Conversion of the brownfield of the textile factory Vitka Brnenec and Restoration of the ​​Schindler’s Ark

Project idea

Brněnec is a village in the Czech Republic that gained historical significance due to its association with Oskar Schindler during World War II. Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist, is renowned for saving over a thousand Jewish lives by employing them in his enamelware and ammunition factories. Many of these Jewish workers originally came from his enamelware factory in Krakow and later moved to Brněnec, thus protecting them from deportation to concentration camps.

In 1944, as the Red Army approached and the Nazis began liquidating concentration camps, Schindler relocated his Jewish workers from the Brněnec camp in occupied Czechoslovakia to his newly acquired factory in Brněnec.

After the war, Schindler's actions were recognized, and he was honored as "Righteous Among the Nations" for his efforts to save lives. The story of Oskar Schindler and the people he saved was popularized by Thomas Keneally's book "Schindler's Ark" and later adapted into Steven Spielberg's highly acclaimed film "Schindler's List." The NKP complex in the textile factory area of Brněnec serves as a symbol of efforts made to save human lives during the Holocaust.

The Low-Beer family was a prominent Jewish family in Czechoslovakia known for their involvement in various sectors including banking, brewing, textile production, and philanthropy. One of the prominent members of the family was Rudolf Low-Beer. During World War II, when the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia, Rudolf Low-Beer, as a Jew, faced persecution.

The aim of the proposal is the conversion and transformation of the Vitka textile factory area in Brněnec into a memorial site - monument, business center, and community facility with a new urban structure. The design seeks answers to the implementation of programmatic requirements for housing, culture, sports, leisure, and business within the existing buildings of the former textile factory. The proposal is divided into two parts. The southern brownfield area is designated for the creation of residential structures, public spaces, and community facilities. The northern part is dominated by the Schindler's Ark complex with the Guard House and Schindler's Office, which will become the focal and representative public space of the entire area. The main architectural feature is the single-story hall of the former laundry room with additional operational buildings complementing the main structure. Surrounding areas are transformed into a public park and hardened surfaces for organizing social events.

Project description

The proposal targets all social strata - proposing housing, community structures, activities for seniors, young people, families with children, students, and entrepreneurs. The design creates an interactive environment focused on human-centered interventions of a comprehensive character, cultural regeneration, and creates space for art. The concept is based on the creation of focal public spaces with different characters - subcenters, along two axes - a natural axis defined by the Svitava River and an industrial one reflecting the operation of the factory. Quality public spaces encourage the strengthening of the historical memory of the site, removal of barriers in the area, and connection of the village. A significant factor in the assignment is defining and removing dysfunctional elements in the area, functional use of existing buildings, supplementing community facilities, and densification. The addressed area bears a strong identity, which we support by strengthening spatial, social, and cultural features of the locality. At the urban scale, the goal is the development of the settlement - densification of the village and integration of the unused barrier area into the life of the village, creating a place for sharing values. The design touches on new connections - across the Svitava River, through the existing complex, evaluates the potential of the street - reprofiles the existing communication and changes it into a street of human scale. It activates the ground floor and brings life along the entire area. It defines areas for pedestrian, cycling, automobile, and static traffic. In the volumetric plane, we focus on the analysis of existing buildings and their evaluation - opening, closing, supplementing, or removing to support the permeability of the area, attractiveness, and increase potential for civil use. We address physical barriers. Local shops, galleries, and museums, business hubs, workshops, and studios are implemented into existing buildings - especially into the space of the laundry room.

Technical information

The concept is based on criteria of a sensitive approach to NKP and historical buildings.

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Documentation

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