Results of the competition for the revitalization of Roman Square in Brno

The city of Brno officially announced today the results of the urban-architectural competition for “Roman Square” in Brno.
The competition was announced on June 4, 2010, with the deadline for submitting competition proposals set for September 3, 2010.

The subject of the competition is the development of an urban-architectural design for the revitalization of "ROMAN SQUARE" IN BRNO, its spatial and functional arrangement including modifications to public spaces, as well as views on connections with broader urban contexts, integration of existing buildings, and potential placement of new constructions. The goal of the competition is to find the most suitable scenario for usage throughout the year, including the arrangement of urban furniture, design of greenery, and traffic regulation.

Within the set deadline, 90 competitors or competition teams submitted their proposals, with 2 proposals being delivered after the deadline. A total of 346 participants registered for the competition, who duly registered on the competition website www.rimak.cz, where complete competition documentation was available for download.

The evaluation meeting of the competition jury took place on September 9-10, 2010 at the Old Town Hall in Brno.
The jury consisted of:

Regular Jury Members Dependent:
PhDr. Kateřina Dubská
JUDr. Jiří Oliva

Regular Jury Members Independent:
Ing. arch. Ján Stempel
Dr. Ing. arch. Henrieta Moravčíková
Ing. arch. Zbyněk Pech

Substitutes Dependent:
Ing. Jana Drápalová
MVDr. Vlastimil Žďárský

Substitutes Independent:
Ing. arch. Igor Kovačević

Competition Results:
1st Prize - Proposal No. 73 - Ing. arch. Lukáš Fišer, Ing. arch. Kristýna Casková
2nd Prize - Proposal No. 07 - Ing. arch. Aleš Stuchlík, Bc. Jana Šerá, Ing. arch. Milan Šuška
3rd Prize - Proposal No. 78 - Jan Kopecký, Zuzana Hebronová, Žofie Raimanová
1st Award - Proposal No. 81 - Bc. Michal Krejčík, Bc. Tomáš Petermann, Bc. Michaela Dlouhá
2nd Award - Proposal No. 05 - Martin Gsandtner, Filip Hodulík, Peter Kuchta

The jury states that the announcement of a public anonymous architectural competition is a significant achievement of the Statutory City of Brno. The intention of the competition - to find the most suitable spatial and functional arrangement including modifications to public spaces, as well as views on connections with broader urban contexts, integration of existing buildings, and potential placement of new constructions, and to find the best possible solution was fulfilled. The competition confirmed that the designated area can be utilized in various ways.
The jury is convinced that the proposals submitted to the competition exhibited high professional quality. The awarded proposals demonstrated a great sensitivity to the given environment.
The jury reached the decision on the competition results unanimously among both dependent and independent jury members. The decision regarding the results was unequivocal.
The jury further notes that the urban-architectural competition is an ideal method for seeking solutions to complex tasks. The competition has brought a number of interesting inputs regarding historical artifacts, such as new possibilities for the placement of the Royal Chapel (Proposal No. 38) or Mercury's Fountain (Proposal No. 91).
The jury recommends that after the planned exhibition and public discussion held regarding the proposals, the winner should be commissioned to further develop their proposal in subsequent design phases. The next step should then be to prepare a change to the regulatory plan of the MPR, which will allow for the gradual realization of the winning proposal.

---

1st Prize - Proposal No. 73 - 250,000 CZK
Authors: Ing. arch. Lukáš Fišer, Ing. arch. Kristýna Casková (Brno)

Brief Annotation of the Proposal:
The aim is to create a functioning urban space that allows passage between the surrounding shopping streets while also serving as a place for stopovers and new activities. The proposal closes off the square by infilling gaps with buildings, separates the square from the inner block, preserves the historical character, atmosphere, and enclosure of the place while maintaining accessibility from the surrounding streets. The new buildings respect the historical parceling and scale of existing constructions. Fixed elements within the square allow for various activities, with the main area remaining free for passage, but also for markets and events featuring a mobile stage or ice rink. The inner block is designed as a quiet zone with a children's center. Terrain modeling separates the eastern part with access to an underground parking system and leads to the children's center, forming a natural amphitheater connecting to an outdoor exhibition area.

Jury Evaluation:
The proposal best captures the potential of the long-neglected space in the historical part of the city. The newly proposed construction is a successful combination of following the historical trace of the square and new possibilities for infilling the inner block. In the historical context, entrances to the square are emphasized by narrowing the street profiles from both access directions. The concept preserves the division of the areas into a lively communicating square and a calmed inner block with greenery and a children's and nursery center building.
The author thoroughly documents individual buildings and also the atmosphere of various parts of the proposed area, presented through very impressive sketches in the attached brochure. Although it proposes a relatively large number of new constructions, the design maintains the essential characteristics, intimacy, and enclosure of the square without restricting possibilities for further natural development.

---

2nd Prize - Proposal No. 07 - 200,000 CZK
Authors: Ing. arch. Aleš Stuchlík (Třebíč), Bc. Jana Šerá (Francova Lhota), Ing. arch. Milan Šuška (Čadca)

Brief Annotation of the Proposal:
The proposal is based on the principles of sustainable development. Emphasis is placed on increasing the share of housing in the city center, which is currently greatly unbalanced compared to commercial areas.
The city is a constantly changing organism. Changes are ongoing, even at present. Branded stores are leaving the center for shopping parks on the periphery, taking shoppers with them. Paradoxically, this relieves the center, making it quieter and more suitable for living. Roman Square is the best place to live in the historical core of Brno, and its revitalization could be the first sign of residents returning to the center.
The area is divided into the market street Františkánská, the residential Roman Square, and semi-private courtyards.

