Students' works from the workshop in Polici
Traveling workshop with Viktor Vlach in Police nad Metují, 30.9. - 6.10.2013
Andreas Dzikos: Minor Urban Interventions
I propose more minor interventions. The aim of the first one is to replace the absence of the Metuje River in the town with greater accessibility to the local stream Ledhuje. I am connecting the streets U Damiánky and Radimovská with a newly created path along the edge of the Ledhuje riverbed. The proposal consists of removing barriers at both access points from the streets and adding railings and a footbridge. The second intervention deals with making the courtyard near Hvězdecká Street accessible and cultivating it, serving as a pedestrian route between the main square and the housing estate. I see the potential of the courtyard in its intimacy, the gate, the historical column, the tree, and the well. Besides resolving property relations, the space needs to be cleared, paved, seating added, and the gate opened to the public. The third proposal is to create a bench by raising the plinth and aligning it with the neighboring building that protrudes. The selected spot is located in the street connecting U Domiánky and Tomková. The last proposal is a sandstone bench on Hvězdecká Street. Its length complements the interrupted avenue and offers seating on the way home with a view of the local church.
Elena Filková: Humanizing Political Statues
Above our heads hang billboards, I can read from a distance how cheap chicken breasts are at the local supermarket, we pass multiple traffic signs for cars, my favorite "cyclist get off your bike" is not missing, smaller shops with fruits and vegetables spread the colors of autumn, price tags and promotions shine, there are increasingly bold posters about cultural challenges and ambitions, penetrating gazes from political heads stare at me, behind which lies a less penetrating strategy for the future of the state, the screams of local teenagers speak of immortal humanism and rediscovering the fact that adulthood is, in fact, the most unwanted stage of development, delicately stylized gingerbread displays, a smiling exhibition of mushrooms in the square that inspired many to take a trip to the forest, and the local shoemaker displays a few, albeit exquisitely crafted, masterpieces in the window. And meanwhile, we respectfully greet the political saints. "Hello," screams Saint Honza (of course, Nepomuk) from behind the corner, while the waving Saint Prokop rises behind a van with his bishop's mitre.
Are they here? They are. We dressed them in caps and scarves not only to keep them warm in autumn but also to highlight the presence of statues in the town as a potential urban shaping agent and their (in)decent placement in the visual smog of the city. To stimulate the locals' efforts to find a more personal relationship with the local "saints" through simple gestures.
This is how we found common ground with the always-smiling local priests.
Vojtěch Kaláb: Máchadlo as a Collaboration Machine
One of the most overlooked topics in public space is children's playgrounds, whose implementation results in sterile play areas that atomize children on individual attractions and, at best, provide them with only intermittent doses of adrenaline. When viewing playgrounds from a functionalist perspective, we can interpret every play element as a machine that gives children a certain experience. Just as a house can be interpreted as a machine for living, we can interpret, for example, a climbing frame as a machine for training agility, or a sandbox as a machine for fostering creativity. The playground at Máchadlo represents a machine for meeting and collaboration.
Among the most significant qualities of Police nad Metují are the intense social bonds among the town's residents. However, this quality is being eroded by urban development manifesting as a residential mash in the area around the main thoroughfare and at the eastern end. The proposed playground at Máchadlo responds to the tendency of growing social atomization and offers an opportunity for collaboration among children during play. I propose to place the end of a long screw in the old Máchadlo riverbed, which, when turned, will raise a certain amount of water upwards. Once the water reaches the end of the screw, it will overflow into a system of gutters that will carry it back through a series of play elements to the Máchadlo riverbed.
The water playground requires collaboration on one hand due to the relatively high weight of the screw, which is unmanageable for a single child, and on the other hand, children can split into those who operate the screw while others place various obstacles in the water current in the gutters. Besides installing the water playground, I suggest sensitively cultivating the charming but unfortunately neglected Máchadlo to allow passersby to sit and cool their feet in the chilly stream. Thus adjusted, the public space will have high potential to become a favorite meeting place for locals as well as tourists from the wider area.
