Opava: Department Store Breda

Approach to past - Dealing with the site and heritage. The transformation strategies will become part of historical traces accumulated over time, highlighting the spatial qualities of Bauer’s design. From the interiors to the front and back facades, the design and material choices are aligned with the accumulation of the historical layers. In doing so, a combination of soft and strategic approaches will respect both the future ambitions and the familiarity of Opava towards Breda. Opava today - Cultural axis. The former Breda Department Store is positioned at the start of the most important cultural axis in Opava. Revitalising the monument means redefining its role as a public building and its resonance in the city. Layers of history. The history of the monument we see today is characterized by transformations over time. From the original Breda & Weinstein store to the Leopold Bauer’s corner building until the recent repairs, every layer of the monument’s history has a tangible presence. While continuing this tradition of re-making, the proposal respects the fragility of the main elements while proposing a concentrated intervention facilitating Breda’s new public life. A house for everybody. The square and the stripe act as a necessary facilitator of the new public life of Breda. From the programmatic functions to the choice of materials, the two large spaces are seen as one. The public interior is fully accessible from the square in front, turning the ground floor into a permeable and large civic space.

The emblematic character of the Breda Department Store is emphasized by activating the plinth and the cornice. Inspired by the historical images of the former shopping centre designed by Leopold Bauer, we propose a contemporary reinterpretation of the awnings missing today. A vitrine made of a light metallic structure that opens up to the new public square. For the roof, we imagine a simple light structure, a pergola that could give a signal to the city and draw people to go up through the building to discover a new view of Opava. In another scale, the site is also a crossroad between the former shopping centre and the new mall built behind afterwards. Nowadays, the connection between those two entities is very weak or even nil. We consider that a new circulation across the Old and New Breda is a key point of the project and both buildings could benefit of the new synergies created through a stronger connection. The Cupola designed by Bauer in 1930 represents for us a clear opportunity to articulate a public circulation around its particular geometry. In this way, the public promenade is enhanced by a semi-exterior ramp that accompanies the visitor on all floors of the two buildings up to the new roofs. By giving to the Cupola space this new function, it becomes the heart of the project as it was when the building was a shopping mall (Christmas tree under the Cupola). “It’s about never demolishing, subtracting or replacing things, but always adding, transforming and using them” (Lacaton Vassal). Our project pursues this attitude based on the most precise diagnosis possible following the analysis of the reports (SHP) and our on-site visit in order to reveal the qualities and use of what is already there, instead of replace or redo. We understand the Breda Department Store in an archaeological way, thus the accumulations of structures that can become a living testimony of the development of the building. Our proposition is another layer added that coexist with all the others. By deepening our research about the Bauer archives in the Albertina Museum in Vienna and the Opava archive, we discovered very inspiring documents of Leopold Bauer’s original drawings with few unbuilt architectural intentions. The project organically reshapes some parts of the existing building according to those previous ideas by reinterpreting them. For example, the implementation of the glass ceiling in the first basement, the semi-circular back façade around the Cupola, the diagonal axis thought the ground floor, the vitrines as partitions and showing device. With a limited and precise interventions, the project takes advantage of the existing qualities and the general organization of the site as starting points for our pro-grammatical reflection. Based on these qualities, it strives to respond to the following challenges: translate the program into a multiple and practical organization, provide a clear orientation for all users, create a pleasant and sustainable environment and increase opportunities for exchange and meeting.

Breda will live if it continues to evolve. Its story is an open story of effective transformation and necessary self-reflection. It is a gradual journey into the light. The key ambition is to make this object, with which uses and visitors have an active and positive relationship, more functional and visible. Due to this reason, the transformation is aimed at a social value created by a shared and integrated public space of connected interior and exterior. The process of Breda´s transformation is conditioned by not only physical but also psychological change. Changing an abandoned building into a functional organism requires several intervention phases and a specification of long-term and short-term ambitions. We understand this process to be a self-regenerating process of activation, building reconstruction programming and ‘filling it in’ with content. Hierarchy of the size of interventions to the existing building over time will be based on the specific requirements of further development. Equally important is the process of management, administration and technical operation of the building. This process should be covered by a newly established city company. In the second competition round, our proposal focuses on the initial phase of the so-called essential transformation. The essential motive is the creation of two activation platforms: on the ground floor- at the square level, through which we integrate the city, and secondly, on the active rooftop, from which we observe the city. The inside of the building is open and flexible, ready to be rented out for activities, which can operate in a communal interconnected ecosystem. The sociocultural function is an added value.

