As late as the spring of 2008, no one had any idea that the world was on the brink of a deep financial crisis. Therefore, when OMA's Dutch office proposed the concept of the Forum Nová Karolina shopping centre in Ostrava, they took it very generously. The project, worth more than 5 billion CZK, looked breathtaking on paper, demonstrating what the heart of a revitalized brownfield could look like not far from the historic center of the quarter-million-dollar city.
Six months later, everything was different. The economic crisis sent the investor's plans to ice, and the entire project came to a complete halt for two years. Of the spectacular visions, only remained on the construction site a huge hole with a foundation slab.
In 2009, investor MULTI Development asked us if, together with its subsidiary T+T Design, we could take the original concept and adapt it into a form that would make economic sense for it. The assignment was clear, but not at all simple — keep as many ideas and ideas as possible from the original concept, just the whole thing has to be a third cheaper.
Together with T+T Design we have therefore developed cost reduction study. We changed materials, design solutions, layouts and thousands of details. But all the time it resonated in our heads that we must not devalue the original architectural concept based on 14 interconnected “cubes”, the central one (dome) of which floats in the center of the layout.
After the approval of the cost reduction study, the procedure was already standard — we developed a project for amending the building permit, implementation documentation and also participated in construction management and copyright supervision. In this way, the project Both of our divisions are involved. (design and project management). Without exaggeration, Ostrava became our second home for two years.
At the end of March 2012 it came — Forum Nová Karolina opened for the first time. Over the next years, we worked on outdoor areas (park, sports ground) and subsequently renovated the food court on the top floor of the OC under full operation. New Carolina Today Annually visited by more than 10 million people and the building has become a key part of the modern centre of Ostrava, which not only offers shops, but is also the site of a number of cultural and sporting events.
“Forum Nová Karolina is one of those projects that one never forgets. When we were still looking into the hole where the OC was supposed to stand in 2010, we could hardly imagine that in two years the center of a new neighborhood would really stand there, which has proven its viability even after years. It was shortly after the crisis, the construction industry at zero, the budget chopped. It cost us a lot of sleepless nights, but in the end I think the work succeeded. “
Vladimír Pacek, Member of the Board of Directors of K4
