lost while running. “Inconvenience is just a badly understood adventure.”
Interventions
Part of the manual includes inconspicuous interventions, actions that do no harm to anyone but can be beneficial. They are adventurous shortcuts that enliven the route and help get to hard-to-reach places. They are placed where they are needed. Runners can also create them themselves. Sometimes no connections need to be created, just pointing them out is enough.
Running Assistant (RA)
The guide facilitates and complicates the runner's movement in the city.
The RA is created by combining a compass with an azimuth and GPS. This is due to the ability to determine and plan one's routes the old-fashioned way. In addition, it has new features that complement the running manual.
It disrupts the routine of running along the same places and develops the sense of orientation. It generates new routes. These consist of several checkpoints, to which the assistant directs with a pointer. It is similar to when the compass needle points north. The number of checkpoints depends on the runner's fitness level, which the assistant saves in memory. After reaching a checkpoint, the pointer starts directing to the next one. Checkpoints gradually create the running circuit.
The running assistant (RA) contains a current database of information about traffic lights at intersections. The runner can better plan their running route because they know when the green light will turn on at the traffic light.
Interventions, i.e. shortcuts that make the area accessible, will gradually be integrated into the route, but they are not easy to find.
Users can themselves supplement the system with new routes, unknown places, and checkpoints.
It has a simple body and operating system with minimal functions. Therefore, anyone can build it at home.
Townhouse in the Gap Pellicova 5c
Prepared by: Blanka Štuříková
Project Leader: prof. Ing. arch. Petr Pelčák, Ing. arch. Bohumila Hybská
The design presents a townhouse for a family of four with rental office space on the first floor.
The concept of the house is based on the motif of alternating levels of floors and maintaining spatial views from one facade to another. Rooms facing the street (to the north) offer a view of the attractive area of the park under Špilberk from the upper floors, while rooms and terraces on the southern facade look out onto Petrov and the Brno skyline.
For parking the residents of the house, a nearby parking garage on Kopečná street will be used. In the hallway, there is space to store bicycles or strollers.
The house includes a glass elevator that stops at each floor (at 1.685 meters) and facilitates communication in the multi-story building.
Privacy for the residents of the house is ensured as needed by remote-controlled curtains on the windows. The shading of the southern facade is solved by screen roller blinds.
Heating is provided by underfloor heating.
Between the Park and the Church
Prepared by: Ivana Galková
Project Leader: prof. Ing. arch. Petr Pelčák, Ing. arch. Bohumila Hybská
Design
My design aims to connect with the functionalist history – through its geometry, clear readability, simplicity of forms, and the building materials themselves (smooth plaster, aluminum).
Urbanism
By straightening the communication (Údolní street), the square takes on the shape of a rectangle. The longitudinal axis of symmetry is placed on the school's risalit. The main dominion, the Church of St. Augustine, thus comes into the interior of the square. The square is bounded on the eastern side by a line of trees, which sufficiently delineates the space of the square – establishing its boundary. However, it does not hinder the connection with the park. From the southern side, I propose the addition of a structure that will delimit and close the space.
Square
I perceive the area of the square itself as a counterpoint to the ubiquitous private space and indirect communication. As a public space serving people, for their social recreation. The square for me means a place that offers space for people, for their direct contact. “People are where people are" (an old Scandinavian proverb)
With the aim of strengthening public life in the square, I place a "multifunctional space." It is a flat area. It can change its character and thus change the character of the entire square. A shallow water surface reflecting the crowns of trees acts like an oasis of calm. An oasis of calm in a busy city, accessible to everyone anytime. It can be drained and thus transformed into a gathering space. In winter, the reservoir freezes, and the ice surface serves as a skating rink. Technically, it is a retention reservoir utilizing rainwater from the roof of the multifunctional building.
Objects
The concept of the houses reacts to the structure and scale of the surrounding buildings. These houses can offer quality housing that meets the demand of this locality. The houses are oriented towards a common garden. The garden is a place where neighbors can see, experience, and meet together, thus not living in anonymity.