The proposal offers the transformation of the building of the former department store into a contemporary version of the civic palace. It uses its architectural and historical qualities and makes it available to the public as much as possible. BREDA will get the necessary gathering outdoor space by modifying Republiky square by diverting U Jaktařské brány street to a traffic-friendly intersection perpendicular to Olbrichova ulica. In this way, an outdoor “stage” will be created in front of BREDA for a more spatially demanding program (concerts, gatherings, markets, etc.), as well as an area for the expansion of day-to-day life into the public space of the newly created square (café terrace). The key architectural feature of the design is the new core in the center of the house’s layout. It takes the role of a public communication and meeting space that rises from the underground level up to the roof. There is a public roof garden, a place for everyday relaxation, which also offers space for organizing various communal events (summer cinema, concerts or lectures). The highest point of the building is the viewing platform, which provides a new view of the city of Opava. All floors are made available to the public. This allows greater program flexibility as well as more diverse spatial layout (public / private). We can then perceive the building as a universal catalog of different spaces that allow different uses. This model assumes the spatial and functional adaptability, necessary for adapting to changes and various requirements during the long-term operation of the building. We enhance the original concept of the court by delimiting it from the rest of the historic building with glazed walls. They separate the heated volume of the house from the unheated (tempered) courtyard. The courtyard will be used as a multifunctional space for the cultural center’s collective program. Spatially, it directly connects to the OC Breda & Weinstein shopping arcade. The building transformation proposal provides only a basic spatial framework with the necessary technical infrastructure. The remaining structures and equipment (including partitions) will be provided by individual tenants and operators. Already during the reconstruction works, BREDA should clearly communicate its ambitions to be an important part of the city’s public infrastructure. By creating a temporary space with a cafe, a place can be created where the future users and audience of BREDA will be formed. The initiation proposal from the point of view of the BREDA program is the establishment of a new entity in the form of a non-profit organization or another form with a public benefit status. As part of the project launch schedule, an open public call and a multi-round selection of operators of individual functions, operations and subtenants with pre-defined criteria are expected. BREDA’s ambition should also be its own dramaturgy of cultural, social and community programs. The specific target group is communities and youth.

Welcome to Breda, Opava’s cultural cornerstone, now pleasurably repaired for limitless adaptation. From the reinstated corner entrance to the fully inhabitable rooftop, via flexible floors of gallery, event and work space, our British-Czech collaboration has sought to initiate a very useful building. The green crescent creates a cultural journey for the people of Opava to come together and gather at Breda, creating a centre for cultural exchange – with links beyond to the shopping mall. Breda will provide a place where the community can come together, re-establishing the building’s centrality to the cultural life of Opava. The Breda Department Store is now filled with new life, from community groups, galleries, events, food markets, cafes and community groups – creating rich connections between the city forecourt and the shopping mall backdrop. Above a new rooftop garden overlooks the city with a pavilion that can provide drinks in the summer and relocate to Republic Square as a beacon for Christmas markets. Breda's original corner entrance will be reinstated creating a civic welcome to all that pass by. Along the pavement, booth seatings overlook the city, connecting Breda with Opava. Canopies provide welcome shading to the south-facing elevation. At the heart of Breda is the Bauer Room, the domed hall of the building. Providing a public forum for the city through-out the year, as well as a private hire event space for performances, weddings and meetings. The displays wrapping the walls showcase the history of Breda –creating a permanent home for the memories of Opavans.