Jury Evaluation:
The proposal revitalizes the current disrupted space of Roman Square in an appropriate manner, respecting both the scale and historical trace of the original construction. It hierarchizes the space into three forms of use: public, semi-public, and private. The author placed alternative housing in the inner block instead of the original baroque structure, locating a Jewish museum connected to the underground, aptly highlighting the historical significance of the site. At the same time, by respecting the original layout of the building and narrowing Františkánská Street, the historical entrance to the square is restored. The jury also appreciated that the author addressed the issue of sensitive densification of construction and emphasized the social connections of infilling the inner block in the city center. The restrained handling of architectural form expressed through artistic processing aligns with the overall philosophy of the proposal.

---

3rd Prize - Proposal No. 78 - 150,000 CZK
Authors: Jan Kopecký (Brno), Zuzana Hebronová (Brno), Žofie Raimanová (Praha)

Brief Annotation of the Proposal:
The space known as Roman Square is not a square in the true sense of the word. The square is an energy node of the city, a place with the highest intensity. Here, it is exactly the opposite. Counter-square = courtyard. It is a specific courtyard of an urban block that was formed by the cut of Františkánská Street as the only access road to the synagogue, later to the church. This raw incision has softened over centuries, its edges rounded by public ground and buildings gradually turning to face it. The space legitimized itself, creating a unique atmosphere. A unique type of urban space whose mood must be preserved. We are trying to approach it as gently as possible; the space is complete. The proposal only offers further inputs, obscuring blind spots.

Jury Evaluation:
The proposal presents a concept of intensive infilling of the existing area with three distinctive volumes placed in gaps. It respects the division of the space into an intensively used urban square and an inner block, into which it introduces a new function - a theater with a green roof. The jury appreciated the shape solution of the proposed new constructions, which draw from the character of the surrounding buildings but do not slip into historicizing forms. The tower motif, in particular, was considered notable. The jury appreciated the original solution of the inner block with the application of multiple levels. Although the function proposed by the author for the theater is not seen as the most suitable, the jury believes that a similar public function is possible in the area. The clear concept of the square is also presented by the author in a well-elaborated proposal for paving.

---

1st Award - Proposal No. 81 - 100,000 CZK
Authors: Bc. Michal Krejčík (Hradec Králové), Bc. Tomáš Petermann (Ústí nad Labem), Bc. Michaela Dlouhá (Praha)

Brief Annotation of the Proposal:
Roman Square cannot be found on the map of Brno. The widened Františkánská Street has come to be called this due to its specific atmosphere reminiscent of small Italian squares. We explored this aspect more deeply and gave the square its specific dominance. It became the archetype of a loggia, which is a covered public space for various urban activities.
The other, more hidden part of the square was transformed into a landscape of green hills that invites play or evening sitting under the stars.
Roman Square will thus become a distinct, characteristic place in the city. It will be a quiet place for brief stops or deeper contemplation.

Jury Evaluation:
The concept of the proposal is entirely different from all other submitted works. The current state of buildings around the square is not addressed by infilling gaps but by a monumentally roofed public space referencing Renaissance urban design principles. The proposal identifies two spaces, the square and the garden in the inner block. The garden area is divided into undulating green islands, creating a new meditation space in the city center.
The jury appreciated the minimalism of the concept, which adds very little and does not demolish anything. The impressiveness of the proposal is supported by the extraordinary artistic execution of the author's idea. However, the jury believes that the scenographic nature of the intention may be problematic for practical realization.

---

2nd Award - Proposal No. 05 - 60,000 CZK
Authors: Martin Gsandtner, Filip Hodulík, Peter Kuchta (Bratislava)

Brief Annotation of the Proposal:
Vertical Horizons
Roman Square has undergone several intense changes of identity in the past, with constant configurations of diverse atmospheres and the overall character being subdivided. The block bounded by Masaryk, Orlí, and Josefská Streets, along with two passages leading to the locality, creates rays of passage with missing entrance gates defining the square. The site acts as a jumble of records from various cultures, evoking a catalogue of diverse tastes. For the local strategy, we propose a conceptual skin, a missing membrane, healing and defining the character of the square from the viewer's perspective. The main roles of this "skin" are isolation, feelings, and synthesis. It forms a membrane between internal and external influences. In the vertical plane, it creates backdrops, while in the horizontal plane, it creates new horizons. It unifies the square and outlines its spatial boundaries. The essence is to overturn shapelessness, proposing a continuous spatial membrane in a broader dispersion that will transform the locality and become a stage for the flow of cultural identities and events.

Jury Evaluation:
The proposal approaches the solution with a relatively intensive occupation of the area featuring a clear spatial concept - a new square. The space is divided into two clearly functionally oriented parts: a calmed green inner block and an intensively utilized square. The diverse nature of existing buildings is obscured by a uniform expression of the newly proposed buildings, or backdrops. In the area of the ground floor, it works with underground elements and the texture of the square surface.
The jury appreciates the clear concept of the solution with formally restrained expression of the buildings and a plastically elaborated paving design. The proposal presentation is also refined and clearly reflects the authors' opinions. In the context of the entire competition, however, the high intensity of utilization of the addressed area raises significant demands on its servicing and operation.