Footbridge
Prepared by: Veronika Dočekalová
Project Leader: MgA. Ing. arch. Petr Šmídek Ph.D and Ing.arch. Nicol Gale
Olomouc is located in the heart of Moravia. It is the regional capital of the Olomouc Region. Once known as the center of Moravia, primarily because the Amber Road ran through it. Olomouc was called the Royal City. This area is recognized as the seat of the Jesuits, who established their college here in the 16th century. Because of them, the town is known as the city of faith. The core is historical. The dominant structures are baroque and renaissance buildings. However, the surroundings of the center are built in newer styles. Camillo Sitte also participated in the urban planning of the city. Unfortunately, his contribution was not fully realized, only a portion of it. Today, the place is predominantly populated by students. In fact, 1/5 of the population are students. There is Palacký University, which has countless faculties.
In the historical center of the city, near Republic Square and Křížkovského street, we find a row of baroque-style buildings that lie on the fortifications. Outside the fortifications is a large, used park. The entire row serves the university. Each object has an inner closed courtyard, except for one building, which has an unobstructed courtyard from the side of the fortifications. However, the courtyard is not passable; it serves only as a private parking lot. Two perpendicular buildings around the courtyard serve various purposes. The ground floor houses a cafeteria for students. On the 2nd floor, there is the rectorate and offices. The last side consists only of a bare gable with an overhanging house. This part, however, belongs to the adjoining building, which is the university charity. The task is to solve this gap. However, we face countless problems. How to solve the bare gable of the building? Not to fill or fill the gap? To create a semi-private, private, or public, semi-public space?
This part of the historical section of Olomouc with the park offers rich and captivating views and evokes in a person captivating feelings. Therefore, a footbridge was designed, and such a shape of the building that conveys the beauty of these views and helps people experience a journey full of emotions and the beauty of Olomouc.
Since Olomouc is now known as a student city, and the gap is located in a row of buildings belonging to and serving the university, a building will be designed for the needs of students and, in part, the public. Here we will find a café that offers a beautiful view. Sports halls for smaller physical activities. A larger lecture hall with a kitchenette and vending machines, and last but not least, an auditorium. The auditorium is solely for students. For students’ initiative to lecture to other students. To support their interests.
Why a student house? During the workshop in Olomouc, we got acquainted with the place and the locals. We asked: what is missing here? What needs to be changed? Their answers were quite clear. They lacked a public space for gathering, for undisturbed studying, for shared relaxation and quiet lunches.
Footbridge
Let’s analyze the footbridge. If we go along the ramparts, we will reach the footbridge, which linearly stretches along the fortifications. We thus have two options. We can go onto the footbridge, providing us vistas of the park and the admirable Olomouc. Or we will walk straight along the ramparts and get to the courtyard. If we walk on the footbridge, after overcoming a gentle slope, we reach an observation point. The lookout allows us an unobstructed view. At this point, we will not meet the always-hurrying inhabitants; we can sit quietly and gaze into the distance. We can also access the first floor of the building serving students and the public via the footbridge. There we find a restaurant and a gym. In summer, the restaurant expands to an outdoor seating area on the footbridge. This path then concludes with a descent back into the courtyard. However, if we decide not to enter the footbridge but go directly to the courtyard, we access a space that, due to the shape of the building, divides into two parts. The first part towards the park is dining and relaxation-oriented. Mainly because on the ground floor of the proposed building, we find a café (that has two floors) and also an opening cafeteria to the courtyard.
The auditorium is rather suitable for more lively activities like table tennis, etc. On the third floor of the building is again a viewing area in the form of a long balcony along the entire building. The roof is walkable and serves views, but also lectures and smaller theatrical performances. These three elements – footbridges oriented according to the view – together with the shape of the building create the concept.
