Location: Praha - Veleslavín
Client: Railway Infrastructure Management, government organisation

3rd place in the architectural-urban competition

We propose the Veleslavín railway station as a functional and sensitive complement to the newly proposed urban development at the junction of three locations Vokovice, Veleslavín and Starý Veleslavín. We are redefining the entire wider area in urban terms. The area around Evropska Street in this area currently suffers from the gradual congestion of urban space due to the steadily increasing demands of all modes of transport. Until 10 years ago, fragments of the original settlement structure were still visible here, but they have almost disappeared as a result of the emerging public transport hub. The change in the character of the built-up area has brought a number of negative aspects to the area. The aim of the proposal is to heal the scarred urban fabric here, to enable the town to develop in a predictable quality and to reduce the negative impacts of the transit interchange to an acceptable level.

Interventions in the area will significantly affect the wider links to Prague 6 and beyond. The area is currently used for transit by a large number of people whose destinations are at Václav Havel Airport, in the Central Bohemia region or in residential areas in the north-western corner of Prague. The transit movements will largely move underground as a result of the modernisation of the railway line and its connection to the metro stations, but the planned construction of residential areas in the vicinity will generate new clientele who will also use this public transport node in the urban parterre. In the design, we will also consider the intensive relationship of the new development to the local stabilised neighbourhoods. Today, between Veleslavín and Vokovice, there is a traffic artery with peripheral areas of traffic buildings that will have to be given back their life and substance. We are doing so with a new urban structure with a commercial parterre.

Competition: 2019
Considered area - the new railway station: 1,5 ha
Usable areas of the new railway station: 4 500 m2
Extented considered area  - the new urban structure: 3,5 ha

Author: Adam Halíř, Ondřej Hofmeister, Petr Lešek
Collaborating architect: Jan Karásek, Renata Horová, Ondřej Hart

Transport construction: Josef Filip
Visualization: neoVISUAL