The extension of the town hall in Silesian Ostrava will be built according to the design of the A8000 studio

photo: Aleš Nowák

Ostrava - The extension of the town hall in Slezská Ostrava will be built according to the design of the Prague studio A8000, which won the architectural competition. A total of 30 architectural teams applied. In the final round, the competition jury evaluated six designs. Under ideal conditions, the construction of the extension could begin in 2028 and should be completed no earlier than two years later. The town hall plans to finance the construction, with estimated costs around 280 million crowns, also with the help of a loan. Mayor Richard Vereš (ANO) stated this to reporters today.

The district office is located in two buildings. One of them is a historical and heritage-protected town hall building, where the extension is to be built. The other is a facility in Jurij Gagarin Square, which is technically, energetically, and spatially inadequate. According to Vereš, the costs of necessary repairs to the building would also be high, and in the long term, it is thus a better option for the district to build the extension, even though it will be more expensive than repairing the building.

Services to citizens are being centralized, and the district will also be able to use the second building in the square again for residential purposes, as it was originally intended. It is not yet clear whether it will be converted into apartments by the district itself or sold to a private investor.

"The town hall building in Jurij Gagarin Square was created by merging three apartment buildings. Its technical condition is not very good today, so we contemplated what path to take. The reconstruction would cost around 150 million crowns in today's prices, yet we would not gain an optimal office space. Although the new extension is more expensive, we will acquire a new building that should meet the requirements of the 21st century, both for the office employees and primarily for its visitors from among the citizens," said Vereš.

According to the conclusion of the expert jury, the winning studio managed to best connect a distinctive architectural approach with respect for the place and the history of the heritage-protected building. The sensitive balance between the new and old parts was the decisive reason for selecting the winning solution.

"We chose a method that is somewhat diminishing at the moment, which is to deal with the identity of the place. The existing historical building, which has enormous quality and is in a wonderful location, is the driving force of the area, so we thought that what we want is not some second object to be added to it, but that the whole thing, if I translate it into musical terminology, will be a composition," said architect Pavel Kvintus from the winning studio, which is also behind the design of Pavilion Z at the exhibition grounds in České Budějovice. "This design is definitely not superficial. I would not approach it this way in the commercial sector, but this is a sculpture and an opinion. I personally consider this town hall extension to be the pinnacle of my professional career," added Kvintus. The town hall will now invite the studio to negotiate a contract for further development of the study and subsequent stages of the project documentation.