Klatovský workshop 10 x 10 – ideas for Klatovy

The city of Klatovy has decided to address its sore spots. Every city has many unresolved or neglected areas that have become places endured in their unattractive form, places that everyone has gotten used to and stopped perceiving, places for which there is no longer any will or motivation to find a solution.

The city of Klatovy submitted ten such locations in the form of a workshop to ten registered architects or architectural firms. Each participant could address any number of themes or even present their own "sore spot" in the city and solve it in the form of an ideational study.

The presentation of the locations took place at the Klatovy Town Hall in November 2011, followed by familiarization with all topics directly in the individual locations.

Once, people could rent a boat on the pond in the city park. Today, the pond is filled with mud and underutilized. Eight studies were created for a boat rental and a small boat house.

The local petanque club has only an unkempt area for its games. Three proposals for a petanque court were created.

Under the main thoroughfare of the city, there used to be a pedestrian underpass. What to do with it now that it has become merely a spray-painted cave that citizens do not dare to enter? Five ideas on how to approach it. Some even went beyond the immediate problem to address the transport situation or broader connections.

One of the most important spiritual places in the city is the Chapel of Chaloupka. The chapel where the miracle with the bleeding image of the Mother of God occurred, later named the Klatovy Virgin Mary. And the surroundings? Uninviting, undignified. Five studies.

And then there is the medieval round bastion from the 14th century. Empty and inaccessible, with no possibility to enter and climb up. A vertical exhibition of Klatovy before and behind the walls could be created here; they just need to figure out how to create a staircase inside. Three studies.

A serious issue is the neglected Christian Hill. Once a forest park, where wise ancestors built the pavilions of the Klatovy Hospital. Now, the hospital is moving to a new building, and the neglect of the park has reached its peak. The Stations of the Cross in ruins and the summit chapel were removed by excavators in the late nineties. How to restore this place's lost dignity? Six studies.

Another topic became the newly created area on Tyl's embankment, a space without clarified intentions, without ideas, and without meaningful use. How to handle it? Three proposals.

But there is another hill with a park, generally referred to as Vodák. Here too, the carefully thought-out utility with a generous park concept has disappeared. Three proposals.

And then there are the resting places along the emerging educational trail or the info box that is so needed for presenting city projects. Three proposals. Beyond the topics, some also addressed the use of the unused shirt factory Šumavan or the transformation of the only urban creek into a promenade.

The seriousness with which the architects approached the topics surprised both the organizers and the public, who watched a four-hour presentation of ideas in a packed town hall on February 17.
In many cases, initial studies opened the way to creative discussion on the problem and indicated the breadth of possibilities for solutions. The city gained a significant impulse for possible changes that had previously seemed unsolvable.

Ten participants indicated to the city of Klatovy how to heal some sore spots whose condition had been perceived as chronic and untreatable for decades.

The 10 x 10 workshop - ideas for Klatovy was attended by:
PETR HÁJEK ARCHITEKTI
AULÍK FIŠER ARCHITEKTI s.r.o.
DaM spol. s r.o.
O-V architekti
Ateliér 25 s.r.o.
Architekti chmelík & partneři, s.r.o.
Projektová a znalecká kancelář, Ing. Václav Vlček, s.r.o.
Atelier AeroPLAN
ŠÉPKA ARCHITEKTI
Ing. arch. Jana Svítková