A step closer to the ski slope on the outskirts of Prague. However, an oval for Sáblíková fell out of the project
When the snow falls and the police allow it, you can also ski on Petřín. However, Praguers could see a full-fledged ski slope, independent of climate variability and the benevolence of law enforcement officers. After two years, the project of a giant sports complex, which is to grow on the western edge of Prague, has moved again.
SAL, ie the Lahovice Sports Complex, was presented by designers from the DECO project two years ago and aroused great emotions in the public, especially with the racing concept of the building, but also because of the multibillion-dollar costs.
For them, in the mid-1920s, the people of Prague were to see not only a ski slope, but also a cross-country ski tunnel, a bicycle velodrome or a speed skating oval in the hitherto deserted area between Radotín and Velká Chuchlí. Although the project has changed since then, for example, the circuit for Martina Sáblíková’s successor has replaced the multifunctional sports hall (see photo gallery in the title of the article), but the design as a whole, unlike other bold plans, lives on.
And at the beginning of February, it even passed the first political test, the Prague Committee for Territorial Development, which, with a 6: 3 vote, provides an incentive to change the spatial plan required by the project.
Although most of the land in question is located in an area designated for sports or recreation, the designers also need a part of the slope for the construction of the ski slope, on which there is now a high-voltage power line, but it is listed in the zoning plan as a forest. And while they have no problem with wires and want to incorporate them into the body of the piste, they need a policy to change the zoning plan.
Futurism or absolute nonsense?
Representatives of ANO, ODS and Allies for Prague (TOP 09 and STAN) provide the impetus for voting on the change of the zoning plan at the committee. At the meeting, they generally talked about the fact that it is a “futuristic” vision that deserves further, even if in the next round of negotiations it turns out that it will not be suitable for Prague.
On the contrary, the pirate representative Tomáš Murňák and two members of the Prague movement voted against each other, namely Pavel Světlík and Petr Zeman. According to Zeman, who chairs the committee, this is a “nonsensical building” that the city should not support in any way. “It’s a futuristic thing in quotes, but someone is serious. I’m laughing at it and I think we should say from the beginning that it’s absolute nonsense,” Zeman says.
“In my opinion, the place is completely unsuitable, because at the top there is a ski slope of a protected area, at the bottom into the Vltava spill in case of floods.
The committee also mentioned a negative statement from the Institute for Planning and Development (IPR), according to which the “plan for the area is unsuitable for the landscape” and “the general benefit and energy sustainability” of the project is not obvious. He cites as the disadvantages of the IPR the destruction of the land that the area would occupy, the disruption of the biocorridor, the part of the Chuchelský háj nature reserve, the traffic situation or the flood risk.
Megalomaniacs? Yes, but…
However, the designers remain convinced that their proposals can be resolved by the opponents of the building or IPR. For example, the mentioned bio-corridor can be moved under the tube of the piste and the impact on the greenery will be minimal, because under the current high voltage, the overgrowth must still be regularly cut down for safety reasons.
The traffic load is again to be solved by a new access road, which will not overload Radotínská Street, and the ugly heaps of excavations from the Blanka tunnel, which are now deposited on site, will also disappear. According to the assessment that the designers had created, the construction should not increase the flood danger for the surrounding buildings, and the complex itself will have strong flood protection due to its own safety.
“I was so resolutely opposed to the project from the beginning and it seemed pretty crazy and megalomaniac to me, and it still seems to me. However, I had a number of factual objections to it, and to my great surprise I have to say that the architects they fought quite with honor, “said Jana Plamínková, STAN’s representative, who chairs another committee – for infrastructure, technical equipment and the environment.
Climate commitment and savings
At the same time, it is the ecological view that will quite possibly decide on the building permit. At the same time, it is not only an intervention in the Chuchelský háj nature park, in which the ski slope is to start, but also the high energy intensity of the entire project, which goes against critics of climate commitments.
“I have a slightly more strong opinion on this. Skiing comes to me in the summer as a extravagance. And if we keep wedging ourselves in the climate, this is exactly the first thing we should say that this is simply the case,” said committee chairman Zeman. And similarly, the pirate representative Tomáš Murňák will provide the committee.
According to the designers, however, the construction tries to meet the needs of housing for the highest possible energy efficiency. For example, a ski slope and a cross-country ski tunnel should manage water in a closed cycle, so they will not need more water from public sources after the first dream. Waste heat from the cooling system will also be used, which should heat all the buildings in the building, and the designers again plan to install solar panels on the tube.
And when will skiing?
Despite these objections, the members of the committee eventually approved the initiatives. Which, of course, doesn’t mean that construction can begin immediately. In order to achieve a change in the zoning plan, the project still has to go through many other steps in a number of the capital, the authorities concerned and especially in the council, which will ultimately decide on the matter.
“We are glad that the plan has passed the committee to the next phase, but we still have a lot of work to do. Now the most important thing for us is that the project be further assessed objectively and positively received by the public,” says DECO representative Petr Bedrna.
Should the zoning plan eventually change, the project may move to the hot phase. Which would mean a detailed project and another approval wheel, this time in obtaining a building permit.
At that time, there will also be a well-known private investor who would be able to finance the construction with the current budget of 4.76 billion. However, serious interested parties are just waiting to see how the current negotiations with the municipality will turn out.
And when could a place on Petřín go skiing in Chuchle? The original optimistic date, 2024, will probably not be met. But everything will go according to plan, a year or two later, the local chairlift would be able to start if the six-seater could start. “We believe that we will make it to the end, because Prague and the whole Czech Republic this project deserves it, ”adds architect Bedrna.