Project V7_Underground

General Information

Project Name: V7_Underground

Architecture Firm: U/U Studio

Website: https://uustudio.cz/project/vl... and https://www.re-place.cz/projec... 

Contact e-mail: [email protected]

Firm Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Completion: 11/2021

Gross Built Area: 1000 m2

Project location: Vltavská metro, Prague 7, Czech Republic

Lead Architects: U/U Studio: Martin Hrouda, Jiří Kotal

Lead Architects e-mail: [email protected]

Renderings credits: U/U Studio       

Photos: U/U Studio

Additional Credits

Design team: Re_place, U/U Studio

Clients: Re_place, Municipality of Prague 7

Engineering: Bondee Skateparks

Landscape: U/U Studio

Consultants: Richard Preisler, Martin Kontra, Hana Třeštíková

Wall art: Jakub Karlík, Maxo Šimko

Project Description

Perex/Short text

As part of the project to revive the Hlávkův most underpasses near the Vltavská metro station in Prague, we implemented skateboarding and other leisure activities in places where people were previously afraid to go. Obstacles for skate and bmx riders, new concrete floor and lighting, bouldering wall with overhang, basketball hoop, café with amphitheatre. The space under the roof, which is permanently illuminated, becomes both pleasant and safe. It is no longer just a place to pass through, but more importantly a place to meet.

Long text

We are finalizing a project for the revitalization of underpasses at the Vltavská intersection in Prague. We study, observe and live the urban reality. In the last 10 years, we have formulated and implemented broad-based projects that have attractively modified the public space of the Czech capital. We are always surfing on the " trinity " of sport, music, and visual arts (Bajkazyl, Fuchs2, Holešovická šachta, Altenburg 1964, Bike 7, Bike Jesus, Dvojka and others...).

In the autumn of 2021, in cooperation with the Prague 7 municipality, we transformed the neglected underpasses on Vltavská Street into a barrier-free sports spot (unique in Central Europe). The classic no-go zone quickly became a place that attracts hundreds of visitors every day even before its official opening.

During a press presentation of the project, the mayor of Prague 7 said that "the repulsive underpasses on Vltavská Street make sense for the first time in my life." This is an exaggeration, but it can be taken seriously. The point of the transformation was to turn the chain – to attract a wide range of residents and visitors to a place where no one wants to (or is even afraid to) go. Sharing is and will be the leitmotif of the reflections and processes. We had no intention of building another enclosed skate park. We mapped the needs of everyone – women and men across generations. At one point they crossed paths – only open sharing (in this case, the sharing of a sports site) has a chance to awaken empathy and respect in people within the contours of contemporary big-city stress. And that's the point: when you meet, you have to find a way to get along. It is the leitmotif of every major settlement and connects Mumbai, Berlin, Sao Paulo and New York.

It was a challenge – neither we, nor the architects we approached, nor the authorities – no one had experience with a park combining skateboarding, bouldering and basketball, operating not behind a fence but on an open transport road. In the labyrinth of rules, we searched together for – and found - a solution that can be considered a "sample" for other similar projects.

We are fascinated by intersections as media of contemporary urban life, the shape of which is fundamentally determined by traffic. Vltavská Street is one of Prague's biggest nodes – extremely attractive with its permanent movement and extremely burdened with its externalities (noise, smog, etc.). We want to promote the positives and suppress the negatives.  

As well as the traffic movement, we are fascinated by sport - another medium of our time. We were looking for a space for sport that doesn't need complex and expensive infrastructure but goes back to its roots. We are building a "blink" to childhood – sport, practiced where we live. Not sport as a place with a coach where a parent has to "drop you off" with a car, but sport as a model that you freely and easily – find.

The essential requirement was lightness. We are discovering dead spots in the city and looking for their hidden potential. We never wanted to demolish and build new solutions. We rely on low costs and fine tuning - we want to inject "new energy" into the concrete that has been standing around us for decades. We designed the obstacles and elements to meet the needs of both beginners and experienced riders (including professionals). The criteria were the assumption that the modifications would not suppress the transportation character of the local road. The emphasis is on a color scheme that humanizes the mass of concrete.

We want to remove barriers: that's why we designed a park that is well lit and open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The experience of the first days after the completion of the construction suggests that the plan has been successful.