The design of Karolina is being contributed to by Koolhaas

Ostrava - The design of the first phase of the central area of Karolina is being handled by renowned world architect Rem Koolhaas. His office OMA has started collaborating with the company Multi Development, which won the competition for the development of a lucrative location in the center of Ostrava. The company anticipates that it could present the first designs for the future shape of the area formerly occupied by the coke plant in about a month. This was stated to journalists today by Luboš Kočí, the director of Multi Development for the Czech Republic.
    “The OMA firm is already working on our project as a kind of creative supervising architect with the understanding that its influence will grow,” Kočí stated. Koolhaas was born in 1944 in Rotterdam and is among the top architects in the world. He currently focuses on projects in the USA and Asia. His largest architectural project in China is the Chinese Television Headquarters in Beijing. The building, which is 230 meters tall, is expected to be completed for the Olympic Games in 2008. Koolhaas has received many awards, the most significant of which is the Pritzker Prize from 2000, regarded as the Nobel Prize in architecture.
    “In the tender documentation for the competition, we had a requirement that a prominent world architect collaborate on the realization of the winning design. In this regard, Mr. Koolhaas is among the best that is currently available in the world,” stated Deputy Mayor Lukáš Ženatý.
    The company Multi Development is currently designing the first phase, which is to be completed in 2010. It includes extensive construction that features the construction of a boulevard, a square, the renovation of the Dvojhalí and power plant buildings, the construction of a commercial-entertainment center, and one administrative and residential block.
    Multi Development has formed a project team in collaboration with the city, which meets once a month to address current developments around Karolina. Working groups have also been created to focus on issues such as transportation infrastructure. One of these sub-groups will be looking for ways to utilize the Dvojhalí and power plant buildings in the coming period. A decision about the fate of the buildings is expected to be made by mid this year. “It should be an interesting, attractive, and functional use that will be directed towards culture, social use, or education,” Kočí stated.
    Karolina is more than seven times larger than Wenceslas Square. The Dutch company Multi Development has invested in 18 countries so far. In the Czech Republic, it has previously built commercial and entertainment centers such as Olympia in Plzeň and Olomouc or Centrum Chodov in Prague. The company is engaged in the construction of urban, commercial, and administrative centers throughout Europe. It plans to invest approximately 15 billion crowns into one of the most significant development projects in the country. The construction is expected to take about ten years.