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A new footbridge for pedestrians and cyclists to provide a direct and barrier-free connection between Karlín and Holešovice.

A new footbridge for pedestrians and cyclists to provide a direct and barrier-free connection between Karlín and Holešovice. It will also offer comfortable and easy access to Štvanice Island. The quality of this busy city link is therefore important. Architects Marek Blank and Petr Tej won an international competition to design the footbridge. The city leadership approved the announcement of a competition for the construction of the footbridge in November 2020. The project is thus slowly approaching the finish line. Prague residents could be walking and cycling across the new footbridge by the end of 2022.

What should happen and why? What will change?

What should happen?

  • A new footbridge is extremely important for making Štvanice Island--an important recreational locality--accessible. Štvanice is accessible by car via Hlávkův Bridge. However, this approach is not convenient for pedestrians.
  • The main limits placed on the design were the requirements for flood protection, from the flow and waterways administrator, the characteristic urban situation on both banks, and the requirements for barrier-free entrances to the footbridge.
  • The location of the footbridge is in accordance with the zoning plan.
  • On the Holešovice side, the entrance was defined on Bubenské nábřeží in front of the gate to the Pražská tržnice market, on the Karlín side on Rohanské nábřeží with an exit onto the cycle path leading along the flood barrier and subsequently to the planned public space at the Rohanský ostrov development area.
  • Access to the footbridge from Štvanice Island was also required.
  • The footbridge spans the riverbed for 38 meters between Karlín and Štvanice and 149 meters between Štvanice and Holešovice.
About the project

Project base points

schedule

Commencement: 2018
Completion: 2022

How much will it cost?

CZK 197m

Who will do the work?

Prague – a competition for the construction contractor is currently awaiting announcement.

the role of ipr prague

The contracting authority for the competition and the creator of the competition conditions

Form

An international, architectural-construction, open, anonymous, single-round, project competition

contact details

If you have any queries:  DiS. Rostislav Zapletal, zapletal@ipr.praha.eu, project and competitions specialist

For the media: Mgr. Marek Vácha, vacha@ipr.praha.eu, 723 444 291, press spokesperson
 

Competition 

The competition was announced to find the most suitable design for the new footbridge, based on which the project documentation will be prepared and the footbridge subsequently constructed. An assignment was created in cooperation with the institutions and experts concerned, and the competition teams prepared their designs in accordance with this. 48 teams took part in the competition, 16 of them from abroad. The expert jury selected the two best designs and ranked them first and third.

Jury

Jury members - independent

prof. Ing. arch. Mirko Baum, architect
doc. Ing. arch. Radek Kolařík, architect
Ing. Ondřej Hofmeister, construction engineer
Ing. arch. Mg.A. Barbora Šimonová, architect
Ing. arch. Ivan Lejčar, architect
Ing. Milan Komínek, bridge construction expert 

Jury members - non-independent

Ing. Petr Hankovec, representative of the contracting authority - Department of Strategic Investments at Prague City Hall
MgA. Marek Kopeć, head of the IPR Prague Projects and Competitions Office
Petr Dolínek, Deputy Mayor of Prague for Transport, Sports and Leisure
PhDr. Ing. arch. Lenka Burgerová, Ph.D., Councilor for Architecture and Urbanism Development, Prague 7 municipal district
Roman Petrus, Mayor of Prague 8 municipal district 

Substitute jurors – independent

Ing. arch. Vojtěch Sosna, architect
Ing. Michal Marcinov, landscape architect

Substitute jurors - non-independent

Ing. arch. Zdeněk Ent, IPR, architect
Mgr. Jan Čižinský, Mayor of the Prague 7 municipal district

Competitive proposals
1st place
1st place
Author team

Ing. arch. Marek Blank, Ing. arch. MgA. Petr Tej, Ph.D., cooperation: Ing. Jan Mourek, Janek Srnka, Ing. Jiří Hejzlar

The bridge concept is a spatial curve winding through the landscape and reacting smoothly to the height and layout requirements of the assignment. The bridge construction concept is a humble response to the panorama of Prague, to the connection to the banks at Holešovice and Karlín, and to the winning urban design for Štvanice Island. It is not high, and so does not prevent pedestrians and cyclists from enjoying the view of the city, water or trees. The bridge architecture employs minimalist sculptural morphology. The bridge is made of ultra-high-quality concrete with a glossy white marble surface. Visualisation Exhibition panels Text part
Competitive proposals
Design No 38, 3rd place
Design No 2, award
Design No 41, award
Design No 38, 3rd place
Author team

Ing. arch. Lukáš Landa, Arch. Pavel Rak, cooperation: Ferrari Gartmann AG, Patrick Gartmann, Patrick Tester, Gábor Gyenese

In the part of Prague between Holešovice and Karlín, it does not seem appropriate for us to interfere in any way with the panorama and create a new “landmark” in the area. We therefore chose simple lines for the footbridge so that it will inconspicuously blend into the existing context. The most direct possible access to the footbridge is by the stairs in the footbridge axis. The smooth and intuitive movement of cyclists is possible through ramps perpendicular to the bridge axis on both banks and on the island. A mixed pedestrian zone with reduced vehicle speed is being created in front of Pražská tržnice; on the Karlín side, a small piazzetta will seamlessly connect Rohanské nábřeží with the bridge entrance. When designing the footbridge, the non-binding requirements for the solution concerning flood protection were observed. Exhibition panels Text part
Design No 2, award
Author team

Petr Hájek Architekti, author team: Petr Hájek, Martin Stoss, Nikoleta Slováková, Tereza Keilová, cooperation: Jiří Čepelka, Jan Vyštejn

Exhibition panels Text part
Design No 41, award
Author team

Association of architects – Jurák, Filsak. Authors: Ing. arch. Přemysl Jurák, Ing. arch. Karel Filsak, cooperation: Ing. arch. Roman Chvilíček, Ing. Libor Pokorný, Ing. Martin Kovář

Exhibition panels Text part