Jakub Kopecký: The Ledhujka Stream
The Ledhujka Stream was one of the first attributes of Police nad Metují that immediately caught my attention upon arriving in the town. Watercourses have historically been a great asset in towns and municipalities, and few towns have not utilized their potential. However, this stream was hiding in a riverbed which not only prevented it from overflowing but primarily made it inaccessible for people. Andreas and I noticed this and decided to bring the stream closer to the people. The enthusiasm for the watercourse was amplified by pushing through the bushes along the retaining wall, where I stumbled upon mysterious corners reminiscent of Prague's Čertovka. A small intervention was enough, which was a subtle net along the top of the riverbed serving as a railing with occasional passage to the other side or to the water. The second place was a small square adjacent to the main Police square. The little cozy space needed only a little to breathe life into it - a longitudinal market with potential use as a café, clearing the space, and identifying it by naming it after Father Bouška gave the little square a new meaning. Both elements are then connected by curiosity - I am curious to see how the mysterious corners of Ledhujka look, and likewise, my curiosity for information from the town will be satisfied by their projection at short intervals on the gable wall of one of the houses on Bouškovo Square.
Adam Lacina: The Benedictine Monastery in Police nad Metují
It is about how to deal with a long-unused monastery, which has thus disappeared from the local awareness. Seeking a single function for such a large object could be vulnerable and, in the worst case, mortifying. It's more appropriate to divide it among local organizations and people, returning it to the mental map of Police and letting it unfold... The process has already been ignited; now it just needs a proper beech log added. Inside, part of the elementary art school operates, a funeral hall, a museum-storage, and there is also housing. The proposal consists of minor interventions that reconnect the monastery with the community: Connecting the monastery with Kostelní Street; park improvements along the cemetery wall; an orchard in the lapidary behind the monastery; restoring the dignity of the entrance to the funeral hall; and, last but not least, utilizing the internal paradise garden as an outdoor theater or cinema. These minor interventions should hopefully help return the monastery to the center of events in Police.
Jiří Lukáš: The School in Police
The current proposal for the new appearance of school buildings was published in the October issue of the Police Monthly. I believe there is another, better solution.
The school is, after the monastery, the largest building in Police. It is an important part of the town's panorama. Today, all the buildings in Police form a single whole, with the possible exception of the pharmacy. However, the newly proposed façade overshadows everything. It treats its surroundings as crudely as it does the school buildings themselves. I would also like to mention the fact that the school is still a city institution. Its purpose is to educate and nurture children. It should be an authority, not only for children. I understand that the first association with the word school is children and colors. However, what's important is that children prefer to use colors rather than admire them. They much prefer to draw than to walk through a gallery.
There are many reasons why I disagree with this proposal; however, allow me to describe this counter-proposal.
The buildings are whitewashed; only the walls embracing the playground have a black plinth painted with chalkboard paint. The playground thus climbs onto the school's walls. It is a space for children's games, messages, and complaints. Every rain will wash the board, and the fun starts anew. Furthermore, vital rooms make their way onto the façade in the form of wooden cladding with descriptions of cabinets, staff rooms, the principal's office, etc. This way, children know which window to watch out for and parents will know where in the school they can find what they're looking for. The third and final simple intervention is the colored blinds that protect the classrooms oriented to the sun and simultaneously randomly decorate the school buildings.
All changes to the façade lead to a better relationship with children, with you, and with the surrounding buildings. The school can be playful while also being simple and effective.
Lucie Pavlištíková: Statues in the Landscape
The Order of Benedictines significantly influenced the landscape around Police during its greatest glory. Some interventions are still readable today, others have disappeared, and a few remain in their place, now with a different effect than before. Three statues were left on a hill in what today is called Strážnice, Záměstí, and Svatojosefské, which dominated the town and also guarded it. They stood along the Stations of the Cross to Ostaš and Hronov. My goal is to restore their pedestrian connection and thus make them accessible to the public. Partially, I want to return them to the everyday life of the citizens of Police. In doing so, I want to take advantage of their positioning above the town, gaining the opportunity to survey the landscape. Therefore, I would partially pave the surroundings of the statue and create a place to sit.
