Architect Pleskot designs a new attraction for Lower Vítkovice

Ostrava - A new attraction will be part of the blast furnace in the Lower Vítkovice area of Ostrava starting in May. A more than twenty-meter high glass cylindrical extension is currently being completed there, which will include an observation terrace, a club, or a café. One of the main landmarks of Ostrava will thus become the highest geographical point in the city, and visitors will be able to look around the area from a height of nearly 80 meters, said Karolína Rycková from the Lower Vítkovice association to ČTK today.
    "The original furnace remains completely intact, and the extension seems to levitate above the blast furnace. It’s an incredibly interesting structure," said Rycková. The extension, which will lead to a tour path, is expected to open to visitors on May 1. "There will probably be a walkway around the entire extension as well, a unique spiral. It will be a very adrenaline-filled walk because the entire walkway is made only of floor grates. As you walk there, you can see the full 80 meters below you," described the attraction Rycková.
    Inside the extension, there will be a club, a café, and a gallery space. "The project connects a presentation space at a height of 55 meters as part of an educational trail through the furnace, a café at a height of 62 meters, a club at 66 meters, and a roof observation terrace at an altitude of 71 meters," specified Petr Koudela, the director of the Lower Vítkovice association. According to him, a tower the height of a panel house has actually been created at the top of the furnace.
    The idea to add to Blast Furnace No. 1, also shortened to VP1, came from the chief architect of the Lower Vítkovice area, Josef Pleskot. The extension is an architectural symbol of the fire that always blazed above the furnace when a large volume of blast furnace gas was produced.
    Moreover, thanks to the extension, the blast furnace will become the highest geographical point in the city. "From the ground up, the Ostrava Town Hall is slightly taller, but the Ostrava Town Hall is located completely on the riverbank, so it is actually situated lower," said Rycková. From the terrace, which will be equipped with telescopes, people will be able to look not only at Ostrava but also see the distant surroundings, including the Beskydy, in good weather.
    The costs for the extension are around 60 million crowns, the largest portion will be covered by European grants, and the rest will be paid by the Lower Vítkovice association. "The construction is more or less completed; now the interior spaces are being furnished and interior adjustments are still being made," noted Rycková. The total capacity of the extension is a maximum of 100 people, with each floor capable of accommodating 25 people.
    Visitors will pay 150 crowns for a tour without the extension and 190 crowns with it, but it will also be possible to access the extension for 80 crowns without taking the tour. The newly created extension is fully wheelchair accessible.