Text description provided by architects. Complex of the former Winternitz Automated Mills PardubiceOne of the first implementations, by architect Joseph Gokar, ceased to serve its purpose in 2013. A year later, it became a national cultural monument. Our intention was to integrate the listed building into the new campus, where it would have a central location. The city, the region and a private individual participated financially in the entire event. The aim was to create a new multifunctional urban space for cultural, educational institutions and private activities. Thus, a kind of triangle of important urban places and objects was created, which included the Renaissance palace, Purston Square and the complex of automatic mills. By removing some existing buildings, we enhance the prominent frontal portal with the entrance arch and at the same time allow an unobstructed view of the entire site from the edge of the historic part of the city. The creation of two new public spaces, which deliberately have a different character and function, is absolutely fundamental from the point of view of the revitalization of the mills. We find the main entrance confirmed by a designed square with bosques of sycamores, where a water channel made of bricks for irrigation runs to each tree. It is primarily a quiet, representative entry point, but we believe that, for example, markets can be held here. Inside the new complex, we are creating the Mill Courtyard, which will be a vibrant space for organizing open-air exhibitions, concerts or theater performances. The proposed public spaces are considered for pedestrian movement only. An integral part of the overall concept is the color solution. The entire complex consists of many objects of different functions, which were treated by four architectural studios. So it was very important to coordinate individual plans together. Our effort was to harmonize all the new interventions into a uniform color that follows the existing brick color of the automated mills. With this, we wanted to make the entire area more unified, including the pedestrian areas, which are made of bricks and red mortar. The diversity of individual items with different functional uses should not create a chaotic effect.
GAMPA and Sféry’s new building occupies the proposed block of the former Winternitz automated mills complex Pardubice From the north. These are two objects financed by the city, each with its own special program. The gallery of the city of Pardubice – GAMPA – is located on the ground floor, and the object of the Central Polytechnic Workshop – Sféra is located above it. We left a gap between the two keeping in mind the surroundings so that the bulk of the new building does not act as a barrier. Due to the height of the Sphera building, the peace necessary for students’ work is ensured on the upper floors, while GAMPA, located in the lower part, is more connected to the public space. The gallery represents a kind of platform; Its terrace is also publicly accessible. The building is made entirely of bricks and connects to the public space of the Automatic Mills, which receives another dimension from the fact that an amphitheater for 250 people is located here, where several open-air events are held in the summer. Can. The external view is covered by the cantilever part of the workshop mass and it is possible to cover it completely with retractable curtains. From the public space, the visitor can enter directly into the lobby, where the reception, cloakroom and toilets are located. In addition, it is possible to go directly to the gallery, which circles the entire perimeter of the area in question and is designed on two floors. We mainly work with overhead lighting in all the exhibition halls, then in the main area we deliberately allow a view from the window towards the main entrance of the entire mill complex. The gallery is divided into several rooms that can be closed by sliding and accordion doors. Therefore, several different exhibitions, or one large exhibition, can be held here. In summer, with the help of sliding walls towards the courtyard it is possible to completely open the parterre and allow greater engagement with the interior of the gallery. The offices are located on the second floor and are accessed via a separate staircase. On the opposite side of the treated area, there is a residential studio for the work of visiting artists.
The Sféra is located above GAMPA and can be reached by two stairs, which at the same time form a stable support for the object. The workshops are aimed mainly at primary and secondary school students and offer top-class equipped classrooms and laboratories to teach technical and natural sciences. The entrance hall on the fourth floor above the ground floor, where the reception and cloakroom are located, is accessed through the main entrance on the ground floor, which also serves as the entrance to the gallery. Vertical communication is enabled by both the mentioned stairs and lifts, while we always declare one as the main entrance and the other as the escape route. On each side of both floors there are two classrooms, i.e. workshops or laboratories. A staff room is located next to the entrance hall and classrooms. There are toilets in front. In the very center of the building, we have designed a two-storey projection space with a centrally located sphere, onto which it is possible to project and simulate the natural phenomena of our planet. The lower floor of the textile, graphics, wood and metal workshops has natural window light. In contrast, the laboratories of Physics, Chemistry, Natural Sciences and Robotics on the top floor have overhead lighting with shade-covered skylights in the form of pyramids. On the same floor as the laboratories, we also find a room with a circular playground, which is for preschool children and where they learn about natural and physical phenomena in a playful way. For better orientation, in collaboration with teachers and students of UMPRUM (Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague), we have creatively designed interactive spaces that respond to individual workshops. The collages were made from wood, cloth, metal and graphic matrix. One section of the roof contains a boiler room with an engine room, accessed by vertical stairs.
When solving the object, we asked ourselves the question of the correctness of the architectural expression. Our answer is recognized manufacturing and content design. Where we see the bricks are actually masonry load-bearing walls, where there is exposed concrete, it is a load-bearing concrete structure, and where there is weathering-steel sheet cladding, a non-load bearing panel. -There is a carrying shell. The effort was to create a consistent material design across the interior and exterior. The lower part of the gallery is of brick, and thus follows the industrial construction of the mills. The unplastered brick is not meant to simply be a reference to the monument-listed building, but is a natural effect of the wall, which plays a central role in shaping the space. This is a “bare” wall that does not need covering, but requires careful craftsmanship. The same can be said about other structural elements, such as roof, walls and floors. The entire building tells us what and how it was actually built. We color matched all the materials to the brick work. In the case of concrete, about 30 different samples had to be poured in the form of cubes before the color could be mixed. We decided to stick these cubes to the bricks in the entry room as a memory of finding the right shade. In the case of the workshops, we used colored concrete for the structures and floors. The construction of the workshops is based on load-bearing concrete ribs in a grid of 3 × 3 metres, which support X-beams at the edges near the façade. We are helped to bridge the nine-meter span by one-meter beams, which allows the installation of approved distribution systems in the interior. Thus, classes do not require additional internal support. X-beam is a type of hybrid perforated wall, which ventilates the entire building around the perimeter at the same time. Lightweight panels with insulation, covered with weathering-steel sheets, are laid out.
