Písek wants to complete the renovation of the Sladovna

Písek - The town of Písek wants to complete the renovation of the Sladovna building, which has served as a cultural center and gallery mainly for children since 2007. The city council approved the announcement of an architectural competition for the design of the third phase of the Sladovna reconstruction. The reconstruction is estimated to cost around 45 million crowns, but this is just a rough estimate. Today, Písek's deputy mayor Josef Knot (TOP 09) stated this to ČTK.

The start of construction work depends on suitable grant titles, which Písek intends to make maximum use of. The design study will cost about three million crowns and should be completed by the end of 2017.

"Upon completion of the reconstruction, the Sladovna would rank among the largest cultural spaces in the South Bohemian Region. The total usable area would exceed 7,000 meters," said Tereza Dobiášová, director of Sladovna.

The subject of the competition is a review of the building's construction solution and finding an architectural key to change the function of the historical Sladovna building into a center for culture, social life, and tourism. In the first phase, about 58 percent of all usable areas were opened. In the second phase, 19 percent, and the third phase aims to open the remaining 23 percent to the public. Sladovna was originally part of the Písek brewery.

According to Dobiášová, not all construction renovations in previous years have benefited the building. "The created concept left numerous construction interventions in the building, which have proved to be ineffective or problematic and unfortunately led to blocking the internal layout of the building," she stated.

"The last phase of the reconstruction is also the last opportunity to solve the functional problems of the building. At the same time, new previously unforeseen possibilities for energy self-sufficiency in building operations and intelligent solutions for the building's infrastructure are emerging, allowing for long-term minimization of operating costs. Finding solutions to persistent problems and addressing the building as a functional whole is the main task of the architectural competition," stated deputy mayor Knot.

Last year, over 50,000 people visited Sladovna, the highest number since 2009. The most popular was the interactive exhibition about an anthill, where children could try out how it works in an anthill, and the second one focused on Jiří Trnka's puppet film "Zahrada" (Garden). Currently, three exhibitions can be visited at the Sladovna - the first is focused on puppet theater, featuring scenographies and puppets from theaters across the Czech Republic, the second is called "Tiskařiště," where children can try out the work of a printer, and the third is titled "Dreamers, Wizards, and Butterflies." It is an exhibition of unconventional and handmade musical instruments.