Ondřej Pchálek: Police for Police Not Just for the Drawer
When I generalize it in hindsight, in Police I created walls, or perhaps better said, boundaries. I proposed several types:
Rampart
Police never had walls. It was plundered multiple times by foreign soldiers. People would run to hide in the rocks of Ostaš. Today, no one has the space to hide in the rocks, as it would take up most of the day. Something constantly passes through the town.
The project gently prompts a new discussion about walls. The army that currently passes through the town is, indeed, of a somewhat different character. It appears as large and small boxes that noisily drive around the historical center. Their course perhaps resembles a difficult-to-overcome trench, in which, however, a raging river roars. Traffic demands excessive attention with its noise and stomp, yet it completely ignores its surroundings. As if an endless army of the deaf and dumb were marching through the towns. And so it creates places of utter ignorance in its surroundings. (What matters today is actually inside the box)
But words already exceed the elementary nature or even banality of the project.
Clock
Police never needed a clock and probably doesn’t need one today either. But upon my arrival in Police, I was struck by this consistent wall of thuja trees that concealed the massive school building. Or "how to use a tree as a rock."
From a child's perspective, which I believe every architect tries to somewhat maintain, I was intrigued by the possibility of jumping and climbing through the wall of trees. I have proposed a clock, operating such that at every recess, children are released into the schoolyard, and since there is hardly anything to do there, many will necessarily climb up and down the stairs, appearing among the trees from the street while climbing out and in again. Others will remain down below, shouting at the hour figures, or perhaps playing a few games under the unexpected balcony.
The clock aims to be a summer stage next to the theater, sometimes an audience, sometimes a stage, in the courtyard and on the street.
Entry into the Village
The place is the boundary between the purely urban and purely rural Police. A solution straight out of a textbook. Ten differences = 2 x wall, an opening, 6 trees, and stairs to the park. Today it can be accessed from the back side, from the JZD and the grown village, which cannot compete as a merely cultivated urban park.
Police for Police Not Just for the Drawer
Nothing will probably be built in the place between the two squares in the coming years. Today, a market is occasionally organized there, officially marked as a market square with a sign.
The market today works such that a truck arrives, unloads boxes of goods, and a seller sets up in the place, freezing there all day or, from an external observer's perspective, could be bored to death. Meanwhile, people sift through boxes spread out on the concrete pavement and navigate narrow alleyways. It has its charm, which may disappear. Just like when we move into a new apartment and eventually unpack our items from the boxes...
Vojtěch Stoklasa: Accessing Urban Towers
Around the town lie several places from which it is possible to observe both the town and the unique landscape. However, there is no viewpoint in the town itself. This can be changed simply by making the town hall and church towers accessible.
The town hall tower will be accessible on Czech Statehood Day, providing a view from the heart of the town. A staircase leads from the public space of the town hall to the attic, behind its locked doors, where the common citizen's awareness ends. My proposal uncovers the mystery of the locked doors and shows the way towards the landscape-urban panorama from the town center. In the attic, we will find doors leading to the tower. Behind them are the weights of the town hall clock; we turn left and ascend one floor, where the clock is located. This is followed by another staircase and another floor with clock faces. After that, there is a very steep staircase, a transition onto a beam, and a passage onto the roof, where the desired panorama awaits.
An incredibly poetic and history-soaked path to the church tower will be opened on the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, to which the church is dedicated. From the first monastery courtyard, we will enter directly through the main entrance doors, which are currently held by a tenant. We will turn left and pass through the door into the forgotten spiral staircase, the remnant of the Gothic church tower. We will ascend to the monastery roof. Here we pass through a gap into the church roof, followed by a staircase and a path through the attic to the tower, where once again the clock and staircase to the top of the tower await us.