Building
The shape of the building is designed to allow views of the horizon of Olomouc while allowing the intensity of light to flow into the building according to its function. The building symbolically divides the square into two parts, as mentioned earlier. The object has 4 floors and one underground floor. Each floor has a structural height of 4 meters. There is only one entrance to each floor. The entrance leads to vertical communications. The underground floor is purely technical in nature. It contains all the technical equipment serving the building. In the ground floor, in front of the vertical communications, we have the option of entering the left or right part of the building. The left part houses a two-story restaurant that has a separate staircase. The restaurant has two operations. Each operation is handled by a different employee. In the right part, we find a sports hall serving for smaller hall activities such as pilates, aerobics, etc. On the next floor, we again have a connected second part of the restaurant and an identical sports hall again. These halls do not influence each other and operate independently. On the third floor, in the left part, we find a relaxation room with a kitchenette. Here students can warm up lunch, make tea or buy food from vending machines. Behind this room are toilets. In the right part is a lecture hall. In the last floor, we again find a kitchenette and, on the right side, a smaller auditorium. The auditorium is only for students. A student can assemble their own interesting lecture and present it to others. It all depends on their own initiative. The roof is walkable. It offers beautiful views and the possibility of seating in the summer. The slanted surfaces are suitable for sitting in rows and watching smaller theatrical performances or concerts with a view of Olomouc.
Material
The building is constructed from 3 main materials. These are concrete, wood, and steel.
The structure consists of the Velox system. This is a combination of reinforced concrete with lost formwork. The lost formwork consists of slabs containing heraklit. This construction also includes built-in thermal insulation. This prevents thermal bridges. The final layer is a facade of exposed concrete.
The footbridge and dominant horizontal elements are fundamentally made from the Velox system, but on the surface, wood will be visible.
The columns, as support elements for the footbridge, are made of steel.
The essence of concrete lies in the fact that anything can be modeled from it. It is highly malleable but at the same time cold. The designed building is a sculpture that demands such material. As a counterpoint, wood is proposed as the dominant horizontal element. Wood is warm and alive, inherently linear.
Nutrient Cradle
Prepared by: Petra Šebová
Project Leader: Ing. arch. Jan Mléčka, Ph.D .
In satellite images, it is clearly recognizable where the former villages lay. Some kind of inversion. Covered by pioneering forest, they differ from the monoculture of spruce.
Epicenters that once concentrated results of human energy. They carry the potential of emotional charge for the landscape, creating a relationship. The ambition is to connect with history, but without a pathetic piety for the lost villages. To connect with the liveliness of the place.
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Prepared by: Bc. Kristýna Trojanová
Project Leader: MArch. Ing. arch. Jan Kristek and Ph.D., Ing.arch. Jaroslav Sedlák
"There is a wall in Líšeň, by the Stránská skála. Around the Zetoru complex. I am trying to provide an honest account of it. It is impossible to grasp. Lines in space and time. It defines the entire area, represents its value.
I want to take away the feeling of what is within me when I am at the wall. To attempt to mediate it."
The studio assignment for me was to work on the area of Líšeň, specifically the Zetoru manufacturing plant and its surroundings. It is a former industrial area, part of which is unused, dead. A public area in the city that is not accessible and cut off from its surroundings.
The task was to conduct an exploration of the area, an in-depth analysis resulting in a map. A map in a modified form, which will have a deeper meaning and into which the character of the place, the genius loci, will be projected.
The main medium investigated for me became the wall. A concrete modular boundary separating the area of the complex from its surroundings. I mapped the area using my own experience. The sense and experience in the given location I prioritized over the objective knowledge that can be gained through available sources, measurements, etc. In the process of testing and exploring the site, the effort to try and verify manifested itself completely naturally. The tool for measuring length is not the meter unit, the measurement of time takes place more in the realm of experience than in the actual counting of minutes.
Awareness and experience is the main topic. Subsequently comes the verification of what one perceives, feels. Through various approaches to the medium of the wall, I tried to capture its length, module, material, and age. With each subsequent experiment, I was able to better understand the connections and relationships in the area. This helped me to concretize and coherently capture the medium of the wall.
At first, I tried to bypass the wall. I found that in some parts of the area, the wall cannot even be approached and that the barrier is formed not only by the concrete wall, but also by overgrown vegetation. The next step was to capture the material, focusing on detail, as I transferred individual wall fragments onto sheets of paper using frottage. The result varied when using different types of paper and charcoal.
