Open letter to the councillors of the city of Náchod

Dear City Council of Náchod,

on behalf of the professional public and representing other residents of the city, we are addressing you with an urgent appeal regarding the planned reconstruction of Masaryk Square.
In 2000, a public anonymous urban-architectural competition titled "Pedestrian Zone Náchod" was held, the first and last of its kind in Náchod. The winning team (architects Jan Horký, Pavel Nasadil, David Nývlt, Dana Svobodová, and Michal Šrámek) was decided by a unanimous vote of the expert jury. Although the winners were approached to prepare documentation for the zoning process, they did not see their work continued. In their absence, and under carefully concealed authorship anonymity, the reconstruction of the ground floor of Kamenice Street and Karlovo Square took place in stages. These investment "hurrah" actions are now to be concluded with the reconstruction of Masaryk Square. Its form can be viewed on the city's website since August 21, 2008.
(http://www.mestonachod.cz/na/z_servis/aktuality/aktualita.asp?id=201)
We believe that the square should primarily serve a social function, becoming a place for urban life, a meeting space, a showcase, and a living room for the city at the same time. The square is the heart of the city, and the heart must remain healthy. We believe that the word "reconstruction" does not mean returning things to a worse and irreversible state. We think that the place must be valued in a new way and not just randomly arranged with parking spaces. We sadly miss the existence of a transportation master plan for the city that would approach the collapsing traffic situation with perspective and the ability to look to the future, among other things reducing traffic and parking in the historic core to a minimum and identifying suitable locations for parking garages or off-street parking in its close vicinity.
We want to hope that the approval of the proposal—starting with a complete ignorance of the issue and ending with a dilettante graphic design that does not correspond to the magnitude of the public investment—was not taken seriously. This solution degrades the square to a roundabout with parking lots around its perimeter. The dominant St. Lawrence Church is pushed into the humiliating role of an unnecessary extra, which, wrapped in communication, literally trembles at its foundations about its future existence. The forecourts of significant buildings are ignored, all architectural dominants are suppressed by senseless and dysfunctional wildness of the ground floor. The unnecessarily oversized parking lots in the corners of the space could not have been consulted with a transportation expert; there are completely missing places for turning cars in these dead-end streets and parking spaces for people with disabilities. The meandering channel of a pseudo-stream originating in the middle of the parking lot would be more welcome in the meadows outside the city or as a complement to a Japanese garden, etc. etc. We consider the system of subsidies unfortunate, which combines a grant application for the repair of the church with a grant for the repair of the square; we consider this approach counterproductive – we do not want to jeopardize obtaining funds for the church in any way.
Please realize that the outcome of this undertaking will influence the appearance of the city for several decades, if not hundreds of years, and not just for the duration of your term in office. Please realize that it should not, by principle, be a work of one person but a team of specialists. Please realize that such a serious, financially demanding, and visible action cannot be assigned freely but must go through a much more complex development than an afternoon spent with crayons over a plan. Realize that a square that has been developing for almost 800 years can be irrevocably destroyed in an instant.
Please stop this senseless destruction of cultural values while there is still time.

Sincerely,

Ing.arch. Ivo Balcar, architect
Ing.arch. MgA. Jan Horký, architect
Ing.arch. Michal Ježek, authorized architect
Ing.arch. Aleš Krtička, authorized architect
Ing.arch. Miloš Linhart, architect
Ing.arch. MgA. Pavel Nasadil, authorized architect
Ing.arch. Libor Rydlo, authorized architect
Ing.arch. Bohdana Simonová, architect
Ing.arch. Milan Vít, authorized architect
MgA. Viktor Vlach, architect