landscape festival praha 2022

LANDSCAPE FESTIVAL PRAHA 2022

PRAGUE STATIONS UN/USED

This year’s summer Landscape Festival will once again present artistic and architectural interventions and works by renowned artists and students. The interpretation of their interventions in selected sites will offer a new reading of the relationships in major infrastructural nodes in Prague. Indeed, the festival returns to the railway station, the place where it succeeded in 2014 in initiating an expert discourse between politicians, investors, urban planners, architects, designers, artists and the general public. This time the festival will focus on four transport brownfields in Prague: the Smíchov railway station, the Florenc neighbourhood, Palmovka and the Žižkov freight station. We were approached with the idea to focus on the railway station theme by the related Festival m3/art in space, and Jiří Sulženko, Director of the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Prague City Hall, recommended us to focus on transport development sites.

We selected four sites undergoing urban and architectural transformation. Each of them is located in a different part of the city and each is in a different stage of transformation. For some of them, there is a consensus on the development, some are undergoing expert discussion and background studies, some have had international competitions for both the whole and sub-areas. Lively development and activistic movement is underway in all of them, and above all, they are filled with anticipation as to whether they too will be shining examples of quality urban development in the metropolis. And this includes the enlightened and exemplary integration of the visual arts into the new public spaces of these development areas, which should have a full-fledged parterre that allows for the emergence of quality social connections for all groups of the population - residents and visitors alike. Whether there will also be sufficient affordable housing to create diverse social inclusion is another question. Most architects attempt to make sure that buildings that have already been newly built or will be built here already meet the sustainability certificate. Our task is to describe the current situation through the prism of festival acupuncture and to offer visitors our perspective, in collaboration with landowners or investors, urban planners, architects and artists. And, of course, with politicians from both the city of Prague and the districts the areas in question are part of. It is sometimes a challenging dialogue, which is not helped either by the post-covid effect or by the current economic situation.  

SMÍCHOVSKÉ RAILWAY STATION

It can be said that the dialogue between the professional public, investors and politicians in this area has been as successful as it is in the west of our borders. It seems that following the Anděl area, which has become the new centre of Smíchov, the wider area of Smíchov railway station will be transformed in a similar spirit. The masterplan by the A69 studio is a solid framework for the new urban structure, whose green axis will make the area permeable for pedestrians.

FLORENC – MASARYKOVO RAILWAY STATION – KRENOVKA

The cult movie Florenc 13.30 is a beautiful reminder of the "good old days". What new times await Prague's most complicated transport hub? This is partly suggested by the winning project of the international competition Florenc 21, conceived by the consortium of studios A69, UNIT architekti and Igor Marko & Placemakers. The visions of a new cultural and social programme under Negrelli Viaduct show the possibilities of a new transformation, verified also by the activities in the Karlín Barracks or in the Krenovka cultural centre, where Unijazz and dance platform Tanec Praha are now opening their spaces. Hopefully, the vision of the Museum Mile will come true, starting at the top of Vítkov Hill, including, for example, the Ponec Theatre and the Railway Museum, and bringing visitors all the way to Wenceslas Square. And it will create new axes of connection between Lower Žižkov, Karlín and Prague 1.

PALMOVKA – LIBEŇ STOP

Palmovka can be seen as a parallel to Nový Smíchov. It is striking, however, that this very location, very complicated in terms of transport, is still waiting to be transformed into a fully-fledged area, but the current activities of all those involved raise hopes. For now, there's the architectural torso by Josef Pleskot and local homeless people are making their way through the Jewish cemetery. The area near the Libeň docks has already undergone development transformation, but the Palmovka crossroads remains desolate. Hopefully, the vision of Bohumil Hrabal Square and the overall urban concept of the UNIT studio will be fulfilled in time. Even so, this urban jungle still has its charm, although not as much as in the days of the legendary figures of Hrabal, Bondy and Boudník. The synagogue stands, the Jewish cemetery is buried and the Libeň Bridge is awaiting radical repair. Hopefully in time the Pražská developerská společnost (municipality-funded organization, development company) will succeed in pushing through a connection across the former railway line to Karlin's Rustonka and the city will gain a valuable promenade.

ŽIŽKOV FREIGHT STATION

Within a decade, a new neighbourhood will be created in the wider Žižkov freight station area, where around 20,000 new residents are expected to live. Social life will be centred around a unique functionalist building, which should integrate high-quality amenities and cultural activities at an international level. In the meantime, a Park District is being built in the area near Baselilejské náměstí square and professional and political debates are underway about the form of the background study that will clearly define the area urbanistically. The temporary cultural life has disappeared for a few years and the Žižkov freight station architectural complex has once again become merely a tool for economic activities. The front building houses the studio of Petr Písařík, a leading Czech visual artist, whose work is expected to spread to other areas of the complex within the Landscape Festival. If other investor projects, such as the Nádraží Žižkov Residence by the Dutch studio BNTHMCRWL, can be implemented as soon as possible, the development of the site could evolve in the direction of fulfilling the slogan "Žižkov is - and increasingly will be - a great place to live".