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Ostrava - black meadow, Czech Republic

Venue Address: black meadow, Czech Republic - (Show Map)
Ostrava - black meadow, Czech Republic
Ostrava - black meadow, Czech Republic

BLACK MEADOW | Maxwan | Archello

More Projects by Maxwan.

Ostrava bids to be the 2015 Cultural Capital of Europe. Each year, the European Capital of Culture acts as a catalyst for the cultural growth and transformation of the city. Ostravas' ambition within this framework is to improve their cultural centre at the Black Meadow site. This area lies between the Ostravice River and the old city center. The competition's focus was not on the buildings but rather the creation of an identity for the entire area and linking it to the river.

Maxwan created a black meadow as a beautiful landscape park. It is surrounded by a ring of new and existing buildings, including a concert hall, an exhibition hall and a school for arts management. This provides space for all types of culture, formal and informal.

Streets are extended into this site, creating a shared surface that allows for limited auto use and pedestrian movement, but leaves a core area open.

The riverfront's edge is transformed into a gradual slope, with existing trees on a series mounds of grassy mounds. The new black paving creates a flowing public space by inserting black paving where the mounds have not been preserved.

The site also features traditional paving materials. The grout is used to distinguish between pedestrians and cars. Only earth is allowed where pedestrians are strictly prohibited.

This open space will be an extension of the river and connects the city center to the Ostravice River. A Cultural Meadow is a new type open space created by the project. We did not intend to compete with existing spaces, but rather to make space for activities that have been pushed into the spaces. This space allows for art, literature, architecture, ecological, social and family activities to co-exist. Open space creates a variety of activities that are programmatically non-specific but spatially distinct: a flower garden; a reflecting pool; a sculpture plaza; a market hall-like glass tent; a black sandy beach; an outdoor amphitheatre; an oval for street performances and a series green mounds for casual relaxation.