From the former dining hall of Škoda Plzeň, a planetarium will be created

Plzeň - The Plzeň Atelier Soukup has completed a project to convert the former dining hall of Plzeň's Škodovka into a planetarium, which is reportedly missing in Plzeň, the only regional capital city in the Czech Republic. The Regional Technical Museum, which has been popularizing science and technology in the neighboring Techmania Science Center since the year before last, intends to invest 150 million CZK into the reconstruction and equipping of the planetarium. Jan Soukup, the architect whose studio also prepared the project for the completion of the entire neighboring Techmania building, told ČTK.
   "By the end of June, we will submit a request for 600 million CZK from the Operational Program for Research and Development for Innovations," said the museum director Vlastimil Volák. Besides the planetarium, the funds will cover the reconstruction and furnishing of the Techmania interactive center building. The program's priority axis, focused on the creation and development of science centers, is allocated 2.2 billion CZK, and the Regional Technical Museum, whose center was a pilot project in the Czech Republic, has a good chance thanks to fully prepared buildings.
    "The planetarium project is very nice and has preserved the character of the cultural monument, which was not completely simple," Volák added. Inside the hall, two differently sized spherical domes will be created for education.
    "The ASAP building with its arched shape and ventilation towers is remarkable, just like all buildings in the old Škodovka. It was built by the company Müller and Kapsa using glued wooden trusses in an arch, which was a patent purchased in Britain," Soukup stated. The hall was built in 1917, when the former armory expanded significantly, doubling its area and needing a canteen. After expanding with automobile production, the canteen was abolished and returned again during the communist era. The same hall exists in the Dioss company premises in nearby Nýřany.
    A bridge will lead from the ASAP building, allowing visitors to access the first floor of Techmania, where new laboratories, club rooms, training rooms, and workshops will be created. "Techmania has been visited by over 100,000 people from a one-hour travel distance since its opening in November 2008," said Volák. Plzeň and the region, which occasionally contribute to its operation, now want to conclude a cooperation agreement with the museum until 2019. The nearest councils should approve it, guaranteeing annual support for the center in the long term.
    Škoda Holding donated the ASAP building along with the land to the Regional Technical Museum last June, as well as the building for Techmania. In it, the holding has its own exhibit, which it continues to supplement, including a trolleybus from 1946, a steam engine, and the first laminated locomotive.
    "We are the only regional capital city without a planetarium. We have one, but the equipment is packed in boxes," said the personnel director of Škoda Holding, Josef Bernard. The building that housed the planetarium until 1997 now serves as the district court. The observatory and planetarium, a contribution organization of the city, currently only provides lecture and popularization activities.