Revitalisation of the Špitálka Site

The fundamental idea of our design is to develop a self-sufficient and sustainable area with a strong atmosphere, without having to rebuild the historic industrial heritage from scratch. Responding to current trends in housing and in how cities function, we bring the WORK AND LIVE concept.

Instead of conventional flats and offices, we propose flexible, open and multifunctional units that residents could freely combine, enlarge or reduce according to their current needs. The aim is to create a spontaneous urban structure that naturally changes over time and supports community life.

The long-unused cooling tower remains the icon of the site. In our design, we breathe new life into the historic industrial buildings and give them clear functions.

We transform the cooling tower into an EVENT HUB for presenting local companies and communities, which will also offer an unusual viewpoint over the whole of Brno. We treat the two existing industrial hall bays as a CULTURE HUB operating as an adaptable hall for a wide range of cultural events. We propose converting the former heating plant archive building into a COWORK HUB, which would become an incubator for innovation and the focal point of new workspaces across the district.

An important layer of our urban design is the roofscape, which we turn into a new public space in what was originally an inhospitable industrial zone. On the roofs of the buildings, we propose sports facilities, community gardens and green relaxation zones.

In our concept, all the buildings are connected by a 400-metre-long elevated skywalk, which passes directly through the cooling tower and offers an original way of moving above the ground. Intensive green roofs also help to significantly reduce the heat load on the site.

We conceive Špitálka as an example of a smart and environmentally friendly approach to urban life. The energy solution is based on maximising the use of local resources with the aim of minimising dependence on fossil fuels. We envisage the use of geothermal energy, heat from solar-accumulating surfaces, waste heat from buildings and from the neighbouring heating plant.

The system we have designed also includes intelligent ventilation with heat recovery, controlled lighting and sophisticated rainwater harvesting and reuse for irrigation and the operation of the district.