The renovation of the Loučná riverbank, in the center of Litomyšl, connects to a section previously completed by Josef Pleskot’s AP atelier. The concept of the renovation is based on connecting four different urban spaces – the waterfront, riverbanks, park, and street – into one functional whole. A city promenade under the trees is emerging on the waterfront, fringed with a low colored concrete wall that creates a border between the city and the natural riverbanks. The riverbanks are kept wild and made accessible only on selected sites with light observation posts where people can watch birds and fish. The park near the Smetana House has been transformed into a sunny recreation meadow. A restuarants outside seating was also restored, newly completed with a steel pavilion with a green roof.

Best wishes to all our readers in 2018. Stay tuned for More on architecture!

The geography of architecture has a tendency to come out in cliches, but in the case of Belgium this cannot be helped. Belgium is the ultimate commonplace, where people build and live without giving it a second thought, doing things one way today, another way tomorrow, if need be, not allowing their lives or their moods to be disrupted, and without getting overexcited. A few years ago Carlo Ginzburg, the famous historian from Bologna, paid a visit to Leuven. His fascination with the as yet undefined marginal phenomena automatically led the conversation to contemporary Belgian architecture.

Známý belgický novinář Geert van Istendael mluví v jednom eseji nazvaném Krása ošklivosti o zvláštním světě bez ladu a skladu, ve kterém se rozmáhá hrůzná uniformní ošklivost. Typický Belgičan prý nedbá žádných nařízení o tom, jak by měl stavět, zato staví ostošest. Každý vlámský obyvatel prý chodí spát s cihlou v žaludku. Měl jsem to štěstí nějaký čas studovat v Gentu a projíždět Vlámskem na kole. Denně jsem tak vnímal onu ošklivou krásu a musím říct, že mě velmi zaujala. Stejně jako zpracovávání nejnovějšího čísla časopisu s názvem CHVÁLA VŠEDNOSTI: VLÁMSKO.

Filip Landa, šéfredaktor