| | The key investment activity of the Ostrava 2015 project is the development of the Black Meadow Cluster. What is a cultural cluster?
The term cultural cluster refers to grouping of mutually connected subjects operating in the cultural and creative industries: cultural institutions, specialized suppliers, firms working in related areas, and associated institutions and organizations which compete with one another but also cooperate with one another for the purpose of increasing their overall competitiveness and market position. When institutions in a cluster cooperate (for example, sharing certain services, joint marketing, and so forth), they achieve a far stronger effect than the mere sum of the effects from operating independently as individual subjects. Cultural clusters (“cultural districts”) have become a dynamic concept in the development of urban cultural environments over the past two decades. In the context of Ostrava, it is possible to speak about the phenomenon of Stodolní Street as a distant cousin to a cluster. In a very small area, Stodolní Street concentrates a large number of entertainment and hospitality establishments – more than 70 bars, restaurants, hotels and clubs, but also design shops, modelling and creative agencies, and shops with audio equipment. Black Meadow
Developing this cluster is possible only thanks to the specific historical situation of Ostrava. The very sparse urban structure of the city today offers the chance to begin to build up and improve the city in an ideal way. It would be difficult to find another European city that offers the possibility to create an extensive urban-architectural project in such an exceptional location. The land of Black Meadow (a former brownfield measuring 20 hectares) is situated in an attractive location a few metres from the city’s main square, in a green space, at the confluence of two rivers, not far from the city’s central park and New Vítkovice, which is another investment activity of the Ostrava 2015 project. New cultural infrastructure
In contrast to the majority of clusters already existing in Europe, the Black Meadow Cluster won’t be meant only for visitors, rather it is conceived as a place for daily life for those who will reside there together with those who will visit it. The relaxing and green environment will be utilized as a space for living and for spending leisure time. The principle of the cluster is the interconnection of art, culture, education and daily life (housing).
Within the cluster the new buildings of the concert hall and a municipal gallery – a so-called Kunsthalle – will stand next to each other, Pavilion G will be reconstructed as a “Music Pavilion”, there will be a new preschool, elementary school and high school, new residential buildings, a building for a creative incubator connected with a school of cultural management, the Puppet Theatre will be augmented with a new addition, in addition to other cultural institutions which are already located in the immediate area (an exhibition pavilion, the castle, a theatre). All that in an established mature green space and with the backdrop of the revitalized banks of the Ostravice River with areas designated for sunbathing, a new bike trail and a promenade. In the context of the cluster, a big emphasis will be placed on a high-quality public space. You can find more about the construction plan for the cluster here. The cluster turns the city’s weaknesses into an advantage
The Black Meadow Cluster will contribute to fostering a creative atmosphere in the city centre, stimulate and motivate others in the city operating in the creative sphere, and usefully complement the existing structure of firms in the creative industry. Development of the creative industries can be very conducive to the creation of new jobs and can at least partially compensate for the disappearance of jobs in the traditional industrial sectors. A synergistic expansion of the city centre is conceived as an attractive new symbol of the city that will become a strong revitalizing element for the tourism industry. At the same time, the cluster will also become one of the embodiments of Ostrava’s image as a post-industrial city of the 21st century. Urban planning competition On 1 February 2010, the Statutory City of Ostrava announced an international public combined urban planning competition for the revitalization of the grounds of Black Meadow. Participation in the competition was confirmed by, among others, five prestigious foreign architecture studios: Bjarke Ingels Group (Denmark), Foreign Office Architects (Great Britain), Maxwan (the Netherlands), Lacaton & Vassal Architects (France) and NL Architects (the Netherlands). As of 31 May 2010, the date of the official deadline of the competition, 70 architecture studios had handed in their proposals out of the total number of 210 originally registered for the competition. On 18 June an eleven-member jury composed of renowned urban planners, architects and representatives of the City of Ostrava and headed by the architect Josef Pleskot decided by a majority of votes that the winning design would be that of the Dutch studio Maxwan. All the registered designs will be presented to the public in the course of July. The announcement of an architectural competition for the first building of the cluster - the concert hall - is planned for the autumn of 2010. |
