Jihlava wants to select an architect for the square renovations by autumn

Jihlava - Jihlava wants to select an architect by autumn who will prepare the documentation for the modifications of the historic Masaryk Square. The city hall expects that experts will propose better solutions in the areas of transportation, furniture, and greenery. The tender conditions for the architectural competition were approved by the city council today. This was stated to the press by Deputy Mayor Radek Popelka (ANO).

"We have ambitions to evaluate the rankings in the autumn, and then negotiations will be held with individual applicants for possible further cooperation," Popelka stated. He noted that Jihlava's square is the third largest in the Czech Republic. "We do not want to solve just a small piece, but truly comprehensively, so that it becomes a square and the center of the city for the next hundred years," he added.

The costs associated with the architectural competition and the preparation of project documentation will amount to up to ten million crowns. According to Deputy Mayor Vratislav Výborný (ČSSD), the tender conditions are broad. "There is a certain freedom to open it up to as many ideas as possible," he said. As an example, he mentioned the criticized building of the Prior shopping center. "If an architect conceives something with Prior and discusses it with the owner, then that's good. And if some architect completely avoids Prior, we will not exclude them either," he noted.

Another controversial point, according to Výborný, could be the linden trees around the plague column at the upper part of the square. "Some people cannot imagine it without them, just as there is another group that says that those (linden trees) were not historically here," he pointed out. Proposals may also include, for example, re-paving part of the area or building public toilets. The modifications would likely be carried out in phases. Further steps will, however, be in the hands of the politicians emerging from the autumn municipal elections.