The Brno concert hall will have technology and an underground passage

Brno - The planned Janáček Cultural Center in Brno will have technical facilities and an underground passage leading to the adjacent Besední House. This was stated today by Mayor Markéta Vaňková (ODS) to journalists. Originally, the technical center was to be located on the roof, but according to the city, this could cause problems. The above-ground connection would be problematic and more expensive due to the connection with the heritage-protected Besední House.

The concert hall between Besední and Veselá Streets is expected to offer around 1,200 seats for audiences. The cost is estimated to be around two billion. The city has secured 600 million from the state and 100 million from the South Moravian Region. The hall will provide facilities for the Brno Philharmonic, which currently lacks concert spaces. Construction is set to begin in 2022.

The city council today, in the capacity of the general meeting of the city company Brněnské komunikace, approved the necessary guidelines and additions to contracts for the placement of technologies and underground passage. "In the original design of the hall, the technical center was on the roof of the building. After negotiations with the authors and designers, we are choosing a more acoustically suitable solution, which is to place the ventilation, air conditioning, or humidity systems underground and outside the building's footprint. This will prevent unwanted vibrations and noise," said Vaňková.

Another change is that there will be an underground passage between the concert hall and the Besední House, which the Philharmonic needs for its operations. "The above-ground connection was technically more complex due to the connection to the heritage-protected Besední House, and therefore also expensive. The underground connection was proposed by heritage conservationists from the beginning, as it minimally impacts the appearance of the historical part of the city center," said the mayor's deputy Tomáš Koláčný (Pirates).

According to the city, the final shape of the hall has also been approved, and preparations for an acoustic model of the hall at a scale of 1:10 are being completed. The model is expected to be ready at the turn of October and November. The building permit was granted in June. The start of construction is planned for 2022. There are already underground garages in the area, costing around a quarter of a billion crowns, with nearly 200 spaces, but they are not yet operational. They are waiting for the construction of the hall.