Bohemian Pattern
Fragmented whole
All over Europe metropolises rediscover brown fields close to the city center. In Prague this is the case of Dejvice, where the railway tracks will be removed from the surface.
There is already no established organisation and subsequently no orientation or place, and with the removal of the outdated infrastructure the rupture of the city fabric will enhance. On the other hand the future development is no longer regulated by the restrictions of mechanical movement. In this field condition buildings can be more responsive to the user and his territory, than to the street.
The shrink wrap is the composite of building mass and its open space. It defines Dejvice as a place and provides a proper vis-à-vis to the borderline of Prague. The intention is to create a self-sufficient entity with a “critical mass” of users to support the local animation. Internally the shrink wrap functions with the same inherence, the urban plan reveals to the outside. While the single pieces are held together by the outline, each building serves a specific purpose and defines its own identity. Integration into the surroundings is approached by reflection of scale and continuation of open space.
Jury Assessment:
A fragment of a city, but a strong gesture. The corkscrew in the neck of a bottle is an interesting challenge. The combination of grids can work, creating fragmented and simultaneously clear-cut space. This plan develops an interesting model for an area with differing traffic flows that interweave and influence each other. The use of the angle of the triangular shape is surprisingly clever, since it elevates the “triangularity” of the site to a higher plan. The strategy whereby the site is first filled in order to subsequently make transactions, grooves and openings, has led to a complex plan that provides high-quality open space.
location: Dejvice, Prague, Czech
kind: 1st prize Europan 9
client: Immo-group
team: Tim Prins, Nora Müller
status: completed