The business, administrative and residential complex Quadrio designed by the studio Cigler Marani architects was built in 2014 above the Národní třída metro station. The complex has a lively ground floor and adjacent public space. The large object consists of six buildings linked together by shopping galleries, underground is the metro station. The original block was demolished during the construction of the metro in the 1980s, and for a long time – until the development of the Quadrio – was built up only with a ground floor vestibule. Part of the project is also a new open space along Vladislavova and Charvatova Street.

 

The building grew over the original one-storey entrance hall to the metro, thus is a complementation of the block, “healing of a scar”. The original vague space around the vestibule was not very attractive; it became “the inner periphery and the magnet of negative social phenomena such as homelessness, vandalism and increased crime rate”.* Consequently, the current open space looks different, it attempts to prevent problems – e.g. it is only possible to sit down in restaurant gardens (spatial commodification). Later, a statue – mechanic Franz Kafka head by the artist David Černý – was placed in the square (Krištof Kintera refused the offer). Paradoxically, the space is considered to be a good “public space”, although in reality it is privatised and therefore controlled by rules set by a private owner (e.g. control by security agencies, ban on gathering or public performances). Art historian Pavel Kalina remarked about this space in Lidové noviny: “Public space is perfectly privatised. If we want to stop here, we have to become part of a commercial operation. [...] One is not at home here. It is not a square; it is just another ‘non-place’ on a city map.”** However, developers are usually not interested in managing publicly accessible spaces, the fault lies on the side of the municipality too, who is unable to take over the responsibility (in the case of Quadrio, e.g. the benches were not allowed by the local authority Prague 1). Some researchers admit that privately owned (built) public spaces tend to be better and more attractive. How can an architect respond to such conditions?

 

 

* Kučera, P. (2015). Quadrio aneb návrat k městu. Časopis Stavebnictví [online]. Available from: https://www.casopisstavebnictvi.cz/quadrio-aneb-navrat-k-mestu_N5382

** Návrat, P. (2015). Více než Quadrio. Jsou soukromá veřejná prostranství příležitostí pro česká města?. Hospodářské noviny [online]. Available from: http://ihned.cz/c1-63305970-vice-nez-quadrio-jsou-soukroma-verejna-prostranstvi-prilezitosti-pro-ceska-mesta

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Jakub Cigler graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague. In 2001 he co-founded the architectural studio Cigler Marani Architects, since 2015 it is running as Jakub Cigler Architects. It works on projects of residential and office buildings, shopping centers, public buildings and interior design. Jakub Cigler is the author of e.g. Florentinum or the Radio Free Europe building in Prague, the design of Wenceslas Square reconstruction, the complex of buildings instead of Transgas, or the completion of the Masaryk Station project (in collaboration with Zaha Hadid Architects). In 2011, JCA established a subsidiary OOO CMA based in Moscow.

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— “It’s too bad you have to stand here… It’s true that you can sit here, but it’s also true that it’s connected with some consumption… […] It’s an ugly matter, maybe I don’t want to talk about it…”

 

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Petr Gibas graduated in geography at University College London and obtained his PhD in social anthropology at the Faculty of Humanities at the Charles University in Prague. In his doctoral thesis, he explored post-socialist (post)industrial landscape, its aesthetics and aestheticisation, his current scholarly interest covers issues of home and its relationship to housing, material culture studies of home, non-human in social sciences, phenomenological geography and last but not least city, its planning and the negotiation of city spaces, especially those connected to the experience of homeyness.

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— “The increase of semi-private, pseudo-public spaces replaces other areas, it lowers the diversity.”

 

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camera: Tomáš Hlaváček
video editing: Tomáš Hlaváček
translation: Ondřej Kvapil, Karolína Plášková

subtitles: Tereza Kvapilová, Karolína Plášková