Revitalization Of The Crucifix Bastio

Architects: MCA atelier

Location: Horsk ulice, Prague, Czech Republic
Cooperation: Mgr. art. Peter Bu, Ing. Pavel Kolek
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 1,870 sqm
Photographs: Courtesy of MCA atelier

PREVIOUS STATE
Though itself of Baroque date, Bastion XXXI is a part of the medieval fortifications of the New Town of
Prague, founded in 1348 by Emperor Charles IV. The need for unconquerable fortifications was
strengthened by the presence of the Cathedral of Charlemagne at the point of the bastion. Along with
the fortress of Vyehrad, another significant monument of the city fortifications, the ramparts form a
significant defensive complex, yet one hidden beneath the later layers of the contemporary built fabric
of central Prague, now a UNESCO heritage site. The area of former gardens within the ramparts was
left untouched since the 14th century, first as reserve land and later ignored even as t he city
expanded over the centuries. The surviving line of fortifications still forms a clear separation of the
functional areas inside the New Town and the Charles University campus and outside the
ramparts the park of Folimanka and the section of the city below Vyehrad. The impermeability of
the area created an inner periphery, a strip of inaccessible and unused greenery within the central
city, in certain points approaching the character of a brownfield. While the gradual disappearance of
the importance of historic routes and destinations in the area left it well conserved, the preservation
came at the cost of local decay and the related threat to architectural heritage.

Courtesy of MCA atelier

AIM OF INTERVENTION
The construction is part of a wider planned conception for linking the green areas and public spaces
of the university campus at Albertov with the adjoining neighborhoods of the New Town (Nov Msto)
and Vinohrady. No less important is making publicly accessible the previously unused and neglected
localities in the area and the formation of new public outdoor spaces with a corresponding cultural and
functional base of associated buildings. Our goal was the landscaping of the public area, the addition
of an open-air caf and gallery on the site of a ruined building of 19th-century date, and linking the
spaces inside and outside the medieval fortification line that has kept the area of gardens and the
university campus separate from the other sections of the c ity.

Courtesy
of MCA atelier
The intended result was the creation of a attractive destination shared by residents of localities both
outside and inside the wall, and the renewal of the essential qualities of the outcropping: a place
with high visibility (both seeing and being seen), a place for connection of both sides of the city, a
place for stopping, resting, reflecting, thinking; a local acropolis reached by paths from all sides. A
destination, a point of encounters, a place for meetings, reminis cence, a concentration of the human
arts, a place for resting in the sun, a picnic on the grass, a seat on the bench beneath the tree; a
place of protection, of safety; a place in Prague, the Bastion u Boch muk.

Courtesy
of MCA atelier
DESCRIPTION OF INTERVENTION
Revitalisation was completed on the basis of the winning entry in a public architectural competition,
held by the district government of Prague 2 in 2007. The new structure for public facilities was
designed as a building below ground, a hidden acropolis attracting visitors with its contents and its
form, not through mere visibility. It is conceived as an autonomous, solid seashell, inserted into the
layerings of the archaeologically defined stratigraphic levels of Baroque and modern terrain, while not
disturbing the character of the fortifications and the visual outline of the defensive walls. In its formal
vocabulary, the building is elementary, minimal, and grounded in the material principles of fortification
architecture: firmness.

Courtesy of MCA atelier

The structure is available for varying uses: a universal hall for exhibitions, social functions or a caf,
facilities for the public and for operation. With its open front sliding-glass wall, turned towards the
panorama of Vyehrad, the exterior becomes a fully valid component of the interior. The renewed
visual communication between the two fortifications helps recall the strategic importance of both
structures in the historical urban space. Inside the bastion, the landscaped area allows for outdoor art
exhibitions or open-air cultural events. Connection of the areas through the rampart is made possible
through a passageway running between the medieval and Baroque fortification walls. Included in the
realization is the reconstruction of the wall chapel, supplemented with a contemporary sculpture, The
Crucifixion (Bo muka).

Section
EVALUATION
Revitalization of the Bastion is the first realized stage of a much larger project intended to spur the
process of revival in the wider vicinity, leading local residents to visit the area, and attracting public
attention to allow for the continuation of further stages in the project. Insertion of new recreational and
cultural functions into the structure of heritage objects makes possible their resc uing not as lifeless
museum-objects, but as a natural, living part of the city. The ensuing architectonic form is proof of the
possibilities of connecting the heritage approach to the restoration of historically valuable structures,
and the measured yet self-confident contemporary implementation of new contextually aware
architecture. As such, it becomes an example of a method applicable in other areas of a similar
character.

Courtesy
of MCA atelier
In addition to the contextual supplementing and the inc reasing of the potential of the extant
environment, the new buildings can also provide the aesthetic experience of their architecture in itself.
Complexly layered volumes were created not through the mere accretion of details, but instead
through the placement of a layer of volumes into the actual masses and space, volumes that accent,
initiate or even merely play host to the subtle impressions of the environment. With the addition of the
contemporary sculpture The Crucifixion (Author Pavla Melkov, Miros lav Cikn, MCA atelier) in the
restored and re-consecrated chapel, the genius loci has been strengthened and the name of the
place returned to its original meaning.