The Old Town Gate project is a multilayered plan, encompassing revitalisation and renewal of public spaces at the end of Pařížská avenue and Dvořákovo embankment and their significant enlargement at the expense of areas currently unused or inaccessible. The design can be described briefly as an extension of the urban parterre along the axis of Pařížská all the way to the embankment and its connection with the Vltava quay and expansion Miloše Formana square, removal of car traffic and large-scale technical structures, and production of a lively place dedicated to Czech film. Creation of a new public area at the point of contact with Dvořákovo embankment, or piazzetta descending to the Vltava level with an option to continue the pedestrian way to the quay underneath the embankment. The project also includes overall renovation and reconstruction of the Hotel Intercontinental. However, its restoration is only a second layer within the project. The primary objective is addition of current missing connection between the hotel and the city, filling of scars in the adjacent areas (ramps, utility vent outlets, etc.), which debase the site in central Prague at present and make traffic quite difficult. The areas will become much more publicly accessible, and the hotel and its parterre will be more a part of the city. That is also manifested as a number of new structures, made of concrete and glass blocks in an analogy of the original composition, entering the newly developed area to complement it and enrich it with a retail and social layer. The first is a footbridge connecting Dvořákovo embankment and the newly expanded ground floor restaurant, followed by a line of elements along the axis of Pařížská. All the new elements are designed so as to complement, not fragment and individually compete with the large hotel architecture and the composition of a building in an open area.
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Location
- Prague 1
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Realization
- 2020 - 2025
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Project works
- 2019 - 2025
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Cooperation on projects
- Marek Tichý
- Klára Tichá
- Alžbeta Komorná
- Kristýna Kociánová
- Jana Šulavová
- Hana Pokorná
- Šárka Kadeřábková
- Kateřina Štiborová Prausová
- Štěpán Macura
- Sylva Lukášová-Černá
Miloše Formana square currently occupies an area of 4630 m2. However, 850 m2 of the area, which relatively difficult to understand, has a complex traffic pattern and is ugly, is occupied by a garage ventilation structure, and another 170 m2 by entrance ramps, so the actual size is only about 3710 m2. The project envisages removal of the ramps, access to the garages from Dvořákovo embankment, dismantling of the whole ventilation structure and creation of an actual city square with a large rectangular area of 1400 m2 at the front and a number of adjacent smaller areas accompanied with greenery and water at the back. After the modifications, the total size of the publicly accessible area around the hotel will increase to 6250 m2.
The square opens with a structure located at the corner of a housing block demolished in World War II, covering an area of 340 m2. At the same time, it will double as an entrance to the underground public parking garage, but its parterre will be free so that it does not hinder walking pedestrians visually. Its position and architecture are not an end in itself. It is the first of the small structures making the connection between the urbanized space of the city and the Hotel Intercontinental composition. They enter the newly designed area to enrich it with a new commercial and social layer, and they descend towards the Vltava along the extended Pařížská avenue.
The project also strives to give the newly revitalized square an inner charge and a clear definition. That should be achieved by the Czechoslovak Film Memorial, which will commemorate Czechoslovak film history and achievements. Its appearance will be determined by an expert board made up of representatives of Prague City Hall, the Czech Film Fund, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, film historians and makers. The Memorial should become a living, interactive place, a symbol of connecting Czechia with the world by means of film, symbolized by director Miloš Forman, after whom the square is named.
The extension of Pařížská Street in front of the InterContinental Hotel, currently an indifferent space lacking character, with an unremarkable entrance to the hotel, otherwise without purpose or character, the open space towards the embankment is filled with a modern swimming pool surrounded by an incomprehensible group of stones and greenery. A new, bright city avenue, lined with an alley on one side and a shopping area on the other. It ends and widens into a piazzetta that descends to the level of the Vltava embankment, to which it is connected by a passage under the embankment. In place of the swimming pool and areas currently reserved exclusively for hotel guests, a new space accessible to the public with an area of more than 550 m2 is being created.
Dvořák Embankment is lined with a wide sidewalk with tree-lined avenues leading towards the Svatopluk Čech Bridge. This provides a good basis for completing and expanding this motif. The well-established pedestrian zone will be retained and supplemented with a new point of interest – a restaurant on the hotel terraces, connected to the embankment by a footbridge.
Transport and parking facilities for the public are already part of the hotel complex, and the project envisages their preservation, with only minor adjustments to traffic flow. Approximately 170 parking spaces will be available to the public. The garage will now be accessed from Dvořákovo nábřeží (the existing service entrance can also be used for garage access without any problems). This will eliminate the ramps with access from Pařížská, which complicate pedestrian movement and reduce the amenity value of Miloš Forman Square. The pedestrian entrance and exit will be moved from a distant location closer to the center, to the corner of Pařížská and Bílkova streets. Overall, the design focuses on eliminating collision points and clarifying traffic service with an emphasis on the priority of pedestrian movement.
Today, the greenery in the area in question consists only of ground cover with a few small trees on the garage ventilation structure and a group of dwarf trees around the swimming pool. The practical value of these green areas is very low, not to mention their urban value. The proposal envisages a significant addition to the urban greenery, a line of trees along Pařížská Street, a newly planted bosquet at the rear of M. Forman Square, work with greenery on existing and newly proposed roofs, and, last but not least, vertical greenery on the restaurant terraces. The hotel gardens will also undergo a transformation. They will be newly established as orchards, reminiscent of Old Town courtyards and gardens, with a framework of traditional Czech species complemented by a combination of ornamental and fruit bushes.
