CHYBIK + KRISTOF has revealed designed for a multipurpose skyscraper that will be built in the heart of Ostrava’s city center in the Czech Republic. 

Named Ostrava Tower, the 235-metre-tall tower is designed as a new urban infill, once complete, it will be the tallest skyscraper of the Czech Republic. 

Comprising an X-shaped geometry, the 98,000-square-metre project rethinks a traditional typology of a skyscraper and reinterprets it as a new functional entity that can responsive to the contemporary social needs and activating the public space. 

The 56-storey skyscraper will be a new landmark of in the efforts of the rehabilitation and reactivation of the post-industrial town of Ostrava which the city has dramatically transitioned from a coal-mining and metallurgical city to a service and information-driven industry reviving its urban landscape over the last three decades. 

Currently, the city is in the transition process and tries to adapt to this new rapidly growing cultural economy.

"With its rich history deeply affected by its traditional infrastructure, the capital of the Moravian-Silesian region, on the border of Poland has a metropolitan area population of almost one million inhabitants and is the third largest city in the Czech Republic," said CHYBIK + KRISTOF. 

The rapid development of the former industrial sites has already begun to transform them into cultural and residential buildings, initiated by both public and private investors points to the future city of Ostrava. 

A 1,300-seat concert hall designed by Steven Holl Architects is among these new developments, as well as museums, university campuses, galleries, and residential projects to meet the population’s needs.

With its design for Ostrava Tower, the studio responds to the rejuvenation of the city and its social needs. The new skyscraper underlines the studio’s dedication to rehabilitate the city center and activate public space within the tower and its immediate environment. 

The architects used an iconic X-like shaped geometry and its diagonal geometry unifies the entire building, allowing its alternating levels of publicly accessible functions and private facilities to act in harmony. 

Shifted on its own axis, the design of the building composed of a complex set of alternating walls and its glass façade. The geometry of the tower also supports the multipurpose functions and enables the residential units’ stunning vistas of the city and the surrounding landscape, while also providing privacy and substantial living space.

While the program is dispersed throughout the tower, additional public spaces will include offices, a congress centre, retail services and a hotel. The tower will have a panoramic rooftop with a café, a restaurant and bar which are open to the general public. 

"The shape of the building expands out, offering expansive views with its sky garden, while simultaneously level zero connects the lobby to its new square, expanding and activating the building's public space," said the studio. 

"The new plaza is designed in a way that it correlates to the scale and purpose of the inside spaces." 

Purposely, the architects designed the two widest spaces, the lobby and sky garden, to be used as recreational areas, inviting the public to activate the building.

"Rethinking the typology of the skyscraper and its function to serve the public and activate the urban environment, one of our core missions was to create a positive social impact in the heart of Ostrava," said Michal Kristof, co-founder of CHYBIK + KRISTOF. 

"The studio’s intention was to create a simple but powerful form that acts as a beacon into the city center."

Situated on a vast piece of land that was once created by previously resolving a large-scale traffic artery and its links to the city, the tower acts as an entry point and hub for business, culture and leisure in Ostrava. 

The location of the tower is connected to a bus terminal and situated at the foot of a bridge. On the ground floor, a public plaza will expand the tower and increase the amount of public space. 

The pedestrian entry will entirely be barrier-free, accessible from all sides and visible from all angles, and become a major point of attraction, in turn redefining the flow of the abandoned territory into a linked urban portion of the city centre.

Ostrava Tower is set to be completed in 2027, the skyscraper echoes the town’s industrial heritage and inspired utilitarian architecture. 

This project by the studio underlines the importance to rethink and adapt the typology of the skyscraper as a multifunctional entity, transforming the design into a dynamic social hub, responsive to the contemporary social needs and the rehabilitation of developing urban cultural economies.

CHYBIK + KRISTOF and Dílna previously transformed historic Mendel Square into a vibrant public hub in Brno. The studio completed the renovation of brutalist Zvonarka Central Bus Terminal in Brno. 

Project facts

Project name: Ostrava Tower

Year: 2019 – 2022
Size: 98000m2
Status: Ongoing

Project Team: Ondřej Chybík, Michal Krištof, Martin Křivánek, Martin Žatečka, Vadim Shaptala, Martin Holý, Denisa Annová, Ivo Stejskal, Ondřej Švancara, Benjamin Daniels, Emanuele Faggion, Jan Šefl, Natália Korpášová, Gabriela Voláková, Roman Chervonnyy, Sophia Tligui, Marek Frait and Anna Serysheva.

Co-author: Anarchitekt - Jiří Soukup
Egineering: Bollinger+Grohmann, VIN Consult, K4 Architects & Engineers, INKOS-OSTRAVA Facade: MGS Group
Transportation: Atelier Dua
Geology: Baugrund Dresden
Vertical Transportation: Schindler, KONE
Lighting: ATELIER DEK
Development & Marketing Strategy: Henceforth
Marketing & Media: SILVER B.C.
Illustrations: Alexey Klyuykov
Photo: Alex Shoots Buildings

Visualizations © Igor Brozyna - PLACES studio, NORVISKA, Dousek Zaborsky / Courtesy of CHYBIK + KRISTOF Architects & Urban Designers. 

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