Architecture can often be created cheaply and sometimes entirely for free. Police nad Metují is proof of this.
I propose more minor interventions. The aim of the first one is to replace the absence of the Metuje River in the town with greater accessibility to the local stream Ledhuje. I am connecting the streets U Damiánky and Radimovská with a newly created path along the edge of the Ledhuje riverbed. The proposal consists of removing barriers at both access points from the streets and adding railings and a footbridge. The second intervention deals with making the courtyard near Hvězdecká Street accessible and cultivating it, serving as a pedestrian route between the main square and the housing estate. I see the potential of the courtyard in its intimacy, the gate, the historical column, the tree, and the well. Besides resolving property relations, the space needs to be cleared, paved, seating added, and the gate opened to the public. The third proposal is to create a bench by raising the plinth and aligning it with the neighboring building that protrudes. The selected spot is located in the street connecting U Domiánky and Tomková. The last proposal is a sandstone bench on Hvězdecká Street. Its length complements the interrupted avenue and offers seating on the way home with a view of the local church.
Elena Filková: Humanizing Political Statues
Above our heads hang billboards, I can read from a distance how cheap chicken breasts are at the local supermarket, we pass multiple traffic signs for cars, my favorite "cyclist get off your bike" is not missing, smaller shops with fruits and vegetables spread the colors of autumn, price tags and promotions shine, there are increasingly bold posters about cultural challenges and ambitions, penetrating gazes from political heads stare at me, behind which lies a less penetrating strategy for the future of the state, the screams of local teenagers speak of immortal humanism and rediscovering the fact that adulthood is, in fact, the most unwanted stage of development, delicately stylized gingerbread displays, a smiling exhibition of mushrooms in the square that inspired many to take a trip to the forest, and the local shoemaker displays a few, albeit exquisitely crafted, masterpieces in the window. And meanwhile, we respectfully greet the political saints. "Hello," screams Saint Honza (of course, Nepomuk) from behind the corner, while the waving Saint Prokop rises behind a van with his bishop's mitre.
Are they here? They are. We dressed them in caps and scarves not only to keep them warm in autumn but also to highlight the presence of statues in the town as a potential urban shaping agent and their (in)decent placement in the visual smog of the city. To stimulate the locals' efforts to find a more personal relationship with the local "saints" through simple gestures.
This is how we found common ground with the always-smiling local priests.
Vojtěch Kaláb: Máchadlo as a Collaboration Machine
One of the most overlooked topics in public space is children's playgrounds, whose implementation results in sterile play areas that atomize children on individual attractions and, at best, provide them with only intermittent doses of adrenaline. When viewing playgrounds from a functionalist perspective, we can interpret every play element as a machine that gives children a certain experience. Just as a house can be interpreted as a machine for living, we can interpret, for example, a climbing frame as a machine for training agility, or a sandbox as a machine for fostering creativity. The playground at Máchadlo represents a machine for meeting and collaboration.
Among the most significant qualities of Police nad Metují are the intense social bonds among the town's residents. However, this quality is being eroded by urban development manifesting as a residential mash in the area around the main thoroughfare and at the eastern end. The proposed playground at Máchadlo responds to the tendency of growing social atomization and offers an opportunity for collaboration among children during play. I propose to place the end of a long screw in the old Máchadlo riverbed, which, when turned, will raise a certain amount of water upwards. Once the water reaches the end of the screw, it will overflow into a system of gutters that will carry it back through a series of play elements to the Máchadlo riverbed.
The water playground requires collaboration on one hand due to the relatively high weight of the screw, which is unmanageable for a single child, and on the other hand, children can split into those who operate the screw while others place various obstacles in the water current in the gutters. Besides installing the water playground, I suggest sensitively cultivating the charming but unfortunately neglected Máchadlo to allow passersby to sit and cool their feet in the chilly stream. Thus adjusted, the public space will have high potential to become a favorite meeting place for locals as well as tourists from the wider area.
