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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Black Meadow in Ostrava, Czech Republic by NL architectsApril 30th, 2011 by Sumit Singhal
Black Meadow / Černá louka Capital of Culture The city of Ostrava is bidding to become the 2015 Cultural Capital of Europe. Ostrava organized a competition to express its ambitions to catalyze cultural development and urban transformation. Among the invited participants were FOA, Maxwan (won) and Lacaton & Vassal Architectes.  Night life
 City edge True Capital The proposal included designs for a Concert Hall, an Exhibition hall, a Center for Modern Music, a School (pre, primary and secondary), a Creative Incubator combined with a school of arts management, and residential buildings. In its aspiration to become a Cultural Capital Ostrava realizes that Culture is not restricted to cultural facilities only. Ostrava sets out to embrace ordinary life and include it in the ‘equation’.  Mix activity Black Meadow The site has tremendous potential. Černá Louka or Black Meadow is located next to the river, in-between the Historic Center and massive projected urban developments, Black Meadow will play a pivotal role in reinforcing the magnetism of Ostrava.  Gallery Urban Park Black Meadow offers a unique opportunity to experiment with a new type of park; an urban park, a park that combines lush greenery with real urban substance. It perhaps could serve as a model of a new type of city. To reinforce the ‘green nature’ of Black Meadow will be a promising start…  Black Meadow Navigator Update! It would be a good idea to cut out the current road along the River and to re-route traffic along the edge of the historic center. The intensity levels seem not problematic, but in order to establish an attractive relationship between the park and the river an unobstructed access is preferable.  Final Design Sharpen The fringe of the historic center is now rather blurry, undefined. There is an opportunity to insert extra program, houses, maybe offices and shops, to ‘repair’ the boundary. Reinforcing the edge of the old city will create a clear distinction between the density of the old and the ‘lightness’ of the new urban park. Would it be an idea to lift up the current parking lot to create a covered plaza, perhaps a new location for the market?  River Gazebo City All new buildings will be kept modest in size. Heavy clustering should be avoided. Sometimes functions will be split to reduce their size, to keep the continuity of the park. And to enhance the use of the park. The park is the public intermediary. All buildings in a way aspire to become garden pavilions.  Aerial photo east view Park Way Single sided perpendicular parking is a very friendly way to park, the impact is modest. Sweeping curves now and then bend into the park to reach the functions, to create a drop off or pick up. The continuity of the lane with parked cars only on one side enhances overview. The path is elegant, the car no longer intrusive. Can we achieve peaceful coexistence between people and automobile?  Aerial photo southt view Strategy The proposed strategy is simple: leave as many of the trees, keep the good buildings, get rid of the ones that are un-cool (out of scale or in the way of something better), complete unfinished building blocks into unified ensembles and insert some new jewels in the park! Synthesis The ambition of Ostrava not just to focus on the cultural buildings but to include ‘normal’ public buildings in the development is a goood plan. It creates a unique opportunity to investigate how you could reinvent everyday programs like schools and sports facilities.  Orthomap Smart Schools How can we heighten their cultural capacity? How can we learn more? And how can architecture play a role? The schools could perhaps acquire an additional educational capacity through ‘programmatic alchemy’. Can we create Smart Schools?  Final Model San Giminiminiano We propose to insert a bunch of mini towers: Friendly Towers with sublime elegance. They can contain stacked studios for artists, residential units and student housing. The super slender towers with minimal footprint and considerable height can activate the park. One apartment per floor will offer unprecedented panoramic views: insanely glamorous! Perhaps they could form a modern day San Giminiano…  Catalogue 01 Easy Complexity The individual projects look for friendly cohabitation of multiple functions in order to become more ‘intelligent’ and to increase density in a ‘light’ way. While creating these urban ecologies a certain additional complexity is unavoidable. But still the aim is to keep it simple.  Catalogue 02 Development The project contains a catalogue of possible ‘ingredients’ for the new urban park. The proposed strategy is flexible. During the design process, alterations can be made easily, new contributions can be inserted, buildings can be exchanged, programs can be adjusted according to more specific requirements, and still the overall approach will remain intact.
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Tags: Czech Republic, Ostrava Category: Urban Design |
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