Then I moved on to specific interventions. I demonstrated the linearity of the wall. With white chalk, I drew a line on the wall, clearly expressing the continuity of the wall. In the following test, I painted one part of the wall gray. This erased the timeline and at the same time added another layer to the area. By unifying and "cleaning" the wall in this way, its monumentality fully resonates. The paint applied to the wall was simultaneously printed onto paper, and I examined the information obtained in this way.
The final gesture that unified all previous ones was the creation of a cement path around the wall. This emerged from the awareness of the movement of time, the dynamics of the surroundings, and the statics of the wall. I highlighted what was already on the site. I pointed out the impact the wall has on the area. I conserved a small part of the surroundings.
Through repeated visits, meetings with the wall, and the interventions I conducted in the designated area, I gradually discovered the phenomenon that arises from long-term exploration of a thing. Thanks to verification, observation, and conscious experience, I can approach city problems from a different perspective. I am learning to name the problem, abstract its most distinctive features, and define myself against them. In that, I see the greatest benefit of my work this year. That a person allows the given location to affect them has positive consequences for the entire process of work, whether it’s about creating analysis, explorations, or shaping proposals. Walking, looking, and being attentive is the foundation of creation.
The questions that arose during the research, to which I tried to respond within the local context, were: What is a barrier, how do urban boundaries function? How does the relationship of whole vs. detail manifest in space creation? What is scale? What causes the feeling of monumentality? Is continuity important for the functioning of the urban whole? How does the feeling of genius loci arise? How to obtain a simple account of a place? How to capture the essence of a place? When does a relationship with the area arise? What is a line? What is linearity?
The feeling that I gained and which ultimately prevailed in forming the response is that temporality is the main guide to the entire place.
Thanks to the length and the many experiments through which I captured the atmosphere and character of the place, I became aware, from a certain phase, of an absolute transformation, where testing a specific thing changed and generalized the whole problem. I was very surprised to reach such generally valid conclusions and principles when exploring a specific thing. This finding significantly deepened my existing experience. During the investigation of the phenomenon of the wall, I documented my experiences and insights in the form of photographs and writing, which significantly helped me in specifying and clarifying my stance on the wall.
The conclusion of the analytical activities is a catalog, containing and presenting the individual experiments. It connects different fragments together and tries to provide a comprehensive account of the wall. It approaches the examined issue, even though the entire process of creation was based on place, time, experience, and a purely personal experience. It presents the relationship and importance of its emergence between the creator and the object of creation. Although the experience is an individual matter and partially non-transferable, I try to convey it to the viewer in the purest form possible.
Absolute Absence
Prepared by: Bc. Norbert Obršál
Project Leader: Ing. arch. Barbora Ponešová, Ph.D., Ing. arch. Jan Foretník, Ph.D
Runaway Unofficial Guide
Prepared by: Bc. Alexandra Sýkorová and Bc. Matěj Halinár
Project Leader: MArch. Ing. arch. Jan Kristek and Ph.D., Ing.arch. Jaroslav Sedlákk
Link to the video map - HERE.
Green Wedge
This area has never been intensively built. The territory was unsuitable for construction because there was a lake surrounded by clay and sandy soils. In the Baroque period, the first idea arose to utilize this area to expand Lužánky and thus create the so-called green wedge, which would connect the city center with the countryside.
Later, waste began to be dumped here and temporary workers' colonies were built. Then the area was "smoothed out," from which the colloquial term "Planýrka" originated. The idea of the green wedge was revisited by the architects again in the mid-20th century.
"Brno Sports Dream"
At the beginning of the 20th century, the idea arose to build sports facilities on this vacant lot close to the center. In 1922, the 2nd Czechoslovak Spartakiad took place at Planýrka. Prospects for a sports future were disrupted by war, but after it, in 1950, a bold proposal for the largest sports center in Czechoslovakia by architect Bohumil Fiala emerged. The project's goal was also to connect the park and sports facilities with the countryside and forests beyond the city.
The connection had a strong potential for the city, as well as for its inhabitants, who would have close access to nature and would not have to cross a concrete jungle filled with metal predators. Only a small percentage of the project was realized. The area is now dominated by Královopolské machine works, a railway line, a shopping center, and a freeway. The entire area has the character of an impenetrable and opaque island.
