center of Prostějov

Layers of Prostějov

We entered the southern part of Prostějov’s city centre as urban archaeologists. Our first task was to make sense of the confusing mixture of fragments from the past: here the remains of the former Jewish quarter, there a large cultural centre from the 1980s, a dysfunctional market from the socialist era, post-revolution development that only superficially resembles the houses of the demolished historic ghetto, and the dominant church observing the complicated situation. Which moments hold a value waiting to be rediscovered, and which would be better suppressed?

We decided to draw inspiration from the legacy of the Jewish quarter without creating replicas. Instead, we carefully considered where we could restore the atmosphere of the former streets and where entirely new spaces needed to be created. Around the church, we create a group of urban houses with courtyards which, together with the preserved historic block, once again define the former street and give the church an appropriate scale. We leave the scars — the exposed gables of historic houses that have lost their neighbours — uncovered as a reminder of the past.

We therefore set the new market building slightly back, creating a narrow, angled lane that opens up a view towards the church tower. The space in front of the cultural centre is newly enclosed by the permeable structure of the market and a new gymnasium, creating the potential for a lively, culture-filled public space — a new sub-centre for Prostějov.

We placed the required parking capacity in the southern part of the site, in contact with the busier streets. Instead of one massive parking structure, we propose two buildings, leaving a passage between them into an informal courtyard. A landscaped terrain conceals the parking spaces serving the neighbouring buildings, while play elements establish a connection with the industrial structures along the edge of the site. The parking structures would also help to relieve the entire area of traffic, making it possible to genuinely integrate the southern part of Prostějov’s city centre into the city’s pedestrian zone.

We didn’t succeed with the proposal — perhaps because of the naivety with which we tried to create different atmospheres and characters for the individual places, or perhaps simply because designing a piece of a city is no easy task. At least we got to experience it first-hand.