Czech Architecture Prize 2023

By juxtaposing and playing with the difference between then and now, the Plato Ostrava gallery takes a refreshingly balanced stance in the debate on conservation, renovation and renewal. Here, heritage is simultaneously a smooth memory and a brick wall that makes you dusty if you lean against it.

The seemingly massive pivoting doors seems to act as place holders for a new chapter in the history of the building. The toned, frameless windows suggest that this is still a ruin. So let the old, mistreated slaughterhouse be old! But lend it dignity. Rather than a vain facelift to rejuvenate past glory, let the old rest on the original idea. The recreated details of the facade act as a blueprint of sorts, a prototype or full-scale model in retrospect. It serves as an explanation of the original ideas behind the withering bricks and underlines the intentional roughness. The former courtyard, now turned inside, acts the other way. Here, the additions cling to the original outer facades. The public space surrounding the building is a cultural version of a wasteland. It consists of indigenous vegetation elevated with some exotic flowering herbs and perennials. This urban wilderness is an echo of the balancing act of conservation and renewal in the building: a wilderness cultivated enough to be accepted.

By turning a closed, dilapidated and menacing slaughterhouse into an easily accessible and welcoming gallery, the Plato Gallery promises to be a new focal point in Ostrava.