Mapping/Analysis During Running
The goal of mapping was to find the connection between the city center and the countryside, the aforementioned green wedge. For the analysis, we decided not to deviate far from the history of the place, and as a means of mapping, we chose running.
The result of the mapping is a running circuit that revealed the qualities and potential of the environment as well as its shortcomings and flaws.
The runner is a person who wants to move through all urban spaces. Running in the city in the 21st century is a new type of sport. It differs from running on a track and on a single fixed route. In this urban-landscape environment, one runs and perceives their surroundings more than their body.
Running Circuit
In Lužánky, a circuit is run in a renovated romantic park from the 19th century. The sports stadium behind Lužánky is a 20th-century circuit with an improved surface and perfect conditions for athletic performance, with precise measurement of distances run. In both cases, the runner runs in a stereotypical circle. But try to imagine a circuit where the environment, surface, level, situations, and terrain change throughout the route.
New Sport
When running through unknown places, physical performance takes a back seat. The runner focuses less on their body and more on the environment and the route. Running becomes a tool for exploration and an adventurous expedition through urban landscapes. In the space, one must move and orient themselves quickly, choosing spontaneously according to surfaces, terrain difficulty, and accessibility. Often, barriers must be overcome, and quick adaptation is required. One perceives strongly the horizontality and surfaces. They discover barriers and simply overcome them. Different rules apply to them. It changes the perspective on the city and its accessibility and continuity.
Urban Landscape
The city has many barriers. No one feels this as much as the runner, who has a sense of fluidity and rhythm. It is easier to adapt to the city than to fight against it and to change one's thinking. Barriers and problems should not be taken negatively but learned how to overcome and use to one's advantage.
Running Manual
The running manual aims to help the runner navigate the urban landscape and motivate them in running. Obstacles and inconveniences don’t have to always be bad if one finds a way to overcome them. The runner cannot change the environment but can begin to think differently about it. First and foremost, they should not fear failure. There is no greater pleasure than getting lost while running. “Inconvenience is just a badly understood adventure.”
Interventions
Part of the manual includes inconspicuous interventions, actions that do no harm to anyone but can be beneficial. They are adventurous shortcuts that enliven the route and help get to hard-to-reach places. They are placed where they are needed. Runners can also create them themselves. Sometimes no connections need to be created, just pointing them out is enough.
Running Assistant (RA)
The guide facilitates and complicates the runner's movement in the city.
The RA is created by combining a compass with an azimuth and GPS. This is due to the ability to determine and plan one's routes the old-fashioned way. In addition, it has new features that complement the running manual.
It disrupts the routine of running along the same places and develops the sense of orientation. It generates new routes. These consist of several checkpoints, to which the assistant directs with a pointer. It is similar to when the compass needle points north. The number of checkpoints depends on the runner's fitness level, which the assistant saves in memory. After reaching a checkpoint, the pointer starts directing to the next one. Checkpoints gradually create the running circuit.
The running assistant (RA) contains a current database of information about traffic lights at intersections. The runner can better plan their running route because they know when the green light will turn on at the traffic light.
Interventions, i.e. shortcuts that make the area accessible, will gradually be integrated into the route, but they are not easy to find.
Users can themselves supplement the system with new routes, unknown places, and checkpoints.
It has a simple body and operating system with minimal functions. Therefore, anyone can build it at home.
Townhouse in the Gap Pellicova 5c
Prepared by: Blanka Štuříková
Project Leader: prof. Ing. arch. Petr Pelčák, Ing. arch. Bohumila Hybská
The design presents a townhouse for a family of four with rental office space on the first floor.
The concept of the house is based on the motif of alternating levels of floors and maintaining spatial views from one facade to another. Rooms facing the street (to the north) offer a view of the attractive area of the park under Špilberk from the upper floors, while rooms and terraces on the southern facade look out onto Petrov and the Brno skyline.
For parking the residents of the house, a nearby parking garage on Kopečná street will be used. In the hallway, there is space to store bicycles or strollers.
The house includes a glass elevator that stops at each floor (at 1.685 meters) and facilitates communication in the multi-story building.
