The Ostrava crematorium will be renovated according to the design by Meerkatelier

Ostrava – The Ostrava crematorium, the only one in the region, will be reconstructed according to the architectural design by the Meerkatelier studio from Červený Újezd. It won the architectural competition announced by the city last September. This was reported to journalists today by the spokeswoman of the city council, Andrea Vojkovská.

The original building from 1961 was constructed according to the design of architect Ivo Klimeš. However, the crematorium has undergone many modifications and is now unsuitable. The main issue is the cladding of the building, which gets extremely hot in summer and loses heat in winter. "It has significant technical, operational, and aesthetic deficiencies. The goal of the reconstruction is to modernize the building to meet current trends," said Deputy Mayor Kateřina Šebestová (ANO).

According to her, the winning design offers a solution that is sensitive to the original building while also improving visitor comfort. The crematorium is expected to be renovated by the end of 2022. The jury unanimously agreed on the winning proposal by architects Jaroslav Minařík, Jindřich Synek, and Jiří Kočí from Meerkatelier. The jury selected it from 11 entries that met the competition requirements. All proposals from the architectural competition will be exhibited by the city studio MAPPA. The opening will be on June 10 at 5:00 PM in the MAPPA exhibition space.

"The winning proposal preserves the original concept of the area and creatively develops it. The jury noted the efficiency of the authors in retaining both ceremonial halls in the entrance part of the building and relocating the operation of the cremation furnaces to the rear part of the building. The fact that no excessive construction technologies were used in the exterior, which would unnecessarily inflate the cost of the construction, was also positively evaluated," Vojkovská stated.

The city will sign a contract with the winning studio for the creation of project documentation, which should be completed in 2021. This will be followed by a tender for the construction contractor. This is expected to start and be completed a year later. The cost of the reconstruction is not expected to exceed 100 million crowns.