The architects recommended a possible form of the space beneath the sports hall to the city of Zlín

Zlín – A jury composed of architects recommended to the city of Zlín what form the space under the sports hall could take in the future. They recommended the implementation of the design by architect Luděk Šimoník and his team. They evaluated 12 submitted competition designs, said Tomáš Melzer, spokesperson for the Zlín city council, in a press release today.

The competition assignment was to address transportation in the area, including the lack of parking, the placement of a training sports hall, a veteran museum, and housing. The area covers approximately 2.6 hectares and construction of a department store was originally planned to begin here in 2011. However, the investor withdrew from the project, and the city's leadership decided to purchase the land.

"This significant development area, which is currently unused for construction, represents a great challenge and opportunity for our city. In the development of the city, we want to emphasize functionality as well as appropriate urbanism and architecture. Therefore, we used a competition to assess this case. It cannot be assumed that such a large and yet interestingly located area in the center of Zlín can be addressed in the future, especially since it is owned by the city itself, but we want to use the gained experience, for example, for a future competition for the area of the remains in the Southern Slopes," said the mayor of Zlín, Jiří Korec (ANO).

The winning design, according to the jury, respects the visual axis towards the so-called Baťa skyscraper and the planning of the intersection of Březnická and Mostní streets and does not create obstacles for any future completion of the Práce Square. Each stage of construction also has a separately addressed access to the underground parking.

"We consider the winning design to be successful and suitably connected to the Baťa-style buildings. The design of the veteran museum is situated close to both the existing and the newly proposed training sports hall and creates a basis for the emergence of an attractive public space in the southern part of the addressed area. At the same time, it works well with the arrangement of individual buildings. We are convinced that greater emphasis should be placed on public space, and regarding civic amenities, we should not forget the residents of Letná, for whom this location could supplement missing services and parking spaces. The gradual realization of this project will be a huge impulse for the city center," stated the mayor's deputy, Pavel Brada (ANO).

The city council has several comments regarding the winning design. "For example, we want to place greater emphasis on sufficient capacity of public buildings and increase the area of public space with better accessibility to the locality. The needs of the residents of the Letná district should also be taken more into account," stated the mayor’s deputy Pavel Stojar (STAN). The possibility of increasing parking capacity using above-ground parking structures will also be examined.