Lesopark with a lookout tower in Nový Lískovec by Atelier Štěpán

The Nový Lískovec district, in collaboration with the architects Atelier Štěpán, is preparing a project for the restoration of the forest park above Raisova Street with a new observation tower. This forest park is within walking distance for 60,000 residents of the southwestern sector of Brno and offers new welcome opportunities for recreation. It is worth noting that the new observation tower is located about a five-minute walk from the famous Brno excursion destination - Hotel Myslivna. The project is supported, among others, by the Partnerství Foundation from the Transnational Cooperation Operational Programme and aims to become its pilot project.
        The original forest park - a transitional stage of greenery between the urban park and the suburban forest - was founded as part of the health resort "City Health Insurance Fund" before World War I. Senator Josef Hybeš was instrumental in its establishment. He created a natural environment for the placement of a range of stylish objects for patient recovery - swimming pools, playgrounds, bowling alleys, solariums, observation towers, etc.
The health resort was closed in 1948 for political reasons, a city hospital was set up in the sanatorium building, residential buildings were sold to private owners, the women's pavilion was demolished and looted, and other structures fell into complete devastation; the unmaintained forest park was left to spontaneous development. Currently, the area of the forest park is approximately half of its original state.
        Architects Vanda Štěpánová, Petr Förchtgott, and Marek Štěpán have chosen to give the forest park restoration project a new interpretation rather than a historical reconstruction. Given the advanced stage of degradation of the greenery and the disorder of the vegetation, all hazardous trees that threaten visitor safety will first be removed. These include trees that are completely or almost dead and uprooted trees - their total number is in the dozens. In a second step, invasive species of woody plants that have naturally encroached will be completely removed - primarily the most widespread of them - black locust. Only the subsequent third step will involve the implementation of new compositional adjustments to the greenery. These will mainly concern the immediate vicinity of the newly designed structures - the various points of the forest park's story. A natural amphitheater, a pétanque court, a wooden lounge, a new footbridge over the ravine, a reconstructed old viewpoint with a drinking fountain, and above all, a new observation tower will be created here.
        The new observation tower is conceived as a slanted tower. It is a prefabricated structure consisting of two cooperating cylindrical parts - a vertical steel staircase and a slanted wooden enclosure. The observation platform, at a height of 27 meters, will rise above the crowns of the surrounding oak forest and will offer a beautiful view all the way to Pálava.