Ostrava - The Moravian-Silesian Region will contribute 300 million korunas to the city of Ostrava for the construction of a new concert hall and the reconstruction of the House of Culture of the City of Ostrava. This was decided by the regional representatives at today's meeting. The region committed to support the project in a memorandum from 2018, and due to the ongoing preparation of the construction, the city has now requested the promised contribution.

"The Moravian-Silesian Region has increasingly come into the focus of art and culture lovers in recent years. We host a number of great cultural events, attracting people from all corners of the republic and abroad. The new super-modern concert hall will significantly strengthen this trend. Thanks to this project, the existing House of Culture will undergo a complete reconstruction. Its building from 1963 certainly deserves modernization," said Deputy Governor for Culture and Heritage Protection Lukáš Curylo (KDU-ČSL).

The city would like to start construction of the hall next year; the building permit process is currently ongoing. "The city has been striving for the construction of a quality concert hall for the past 160 years, now for the seventh time, we are closest to its establishment, although the current economic situation affects significant projects, and it must be said, not just this one. However, if we look back in history, this is not the first such situation; we need to proceed with preparations even more intensively. I am convinced that we will secure the desired funding for this completely exceptional building according to our original vision in collaboration with the city – region – state," stated Mayor Tomáš Macura (ANO).

The Ostrava concert hall will have a capacity of 1300 seats in the auditorium, arranged in a so-called vineyard style, divided into smaller sections, and part of the auditorium will be behind a separate stage. The design of the concert hall, which also includes the reconstruction of the House of Culture of the City of Ostrava, is by American architect Steven Holl and his studio Steven Holl Architects from New York, in collaboration with the Prague studio Architecture Acts. Including preparations, the construction of the concert hall is expected to cost more than three billion korunas.

"Project preparations are progressing by leaps and bounds. In recent months, a series of acoustic measurements have been conducted in the interior model of the Ostrava concert hall by the renowned Japanese company Nagata Acoustics to achieve perfect acoustics for the future hall," Macura reminded. The scale model, created in 1:10, was developed in workshops specializing in acoustic models in Mnichovo Hradiště, and is now being prepared for transport to Ostrava, where it is set to be exhibited in the city gallery Plato.

The new concert hall will be shaped like a musical instrument case. The building uses the heritage-protected structure of the House of Culture of the City of Ostrava, expanding it with a new dominant extension for the main concert hall. From the current social hall of the house of culture, a chamber hall with an additional capacity of 515 seats will be created. A recording studio will be established in one of the side sections of the current building. Another part will be a new educational center with a maximum capacity of 200 people focused on music, theater, and art workshops for schools and the public. It will also include a conference hall with a gallery and a capacity of 200 people, a theater hall for 490 spectators, and facilities for the one-hundred-member Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava. There will also be a restaurant, café, lounges, and spaces for leisure activities.