Promised 5. května

Promised 5. května is part of Promised Pankrác - a new Pragues fully-fledged subcenter. How could the neighborhood look like if we stopped treating the environment as a resource and started respecting the earth as a shared home? I proposed a city block for 3,000 residents along the new 5. května boulevard, a transformed former highway going through the city. I searched for a contemporary building typology, based on human scale, cooperation, emphasis on community, biodiversity, adaptability and resilience.

The 5. Května street nowadays is rather a highway through through the city. It forms a barrier only penetrable by few underpasses. By reducing the heavy traffic and turning the inner-city highway into a boulevard, a new city block with livable environment can be built on the unused land. The form of the proposed city block is primarily the result of an effort to reduce the cost of construction and reduce the proportion of public space relative to semi-private space. I decided not to locate underground floors for car parking in the proposed structure, which made it possible to raise density while maintaining the green courtyards. Another important requirement was high density of the proposed structure. Enough green spaces and surfaces for water infiltration help withstand high summer temperatures. All proposed roofs are therefore flat - designed as roof gardens, terraces, or photovoltaic power plants. This 5th façade compensates for the high density and provides for the occupants good views of the Botič valley. The basic structural element of the block is not a house, but a courtyard. The courtyards are socially close environments in which a network of close ties between residents can exist. The houses are accessible from the courtyards so that the residents can meet. It is a self-manageable, reasonably large space - enough to have trees, a gazebo, a garden, a playground, or ping-pong tables, but just big enough for the residents of the house to be able to use it fully. A house for approximately 150 residents will be built around such a courtyard on a plot of an average size of 30x60 meters - this is, according to anthropologists, the ideal size of a group in which a person can actively maintain relationships with all its members.