Students of UMPRUM will help Hradec Králové revitalize the embankments and Ulrich Square

Hradec Králové - Students of the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM) will help Hradec Králové revitalize the Elbe embankments, Ulrich Square, and other public spaces. The city anticipates the involvement of additional experts from the Czech Republic and abroad. It has allocated 2.4 million crowns from the budget for this cooperation, the city hall announced today in a press release.

The collaboration between the city and UMPRUM began with the signing of a memorandum in January for projects and events supporting cultural and artistic life in the city. In April, students, along with department heads, visited Hradec Králové to learn about its history and the places that could be improved. At the same time, they defined an area with the city hall for the creation of residential embankments.

"The scope of the students' work will be quite broad," said Adam Záruba, deputy mayor for urban planning and architecture (Change for Hradec). According to him, the goal is to offer the people in Hradec a closer connection to water and to spend their leisure time there. The banks and embankments of the Elbe could be revitalized, for example, with various piers.

The city hall also wants to map the life on Ulrich Square in the city center. "This space should remain representative and suitable for formal meetings, but its smooth surface also offers unconventional uses, such as for skateboarding. It is important to sensitively connect these two functions," stated Záruba.

Students will address their ideas for the design of the embankments and the space of Ulrich Square during the winter semester of the next academic year. The result of the collaboration should also be an analysis of public spaces and the identification of locations for displaying works of art.

The city of Hradec Králové, with a population of one hundred thousand, excels in modern urbanism. Between the world wars, architectural ensembles by architects Josef Gočár and Jan Kotěra were created in Hradec Králové. At that time, the city earned the nickname "Salon of the Republic."