The ministry returned the construction project on Revoluční to the magistrate

Prague - The Ministry of Culture returned the project for Novomlýnská Gate, a new building at the end of Revoluční Street by the Vltava River, to the municipal heritage department. The city’s heritage conservators had previously approved the project, which also included demolishing the adjacent building. However, the ministry’s heritage conservators decided last year that the house should not be demolished.
    The owner of the house, who wants to build the new structure, appealed against their decision, and thus the project was addressed by the appeals commission of the Minister of Culture. After a year and a half, the preparation for construction is back to square one.
    The Ministry of Culture is canceling the binding opinion of the municipal heritage department from December 15, 2011, and is returning the matter to the first-instance administrative body, namely this department, spokesperson Lenka Brandtová told ČTK. There is no regular remedy against the decision.
    The Novomlýnská Gate project is supposed to conclude Revoluční Street and become a kind of gateway to the city center from the river. The sizeable structure, which includes the demolition of a neo-Renaissance, currently devastated building and the incorporation of a low Baroque house, is proposed by the DaM studio, which the investor selected in a small invited competition. "We are not changing anything in the project yet; we have not yet reached an agreement with the investor," said Petr Burian from the studio to ČTK today, as they continue to prepare the project.
    According to previous information, the land and building owner expects an investment of 250 million korunas. The building is intended to have multiple functions, primarily featuring shops, offices, and parking spaces; the investor does not exclude the possibility of including more apartments.
    DaM proposes a structure that is not a traditional city building - it does not have a classic facade with windows. The relatively large mass has an abstract shape, and the building's envelope is to be covered with perforated copper-colored sheet metal. The structure is supposed to have a passage that would provide access to a picturesque nook adjoining Lannova Street.