In the competition for the smart district Špitálka, Aulík Fišer architects emerged victorious

visualization: Aulík Fišer architects

Transforming part of the unused area of the Brno heating plant and its surroundings into a smart urban district was the task of the participants of the international design competition Špitálka. The jury evaluated a total of twenty-six proposals from the Czech Republic, as well as from participants from Slovakia, Serbia, Poland, Belgium, Lithuania, Great Britain, Japan, and Singapore. The winner of the competition was the proposal from the Prague studio Aulík Fišer architekti. The results were approved by the Brno City Council on Wednesday, March 20, 2019.

The area in question is located between Koliště, Cejl, Radlas, and Špitálka streets, bordered to the south by the railway line. It covers an area of about twenty-five hectares. The new district is intended to have mixed use with apartments, offices, services, leisure, and relaxation facilities. "The new urban district will offer housing for three to four thousand residents, new job opportunities, and services, and at the same time, it will be an attractive location within walking distance of the historic center. The ideas from the highest-rated proposals will now be used by the city to initiate a land study of the broader area, which will subsequently be used for changes to the Brno City Master Plan and for the construction and revitalization of this part of the city," stated the Deputy Mayor and jury member Petr Hladík.

The transformation of the current heating plant area will not only be associated with new spaces for housing, work, or leisure but will also include new transportation links in the area. The most important of these is the New Urban Boulevard, which will connect the north and south of Brno with a new route. It will be a boulevard with shops on the ground floor of the buildings, user-friendly for both pedestrians and cyclists. It will also serve public transport, with a new trolleybus line being added to the area.

In addition to the new urban artery, the competition proposals had to consider the principles of the so-called smart city. This is to ensure that the new district is environmentally friendly and energy self-sufficient. The aim is to test new technologies and innovative approaches that could subsequently be extended to the rest of Brno. Špitálka could thus serve as a model for further construction.

International Urban Planning Open One-Phase Design Competition Špitálka - Results

1st prize - Aulík Fišer architekti (in the amount of 500,000 CZK)
Authors: Ing. arch. Jan Aulík, Ing. arch. Petra Skalická, Ing. arch. Miloš Linhart

2nd prize - Pelčák a partner architekti, s.r.o. (in the amount of 400,000 CZK)
Author: prof. Ing. arch. Petr Pelčák
Co-authors: Bc. Jakub Czapek, Bc. Petra Fialová, Bc. Karolína Langnerová, Ing. arch. Filip Musálek, Bc. Michaela Rigová, Ing. arch. David Vahala, Bc. Tomáš Wojtek, Ing. Petr Soldán

3rd prize - Ing. arch. Veronika Kubalcová, Ing. arch. Jana Liptáková, Ing. arch. Eva Kovářová (in the amount of 300,000 CZK)
Authors: Ing. arch. Veronika Kubalcová, Ing. arch. Jana Liptáková, Ing. arch. Eva Kovářová

Awards (in the amount of 20,000 CZK):

OMGEVING cvba
Author: Peter Swyngedauw
Co-authors: Michal Fišer, Josef Filip

A8000 s.r.o.
Author: Martin Krupauer
Co-authors: Pavel Kvintus, Dominik Pleva, Martin Sedmák, Magdalena Šteflová, Laura, Victoria Nogelas

DKLN, s.r.o.
Authors: Ladislav Nagy, Daniela Nagyová, Martin Tribus, Peter Čurlej, Barbora Kuchařová, Róbert Sekula, Martina Vnenková

gogolák+grasse s.r.o.
Authors: Ing. arch. Lukáš Grasse, Ing. arch. Ivan Gogolák
Co-authors: Ing. arch. Štěpán Matějka

ra15 a.s.
Authors: Radek Lampa, Tomáš Kroužil, Pavel Fajfr, Dominika Klavrzová

More about the competition can be found at https://kambrno.cz/souteze/spitalka