Privacy for the residents of the house is ensured as needed by remote-controlled curtains on the windows. The shading of the southern facade is solved by screen roller blinds.
Heating is provided by underfloor heating.
Between the Park and the Church
Prepared by: Ivana Galková
Project Leader: prof. Ing. arch. Petr Pelčák, Ing. arch. Bohumila Hybská
Design
My design aims to connect with the functionalist history – through its geometry, clear readability, simplicity of forms, and the building materials themselves (smooth plaster, aluminum).
Urbanism
By straightening the communication (Údolní street), the square takes on the shape of a rectangle. The longitudinal axis of symmetry is placed on the school's risalit. The main dominion, the Church of St. Augustine, thus comes into the interior of the square. The square is bounded on the eastern side by a line of trees, which sufficiently delineates the space of the square – establishing its boundary. However, it does not hinder the connection with the park. From the southern side, I propose the addition of a structure that will delimit and close the space.
Square
I perceive the area of the square itself as a counterpoint to the ubiquitous private space and indirect communication. As a public space serving people, for their social recreation. The square for me means a place that offers space for people, for their direct contact. “People are where people are" (an old Scandinavian proverb)
With the aim of strengthening public life in the square, I place a "multifunctional space." It is a flat area. It can change its character and thus change the character of the entire square. A shallow water surface reflecting the crowns of trees acts like an oasis of calm. An oasis of calm in a busy city, accessible to everyone anytime. It can be drained and thus transformed into a gathering space. In winter, the reservoir freezes, and the ice surface serves as a skating rink. Technically, it is a retention reservoir utilizing rainwater from the roof of the multifunctional building.
Objects
The concept of the houses reacts to the structure and scale of the surrounding buildings. These houses can offer quality housing that meets the demand of this locality. The houses are oriented towards a common garden. The garden is a place where neighbors can see, experience, and meet together, thus not living in anonymity.
Footbridge
Prepared by: Veronika Dočekalová
Project Leader: MgA. Ing. arch. Petr Šmídek Ph.D and Ing.arch. Nicol Gale
Olomouc is located in the heart of Moravia. It is the regional capital of the Olomouc Region. Once known as the center of Moravia, primarily because the Amber Road ran through it. Olomouc was called the Royal City. This area is recognized as the seat of the Jesuits, who established their college here in the 16th century. Because of them, the town is known as the city of faith. The core is historical. The dominant structures are baroque and renaissance buildings. However, the surroundings of the center are built in newer styles. Camillo Sitte also participated in the urban planning of the city. Unfortunately, his contribution was not fully realized, only a portion of it. Today, the place is predominantly populated by students. In fact, 1/5 of the population are students. There is Palacký University, which has countless faculties.
In the historical center of the city, near Republic Square and Křížkovského street, we find a row of baroque-style buildings that lie on the fortifications. Outside the fortifications is a large, used park. The entire row serves the university. Each object has an inner closed courtyard, except for one building, which has an unobstructed courtyard from the side of the fortifications. However, the courtyard is not passable; it serves only as a private parking lot. Two perpendicular buildings around the courtyard serve various purposes. The ground floor houses a cafeteria for students. On the 2nd floor, there is the rectorate and offices. The last side consists only of a bare gable with an overhanging house. This part, however, belongs to the adjoining building, which is the university charity. The task is to solve this gap. However, we face countless problems. How to solve the bare gable of the building? Not to fill or fill the gap? To create a semi-private, private, or public, semi-public space?
This part of the historical section of Olomouc with the park offers rich and captivating views and evokes in a person captivating feelings. Therefore, a footbridge was designed, and such a shape of the building that conveys the beauty of these views and helps people experience a journey full of emotions and the beauty of Olomouc.
Since Olomouc is now known as a student city, and the gap is located in a row of buildings belonging to and serving the university, a building will be designed for the needs of students and, in part, the public. Here we will find a café that offers a beautiful view. Sports halls for smaller physical activities. A larger lecture hall with a kitchenette and vending machines, and last but not least, an auditorium. The auditorium is solely for students. For students’ initiative to lecture to other students. To support their interests.
