Za Kovárnou – site rehabilitation

The Za Kovárnou area is one of the places that have been or are going to be renovated as part of the renewal and reconstruction of central Čelákovice.
The modification of the road grid, connected with a new link between 5. května square and Rybářská street, includes the construction of a multi-purpose urban building. It is situated on the northern side of the area, along the visual axis from 5. května square. The greater part of the total 3300 m² of floor space is occupied by a new town library connected with an information centre. In between the two functions, there will be a medium-sized hall suitable for exhibitions, lectures, concerts and other social events. The ground floor layout is designed for the individual operations to work separately while providing a varied offering of services, a contemporary media library with access to education and information in all their forms. The library itself continues on the second storey; its generous overall layout is motivated by an effort to mediate the current trend of sufficient space for all the sections and largest possible areas for free choice of books. The secondary functions and rooms available for doctors’ surgeries on the second storey, and dwelling units on the upper floors. The combination of functions is expressed symbolically by the addition and partial overlapping of three structures, the most prominent being the central wing with a façade of wooden laths providing the entrance to the library and the town information centre. The laths are placed vertically with variable spacing, enabling smooth transitions from the solid envelope into semi-transparent areas denoting the adjacent rooms (conference room, balconies). At the same time, the run continuously across all the storeys to underline the high importance of the public building, and are only interrupted by a horizontal line at the entrances to the two main sections. The other two sections are lower, they constitute a whole with the main section, yet each of them retains its separate façade segmentation and window rhythm.