New Town Hall Prague 7

Expressions used in a reconstruction refer to the morphology and materials of Holešovice, the building respects a historical context of the district with its specifications, honor local industrial aesthetics frequently composed by raw bricks. Although the building is significant, its expression was achieved by a humble means – using only the traditional local motives. The original building was stripped to the core, only the necessary loadbearing constructions were left and the beautiful structural skeleton was exposed. The beauty of the civil engineering constructions lies in their sincerity and honesty. Therefore we honor the size of a building module, a rhythm of the structure. We work with the motives which uplift a common building and make it noble as appropriate to the town hall.

The town hall is a public building and it serves the people. The building itself should arise respect and dignity, it should represent stability and solidity, it should be kind but not pandering, but mainly, it should be open, transparent and emotionally accessible. Those qualities can be provided by using the right compositional principles with the right materials. The expression of the building with its accent on tectonics refers to the engineering attitude and thinking, The tectonic architecture is the architecture of ancient temples but also factory halls, which can be found in the area. That makes industrial history very present and tangible.

The solid and grounded building of the town hall with its clear and strong tectonics indicates permanence and stability. The raw brick as a facade solution has a similar feature as the tectonics, it is ancient and used for more than two thousand years. It can be found as a main building material of the old factory halls or as architectural detail on the residential buildings. Except for the aesthetic quality, the raw brick does not succumb to aging, it is not necessary to maintain the surface, the bricks last for hundreds of years and get even more beautiful over time. The accessibility of the town hall is provided to the maximum extent possible. The front facade is open to the street by arcades with stairs. This architectural solution of the entrance differentiates the ground floor from commonality and ordinariness. Boarding up the stair itself arouses respect. The continual stip of law which lines the street is interrupted in front of the building to highlight its importance. The tiled space is also necessary as a dispersive area for the visitors.