The Opava City Hall will announce an international architectural competition in the coming days to find another way to use the listed building of the former Breda department store in Opava. The city bought the iconic building designed by architect Leopold Bauer last year and interested parties can submit their proposals until April. Martin Kůs from the city’s press department announced today. At the time of its opening in 1928, it was the largest department store in the country.
“Opava city councillors today approved the documentation for the public contract for the reconstruction and revitalisation of the Breda department store. At the same time, they appointed both parts of the commission that will ultimately decide on the future of the former Opava department store,” said Kůs.
The members of the commission will be dependent and independent in relation to the city as the owner of the building and the tenderer. The dependents will be, for example, Mayor Tomáš Navrátil (ANO), other councillors or the municipality’s chief architect Petr Stanjura. The independent part of the commission will consist of professor and urban planner Gabu Heindlová from the Viennese studio Gabu Heindl Architektur and other architects Jan de Vylder, Jindřich Vybíral, Jana Zdráhalová and Boris Redčenkov.
“I am personally glad that today we found a mutual agreement and managed to approve not only the tender documentation, but also both committees, i.e. its dependent and independent expert part. I believe that the prestigious names of the members of the commission will guarantee that the city of Opava will get the best possible solution for the use of the former Breda department store,” said Navrátil.
The 30-day deadline for submitting applications to participate in the competitive dialogue will begin in the coming days. It will have several phases, and in each phase the city can negotiate with the participants in the tender procedure separately. “In the first part, a joint working meeting will be held with a tour of the OD Breda premises, with the second part and the presentation of the developed proposals expected in early March 2024. Following this, the city will be expecting the final proposals, which should be received by 26 April 2024,” said Kůs.
The city wants to use this way to obtain the completion of the winning architectural design, the preparation of complete project documentation and author’s supervision according to the specifications. The entire reconstruction is expected to be completed in 2026.
The city bought the 1928 building last year for nearly CZK 40 million. It has already started rescue work, and the roof, which was leaking into the building, has been repaired. The replacement of 150 windows will begin this year, followed by repairs to the facade. Experts and conservationists have long argued about whether to refurbish the original windows or have replicas made. In the end, they decided on replicas. The reason was not only the price. In the case of repairs, the company was not able to guarantee the functionality of the windows.
At the time of its opening in 1928, Breda was the largest department store in the country. The 1927 building, which was created by rebuilding the original department store, has long been in disrepair. The cultural monument, which belonged to the bankrupt company of businessman Kamil Kolk, was acquired by the city for CZK 39.5 million. The total cost of the reconstruction should have been around CZK 300 million a few years ago, but now it is CZK 200 million higher. The annual operation of the 10,000 square metre building alone should cost about CZK 17.7 million.
Source: CTK
Photo: wikimedia
