Saint Wenceslas enters the underground parking lot

We are publishing a video and article by Prof. PhDr. Petr Kratochvíl, CSc. from the Institute of Art History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, who, along with his students from the Faculty of Art and Architecture in Liberec, attempted to visualize the planned entries to the underground parking directly at Wenceslas Square. Several dozen meters long ramps cutting into the square could seriously devalue this public space. The following text by Prof. Petr Kratochvíl was published on October 12, 2016, in Lidové noviny.



Revitalization or Degradation of Wenceslas Square?
A few days ago, a report appeared in the press that the long-planned revitalization of the lower part of Wenceslas Square in Prague is approaching commencement: The city district of Prague 1 has submitted a request for a zoning decision, which will be discussed on October 13. Impressive visualizations of the project show neat new tree lines, areas free of cars, and joyfully strolling Praguers. And only an inconspicuous light strip under the tree crowns reveals that the project also includes ramps to the underground parking planned within the block between the square and Panská Street.
Digging a hole into Wenceslas Square would be a drastic intervention that would fundamentally alter its appearance. It's not a trivial matter. The ramps, down which cars would descend and again ascend from underground, are about 70 meters long (approximately 1/5 of the length of the lower part of the square) and are positioned parallel to the façade of the street front between the Zlatá husa hotel and the Van Graaf store. True, in the central part, where cars are already below the surface level and turn into the inner block, the ramps are supposed to be covered by a sidewalk. Even so, two large open pits would yawn at passersby, the urban charm of which can be imagined in advance if we visit a similar entrance to an underground parking lot for example at the mouth of Panská Street opposite Myslbek; and readers from outside Prague certainly know other examples where underground entrances hinder walking and views and transform places into inner urban peripheries.
With the proposed solution, the expert heritage institutions - the National Heritage Institute and its Prague office - have, of course, expressed strong disagreement. The Prague heritage reservation is on the UNESCO list, and Wenceslas Square is one of its most significant spaces. The quality of historical urban spaces is determined not only by the architecture of the surrounding buildings but also by the character of the space itself. It is the floor of the salon that we walk on, and disrupting its integrity by digging sloping ramps would be a barbaric act. Good architecture, nice urban furniture, cleverly arranged alleys can improve the square; an unsuccessful solution can sometimes harm it - but a hole in the ground irreparably destroys it because it is an irreversible change. Trees can be transplanted elsewhere, benches and kiosks can be exchanged, but once a hole is dug, no one will fill it back in. In the area of the heritage reservation, or at least in its most valuable places, the principle should apply that if underground garages are to be built in the inner block, the ramps to them are behind the building gates and do not cut into public space. The block between Wenceslas Square, Jindřišská, and Panská offers several such usable passages. The argument that entering cars would clash with pedestrians is flawed. Even in the case of the ramps currently proposed, cars would drive into and out of them through an area declared as a pedestrian zone, but in addition to the exhaust gases from the vehicles, they would leave behind concrete holes as permanent monuments to the victory of the car over the city.
Ironically, this disruption of public space in favor of private interests is being promoted – alongside the investor of the reconstruction of the adjacent city block – primarily by the city district authority of Prague 1, which should be most concerned about preserving the values it manages. The justification that in addition to 100 parking spaces for the private investor, there will also be 180 public spaces in the garages is actually sad. It attests that instead of a conceptual discussion about suitable locations for mass garages and their adequate capacity, it is a deal: You will build us something, and we will allow you something that we should not allow. Moreover, as revealed by the application file for the zoning decision, this deal between Prague and the investor has already been concluded a long time ago, and the contract, which includes the construction of ramps at Wenceslas Square, is still valid according to this statement. So why were any negotiations with the heritage experts even conducted if a decision had already been made years ago? (By the way: The currently existing underground garage, accessed by car elevators at this location, has 15 of its 60 spots unoccupied, and likewise, all large parking garages in central Prague still offer free long-term parking spaces.)
Aside from the factual threat to Wenceslas Square, what is sad about this case is the obfuscation of the key problem of the project. Although it was publicly displayed directly at Wenceslas Square a year ago with that inconspicuous light strip, the text did not explain that these were ramps. There is also no mention of the ramps on the notice board of Prague 1, where the request for a zoning decision is currently posted. And if we thoroughly study the voluminous request, we find highly conflicting data on how visible the open part of the ramp is supposed to be. The plans for the square have, for safety's sake, the layouts of the ramps drawn in almost indistinct lines without measurements specifying their dimensions, and their drawn size does not correspond to what their designers claim in the text.
On what basis then did the relevant institutions assess the admissibility of these ramps? The designers and Prague 1 claim that the specific design of the ramps will be discussed in the next phase. But then it will only be a matter of whether the railing will be made of glass, so that we can see well into the depths of the underground, or whether it will be stone, so that we cannot see either the underground or the square – the actual digging of the ramps will already have been decided.
There is still time to prevent this decision and ensure that Wenceslas Square undergoes true revitalization and not degradation.


Project on the website of Jakub Cigler Architects HERE.

Appeal by the Club for Old Prague HERE.