The Ostrava cultural public wants to preserve the spaces of the former hobby market

Ostrava - Part of the Ostrava cultural public is striving for the temporary preservation of the former Bauhaus DIY store building in the city center. The space is used for events by the modern art gallery Plato. However, it is set to close in June, and demolition of the building is planned. This will be followed by an urban competition and new construction. This is exactly what bothers some signatories of the call that Bauhaus should not close. According to them, the benefit of the location for the city will be zero for many years. Ostrava Mayor Jan Dohnal (ODS) told ČTK that the spaces were provisional from the start and require high operating and investment costs.

"If the city closes Bauhaus and demolishes it without a vision for the future shape of the space, the benefit of the location for the city will be zero for several years. It will take several years before the urban competition is realized, before a buyer is found for the area after Bauhaus, and before they obtain a construction permit. The empty Bauhaus space will be abandoned starting July of this year after it is cleared," the call states.

Dohnal said there are several reasons for ending the operation. One of them is the cost of operating the building. "Annually, it ranges around three to four million crowns. But these are just operating costs. We are not talking about the investment needed for continued operation," the mayor added, noting that he believes it would be uneconomical to continue operating the facility.

Opponents of the plan also point out that this part of the city is not yet sufficiently built-up and populated, which means that the empty building will attract vandalism and destruction. "The area will very quickly become problematic and dangerous, which could significantly negatively affect the quality of life in that part and the neighboring former slaughterhouse. The main part of the Plato gallery is currently located in the reconstructed historical building. "The city currently has neither the project for demolition nor the demolition permit for Bauhaus, so it can be expected that it will be empty for at least several months, rather years," the signatories added.

Dohnal stated that demolition could begin either this year or next year. "We have other plans for the land. If we want to offer it for sale, we need to clear it," he said.

The signatories of the call are convinced that until the city knows the results of the urban competition and has a specific plan on how to proceed with the area, Bauhaus can continue to serve the public. The intention to terminate the current activities in Bauhaus by June of this year is considered by the authors of the call to be insufficiently publicly communicated and unsystematic. "We realize that a certain community life has developed here during its existence. On the other hand, Bauhaus has been a provisional space for Plato from the beginning. It has been communicated from the start that it would be cleared after the reconstruction of the former slaughterhouse. The gallery already has a new object for hundreds of millions of crowns," Dohnal said.

Plato gallery in the hobby market, which spans 5,000 square meters, creates space for the alternative scene as well as individual interests, helping young people and emerging associations or initiatives prepare activities, providing them with know-how and lending equipment. Because of this, Bauhaus functions as a unique low-threshold community place valued by the professional public with very low personnel costs.