Jakub Kopecký: The Ledhujka Stream
The Ledhujka Stream was one of the first attributes of Police nad Metují that immediately caught my attention upon arriving in the town. Watercourses have historically been a great asset in towns and municipalities, and few towns have not utilized their potential. However, this stream was hiding in a riverbed which not only prevented it from overflowing but primarily made it inaccessible for people. Andreas and I noticed this and decided to bring the stream closer to the people. The enthusiasm for the watercourse was amplified by pushing through the bushes along the retaining wall, where I stumbled upon mysterious corners reminiscent of Prague's Čertovka. A small intervention was enough, which was a subtle net along the top of the riverbed serving as a railing with occasional passage to the other side or to the water. The second place was a small square adjacent to the main Police square. The little cozy space needed only a little to breathe life into it - a longitudinal market with potential use as a café, clearing the space, and identifying it by naming it after Father Bouška gave the little square a new meaning. Both elements are then connected by curiosity - I am curious to see how the mysterious corners of Ledhujka look, and likewise, my curiosity for information from the town will be satisfied by their projection at short intervals on the gable wall of one of the houses on Bouškovo Square.
Adam Lacina: The Benedictine Monastery in Police nad Metují
It is about how to deal with a long-unused monastery, which has thus disappeared from the local awareness. Seeking a single function for such a large object could be vulnerable and, in the worst case, mortifying. It's more appropriate to divide it among local organizations and people, returning it to the mental map of Police and letting it unfold... The process has already been ignited; now it just needs a proper beech log added. Inside, part of the elementary art school operates, a funeral hall, a museum-storage, and there is also housing. The proposal consists of minor interventions that reconnect the monastery with the community: Connecting the monastery with Kostelní Street; park improvements along the cemetery wall; an orchard in the lapidary behind the monastery; restoring the dignity of the entrance to the funeral hall; and, last but not least, utilizing the internal paradise garden as an outdoor theater or cinema. These minor interventions should hopefully help return the monastery to the center of events in Police.
Jiří Lukáš: The School in Police
The current proposal for the new appearance of school buildings was published in the October issue of the Police Monthly. I believe there is another, better solution.
The school is, after the monastery, the largest building in Police. It is an important part of the town's panorama. Today, all the buildings in Police form a single whole, with the possible exception of the pharmacy. However, the newly proposed façade overshadows everything. It treats its surroundings as crudely as it does the school buildings themselves. I would also like to mention the fact that the school is still a city institution. Its purpose is to educate and nurture children. It should be an authority, not only for children. I understand that the first association with the word school is children and colors. However, what's important is that children prefer to use colors rather than admire them. They much prefer to draw than to walk through a gallery.
There are many reasons why I disagree with this proposal; however, allow me to describe this counter-proposal.
The buildings are whitewashed; only the walls embracing the playground have a black plinth painted with chalkboard paint. The playground thus climbs onto the school's walls. It is a space for children's games, messages, and complaints. Every rain will wash the board, and the fun starts anew. Furthermore, vital rooms make their way onto the façade in the form of wooden cladding with descriptions of cabinets, staff rooms, the principal's office, etc. This way, children know which window to watch out for and parents will know where in the school they can find what they're looking for. The third and final simple intervention is the colored blinds that protect the classrooms oriented to the sun and simultaneously randomly decorate the school buildings.
All changes to the façade lead to a better relationship with children, with you, and with the surrounding buildings. The school can be playful while also being simple and effective.
Lucie Pavlištíková: Statues in the Landscape
The Order of Benedictines significantly influenced the landscape around Police during its greatest glory. Some interventions are still readable today, others have disappeared, and a few remain in their place, now with a different effect than before. Three statues were left on a hill in what today is called Strážnice, Záměstí, and Svatojosefské, which dominated the town and also guarded it. They stood along the Stations of the Cross to Ostaš and Hronov. My goal is to restore their pedestrian connection and thus make them accessible to the public. Partially, I want to return them to the everyday life of the citizens of Police. In doing so, I want to take advantage of their positioning above the town, gaining the opportunity to survey the landscape. Therefore, I would partially pave the surroundings of the statue and create a place to sit.
