Architecture and Landscape in the City: When a Tree Becomes a Building and a Building Transforms into a Landscape

That it is necessary to start taking the issue of climate change seriously is already an indisputable fact. Likewise, it is essential that an additional expert, namely a water management specialist, should be an integral part of the team implementing construction in any settlement. The common goal of all should be a stone city in nature intertwined with a vibrant landscape. This topic was discussed on the evening of February 25, 2020, at the Prague CAMP by several experts from various professions.

Not so long ago, it seemed true that the general statement that architecture and landscape stand in opposition, and that the growing city must yield to the landscape, and vice versa. However, nowadays, just looking around several Czech cities makes it clear that the phenomenon of recent times is architecture that can absorb at least a bit of the landscape, and a landscape that is becoming a natural part of architecture. This fact appears to be an inevitable solution not only to the marked lack of moisture in settlements and in nature.

The climate crisis is an opportunity to learn something new and move forward.

Rather than seeing it as a threat, Petr Valdman, the director of the Czech Republic's State Environmental Fund, views the climate crisis as an opportunity to learn something new and move forward. Both the individual and society must change their learned patterns of behavior. One of the pilot projects of so-called low-impact development is the Suomi and Lappi Hloubětín project. The developer YIT incorporates not only basic landscape elements that help retain water in settlements but also cultivates the bed of the flowing Rokytka stream, from which it hopes to create greater biodiversity and access to the bank not only for residents.

The question remains whether the implementation of so-called green-blue architecture should be universally legislated. Too much of anything is harmful. Does excessive (legislative) concern for nature protection deprive us of the traditional human need to build settlements?

A different approach to planning naturally demands a location undergoing the revitalization of brownfields and new construction in the center of a compact city, where the entire process naturally involves conservationists or archaeologists and a rich network of underground infrastructure. All present architects unanimously agreed on this in the debate. One of the most significant breakthroughs in the experienced confines of conservators and a precedent for architects was the recent realization of the administrative building DRN in the center of Prague. The building, designed by the studio Fiala + Nemec, is a living garden that changes throughout the year and brings elements, such as a green roof, to the stone city, which would have previously been an unthinkable obstacle in central Prague. Advocating for such a building involved lengthy discussions and proofs, as the architects were not only concerned with how the building interacts with its surroundings. According to architect Petr Jehlík, one of the co-authors present, it was also important to create a quality internal working environment.

How Prague intends to return and cultivate the landscape in the city was outlined by Jaromír Heinz, director of the City Detail Section of IPR Prague. Prague naturally resonates with a wide range of major themes, from the revitalization of housing estates to the construction of new avenues in existing urban boulevards. Even the buildings of blue-green infrastructure are constructions and require building permits, which is a demanding process. From this perspective, it seems practically impossible to universally implement blue-green rules into legislation. By the time they manifested in practice, many years would pass. Therefore, the present discussants see more sense in positively motivating builders to consciously incorporate elements into their projects.

Legislation, of course, is not only a concern for Prague; smaller cities also find themselves in a challenging position, often lacking the financial resources to develop a basic vision for integrating landscape into settlements. The importance of subsidized spatial studies of public spaces was emphasized by landscape architect Markéta Veličková and Antonín Lupíšek, head of the Architecture and Environment Department at the University Center for Energy Efficient Buildings of CTU.

The entire discussion was also an invitation to participate in the recently launched 12th edition of the Young Architect Award 2020 for young and emerging architects up to 33 years old, with a submission deadline of June 26, 2020, and the results to be ceremoniously announced on September 8, 2020. More information is available at www.yaa.cz. This year's theme is precisely architecture and landscape in the city.

And what did the discussants unanimously convey to the competitors? "Demonstrate sufficient courage, the bravery for experimentation and innovative ideas. We would be happy to be surprised, inspired, and learn something new."