The competition for the future appearance of the Velké Meziříčí square is beginning

The future design of the center of Velké Meziříčí will be decided by an architectural competition. The conditions were approved by the municipal council on April 6, unanimously, and the competition has been officially announced since April 7.


Participants in the competition - architects and architectural studios will be dealing with the appearance of the Square and the streets Radnická, Vrchovecká, Komenského, Kostelní, and U Bašty. The city wants to find not only how the surfaces of the square and streets will look, but especially seeks quality proposals for future traffic servicing, for the use of the center as a place for social and cultural events, and as a recreational zone, among others. "We do not want to suffocate our center by excluding traffic, but we also realize that it must not look like a parking lot in front of a supermarket. We believe that people with experience in this field will handle this assignment," said Mayor Radovan Necid.

The conditions of the assignment thus include a reduction of existing parking spaces in the Square, and conversely, the addition of another, currently provisional parking lot right next to the center in the area behind the Balinka River. "At the same time, the connection of this space with the square will ensure sufficient parking capacity in the city center," stated Necid. Other points in the assignment then indicate that the city wants participants to propose the placement of short-term and long-term cultural events, markets and fairs, regular and festive lighting, the placement and dignified integration of the existing war memorial, and more. The assignment also includes urban furniture specifically for cultural and social events in the Square, as well as vegetation solutions. Currently, the Square is dominated by mature linden trees that have suffered from neglected maintenance in the past. "In this context, we are aware of how typical these trees are for our square and what their history is. All of this will, however, be known to the competition participants, and it is up to them to deal with it," declared Radovan Necid.

The architectural competition for the future design of the center will take place this summer. After the announcement, participants will have until June 24 to submit their competition proposals, which the jury will then evaluate at the beginning of July. The announcement of the results will take place after the statutory deadlines by the end of July. In September, there will be an exhibition where people will be able to familiarize themselves with all the competition proposals, as well as the jury's evaluations of individual proposals and an introduction to the awarded authors.

According to Mayor Necid, the actual reconstruction of the city center can only begin after the complete project documentation is finalized, which may take up to two years. The complete replacement of networks, especially water and sewage systems, which are currently so old that their condition can be classified as emergency, will be coordinated simultaneously with the reconstruction of the Square and adjacent streets. "Participants in the competition are also limited by the estimated cost of the reconstruction, which, without the networks, should not exceed 50 million crowns for the municipal budget," the mayor concluded, adding that outdated networks are one of the main reasons why the city council decided to repair the center.

All information can be found on the city’s website http://www.velkemezirici.cz/ in the Practical Information section.

The jury of the architectural competition in Velké Meziříčí:

Independent jury members - regular:
Acad. arch. David Vávra - president of the jury,
Ing. et Ing. Tomáš Jiránek,
Acad. arch. Ladislav Kuba,
Ing. Vladimír Sitta,

Independent jury members - substitutes:
Ing. arch. Eva Uchytilová - authorized architect
Ing. Petr Smítal - authorized traffic engineer

Jury members dependent on the organizer - regular:
Ing. Radovan Necid - mayor
Josef Komínek - deputy mayor
Ing. arch. Olga Čermáková - member of the commission for the regeneration of the urban heritage zone

Jury members dependent on the organizer - substitutes:
Ing. David Babák - city councilor
Miroslav Jágrik - city councilor
Ing. Antonín Kozina - head of the department of construction and regional development
JUDr. Karel Lancman - city councilor
Jiří Michlíček - city councilor
PhDr. Marie Ripperová - city councilor
Ing. Stanislav Rosa - chairman of the commission for the regeneration of the urban heritage zone
Ing. Vincenc Záviška - city councilor

Secretary and reviewer
Ing. Petr Velička - authorized landscape architect