Why a student house? During the workshop in Olomouc, we got acquainted with the place and the locals. We asked: what is missing here? What needs to be changed? Their answers were quite clear. They lacked a public space for gathering, for undisturbed studying, for shared relaxation and quiet lunches.
Footbridge
Let’s analyze the footbridge. If we go along the ramparts, we will reach the footbridge, which linearly stretches along the fortifications. We thus have two options. We can go onto the footbridge, providing us vistas of the park and the admirable Olomouc. Or we will walk straight along the ramparts and get to the courtyard. If we walk on the footbridge, after overcoming a gentle slope, we reach an observation point. The lookout allows us an unobstructed view. At this point, we will not meet the always-hurrying inhabitants; we can sit quietly and gaze into the distance. We can also access the first floor of the building serving students and the public via the footbridge. There we find a restaurant and a gym. In summer, the restaurant expands to an outdoor seating area on the footbridge. This path then concludes with a descent back into the courtyard. However, if we decide not to enter the footbridge but go directly to the courtyard, we access a space that, due to the shape of the building, divides into two parts. The first part towards the park is dining and relaxation-oriented. Mainly because on the ground floor of the proposed building, we find a café (that has two floors) and also an opening cafeteria to the courtyard.
The auditorium is rather suitable for more lively activities like table tennis, etc. On the third floor of the building is again a viewing area in the form of a long balcony along the entire building. The roof is walkable and serves views, but also lectures and smaller theatrical performances. These three elements – footbridges oriented according to the view – together with the shape of the building create the concept.
Building
The shape of the building is designed to allow views of the horizon of Olomouc while allowing the intensity of light to flow into the building according to its function. The building symbolically divides the square into two parts, as mentioned earlier. The object has 4 floors and one underground floor. Each floor has a structural height of 4 meters. There is only one entrance to each floor. The entrance leads to vertical communications. The underground floor is purely technical in nature. It contains all the technical equipment serving the building. In the ground floor, in front of the vertical communications, we have the option of entering the left or right part of the building. The left part houses a two-story restaurant that has a separate staircase. The restaurant has two operations. Each operation is handled by a different employee. In the right part, we find a sports hall serving for smaller hall activities such as pilates, aerobics, etc. On the next floor, we again have a connected second part of the restaurant and an identical sports hall again. These halls do not influence each other and operate independently. On the third floor, in the left part, we find a relaxation room with a kitchenette. Here students can warm up lunch, make tea or buy food from vending machines. Behind this room are toilets. In the right part is a lecture hall. In the last floor, we again find a kitchenette and, on the right side, a smaller auditorium. The auditorium is only for students. A student can assemble their own interesting lecture and present it to others. It all depends on their own initiative. The roof is walkable. It offers beautiful views and the possibility of seating in the summer. The slanted surfaces are suitable for sitting in rows and watching smaller theatrical performances or concerts with a view of Olomouc.
Material
The building is constructed from 3 main materials. These are concrete, wood, and steel.
The structure consists of the Velox system. This is a combination of reinforced concrete with lost formwork. The lost formwork consists of slabs containing heraklit. This construction also includes built-in thermal insulation. This prevents thermal bridges. The final layer is a facade of exposed concrete.
The footbridge and dominant horizontal elements are fundamentally made from the Velox system, but on the surface, wood will be visible.
The columns, as support elements for the footbridge, are made of steel.
The essence of concrete lies in the fact that anything can be modeled from it. It is highly malleable but at the same time cold. The designed building is a sculpture that demands such material. As a counterpoint, wood is proposed as the dominant horizontal element. Wood is warm and alive, inherently linear.
Nutrient Cradle
Prepared by: Petra Šebová
Project Leader: Ing. arch. Jan Mléčka, Ph.D .
In satellite images, it is clearly recognizable where the former villages lay. Some kind of inversion. Covered by pioneering forest, they differ from the monoculture of spruce.
Epicenters that once concentrated results of human energy. They carry the potential of emotional charge for the landscape, creating a relationship. The ambition is to connect with history, but without a pathetic piety for the lost villages. To connect with the liveliness of the place.
The English translation is powered by AI tool. Switch to Czech to view the original text source.
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