Revitalisation of the Crucifix Bastion Prague, Czech Building Design, CZ Architecture Pictures

Revitalisation of the Crucifix Bastion

Contemporary Czech Building design by MCA atelier architekti

23 Sep 2013

Revitalisation of the Crucifix Bastion, Prague 2

Design: MCA atelier s.r.o.

photograph : Filip Slapala

Revitalisation of the Crucifix Bastion in Prague

Revitalizace Bastionu u Božích muk, Praha 2

Though itself of Baroque date, Bastion is a part of the medieval fortifications of the New Town of Prague. The impermeability of the area created an inner periphery, a strip of inaccessible and unused greenery within the central city, in certain points approaching the character of a “brownfield”.

The goal of the architects was the landscaping of the public area, the addition of an open-air café and gallery on the site of a ruined building of 19th-century date, and linking the spaces inside and outside the medieval fortification line that has kept the area of gardens and the university campus.

photograph : Filip Slapala

Revitalisation was completed on the basis of the winning entry in a public architectural competition in 2007. The new structure for public facilities was designed as a building below ground, a hidden acropolis attracting visitors with its contents and its form, not through mere visibility.

It is conceived as an autonomous, solid “seashell”, inserted into the layerings of the archaeologically defined stratigraphic levels of Baroque and modern terrain, while not disturbing the character of the fortifications and the visual outline of the defensive walls. In its formal vocabulary, the building is elementary, minimal, and grounded in the material principles of fortification architecture: firmness.

photograph : Filip Slapala

The ensuing architectonic form is proof of the possibilities of connecting the heritage approach to the restoration of historically valuable structures, and the measured yet self-confident contemporary implementation of new contextually aware architecture. One of the main priorities of sustainable development is a maximum use of existing built in structure of settlements instead of additional building around free space.

photo : Filip Slapala

Renovation and re-use of existing buildings and site delivers both material savings (recycling) and the associated energy savings. Memory and cultural values preservation, leads to the promotion of cultural and social pillars of sustainable development.

photographs : Filip Slapala

Revitalisation of the Crucifix Bastion Prague – Building Informatiom

Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Architect: MCA ATELIER S.R.O – Pavla Melkova, Miroslav Cikan
Collaborators: Tomas Brycka, Peter Bus, Pavel Kostalek, Jan Mysicka, Ondrej Ondrka, Jan Setelik, Petr Vejdovsky
Site area: 2,500 sqm
Building area: 370 sqm

Revitalisation of the Crucifix Bastion Prague images / information from FD

Location: Horska 1751/4, Vinohrady, Praha 2, 12800

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