Ondřej Pchálek: Police for Police Not Just for the Drawer
When I generalize it in hindsight, in Police I created walls, or perhaps better said, boundaries. I proposed several types:
Rampart
Police never had walls. It was plundered multiple times by foreign soldiers. People would run to hide in the rocks of Ostaš. Today, no one has the space to hide in the rocks, as it would take up most of the day. Something constantly passes through the town.
The project gently prompts a new discussion about walls. The army that currently passes through the town is, indeed, of a somewhat different character. It appears as large and small boxes that noisily drive around the historical center. Their course perhaps resembles a difficult-to-overcome trench, in which, however, a raging river roars. Traffic demands excessive attention with its noise and stomp, yet it completely ignores its surroundings. As if an endless army of the deaf and dumb were marching through the towns. And so it creates places of utter ignorance in its surroundings. (What matters today is actually inside the box)
But words already exceed the elementary nature or even banality of the project.
Clock
Police never needed a clock and probably doesn’t need one today either. But upon my arrival in Police, I was struck by this consistent wall of thuja trees that concealed the massive school building. Or "how to use a tree as a rock."
From a child's perspective, which I believe every architect tries to somewhat maintain, I was intrigued by the possibility of jumping and climbing through the wall of trees. I have proposed a clock, operating such that at every recess, children are released into the schoolyard, and since there is hardly anything to do there, many will necessarily climb up and down the stairs, appearing among the trees from the street while climbing out and in again. Others will remain down below, shouting at the hour figures, or perhaps playing a few games under the unexpected balcony.
The clock aims to be a summer stage next to the theater, sometimes an audience, sometimes a stage, in the courtyard and on the street.
Entry into the Village
The place is the boundary between the purely urban and purely rural Police. A solution straight out of a textbook. Ten differences = 2 x wall, an opening, 6 trees, and stairs to the park. Today it can be accessed from the back side, from the JZD and the grown village, which cannot compete as a merely cultivated urban park.
Police for Police Not Just for the Drawer
Nothing will probably be built in the place between the two squares in the coming years. Today, a market is occasionally organized there, officially marked as a market square with a sign.
The market today works such that a truck arrives, unloads boxes of goods, and a seller sets up in the place, freezing there all day or, from an external observer's perspective, could be bored to death. Meanwhile, people sift through boxes spread out on the concrete pavement and navigate narrow alleyways. It has its charm, which may disappear. Just like when we move into a new apartment and eventually unpack our items from the boxes...
Vojtěch Stoklasa: Accessing Urban Towers
Around the town lie several places from which it is possible to observe both the town and the unique landscape. However, there is no viewpoint in the town itself. This can be changed simply by making the town hall and church towers accessible.
The town hall tower will be accessible on Czech Statehood Day, providing a view from the heart of the town. A staircase leads from the public space of the town hall to the attic, behind its locked doors, where the common citizen's awareness ends. My proposal uncovers the mystery of the locked doors and shows the way towards the landscape-urban panorama from the town center. In the attic, we will find doors leading to the tower. Behind them are the weights of the town hall clock; we turn left and ascend one floor, where the clock is located. This is followed by another staircase and another floor with clock faces. After that, there is a very steep staircase, a transition onto a beam, and a passage onto the roof, where the desired panorama awaits.
An incredibly poetic and history-soaked path to the church tower will be opened on the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, to which the church is dedicated. From the first monastery courtyard, we will enter directly through the main entrance doors, which are currently held by a tenant. We will turn left and pass through the door into the forgotten spiral staircase, the remnant of the Gothic church tower. We will ascend to the monastery roof. Here we pass through a gap into the church roof, followed by a staircase and a path through the attic to the tower, where once again the clock and staircase to the top of the tower await us.
Architecture can often be created cheaply and sometimes entirely for free. Police nad Metují is proof of this.
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