BASIC THESIS

The ordering party and, together with the working group for the preparation of the competition assignment, defined the following basic theses of the assignment, the basic requirements to address the subject of the competition.

Lety u Písku. Memorial to the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti in Bohemia

• will be a place of international significance – it is one of the few monuments in the authentic place of suffering associated with the Holocaust of the Roma and Sinti in Europe,
• will be created on the basis of a timeless solution with high architectural and artistic quality, comprehensible for present and future generations,
• must respect reverence of the place, its history and the surrounding landscape,
• must be inspired by the culture of the Roma; the proposals must be sensitive to the ideas of surviving families about the place of the graves of the victims of the camp – the graves of their ancestors.

The requirements for the Memorial proposals

• Work with the symbolic representation of the proposal, themes of the Memorial, as well as design indoor and outdoor expositions and facilities for visitors and Memorial staff.
• Design a fully functional Memorial as a whole consisting of the following basic parts:

A / place of dignified reverence, silent contemplation in the cemetery area of ​​the victims of the so-called Gypsy camp

• preserve the memorial of Zdeněk Hůla, which is the subject of memorial protection and also the first official reminder of the camp
• be inspired by the ideas of survivor families about the shape of the graves of their ancestors

B/ reminder of the so-called Gypsy camp

• propose a solution that provides a basic idea about its form, history, suffering of this place
• it is at your discretion how you work with the archaeological discoveries

C/ facilities for visitors on the grounds of today’s pig farm

• design a building of high architectural quality with a clever spatial solution that enables efficient, multifunctional use of space for exhibition purposes, education, discussions and other public events
• build on the needs of the contracting authority defined in the building program

D/ adjacent landscape

• your solution must be respectful to the surrounding landscape, design the Memorial to become part of it
• design the target state of the landscape
• design a logical road network in the complex connecting the camp with the cemetery of the camp victims and other parts of the Memorial as well as connecting the Memorial to the existing communication and road network

When designing all parts of the Memorial, pay maximum attention to the barrier-free access.

• The use of the premises and individual buildings of the former pig farm for the presentation of the Memorial themes is at your discretion. The ordering party considers keeping parts of the buildings, equipment, etc. of the pig farm (but not a large part) as a proof of one stage of the history of the story of Czech Roma and Sinti, the story of the place, as appropriate.
• The use of existing structural changes linked to the cultural Memorial Lety (parking lot with access road, amphitheatre, nature trail and others) is at your discretion.
• When designing the exhibition space, the form of using historical materials to present the individual themes of the Memorial is left to your discretion, take in account the requirements on creation of the contemporary expositions and consider the use of new technologies

In the area of the Memorial, in the expositions will be bindingly used:

• the names of the camp victims in a form that allows the list to be added or modified,
• part of movable archaeological discoveries from the locality of the so-called Gypsy camp,
• photographs illustrating personal stories of individuals,
• the exhibition space will be addressed in detail in close cooperation with the authors of the exhibition in the subsequent project stages.
• Design the concept of the memorial in a way that allows its execution to be completed in stages. Abide by the limit of investment costs for construction works and deliveries of the 1^st stage of the Memorial construction – CZK 31.5 million including VAT (21%). Details of the stage of the memorial realization are given below.
• Propose a creative solution delivering a sustainable and self-sustaining solution and minimizes both the investment and long-term operating costs of the Memorial.
• Propose a concept of the whole Memorial and its connection to the surroundings (also consider the idea of connecting the places associated with the history of the camp), but with the possibility of implementing the Memorial in stages.

Binding requirements of the proposal

• The concept of the memorial will address the remembrance of the location of the so-called Gypsy camp, the cemetery of the victims and the visitor centre, further the interconnection of these places, the transport service of the Memorial and the placement of the Memorial in the surrounding landscape so that in the subsequent stages of project documentation it is possible to meet the requirements set out in the construction program.
• The design of the visitor centre must be situated on the land owned by the Museum of Romani Culture (i.e. the pig farm and related land) and at the same time it is also a developable area.
• Respect the legal limits of the territory –protection of the cultural heritage of Lety, (i. the cemetery of the victims of the camp with the preservation of the existing Memorial) – protection of natural elements – forests, water bodies and wetlands, trees and agricultural land.

The construction programme
a/ Facilities for visitors and operation of the Memorial

Facilities for visitors

• entrance area – reception, sale of information and souvenirs, possibility of lending technical aids, eventually point for downloading the application, etc., cloakroom for visitors of educational programs, discussions, lectures, cultural events, small refreshments, toilets
• multifunctional space usable for:
  • part of exposition
  • education of groups of 40 people,
  • lectures, discussions for 40 people,

Facilities for the operation of the Memorial

• facilities for 8 employees
• store of educational materials, technical aids, mobile furniture, etc. – 20 m²
• warehouse – cleaning room, tool and material store for minor repairs – 16 m²
• technical room according to the needs of the building and the technologies used
• points outside the building for connection of electricity and water, e.g. mobile refreshments, technical facilities of events, etc.

b/ Memorial area

• depicting the area of the so-called Gypsy camp
• creation of a dignified place of reverence in the area of the cemetery of the victims of the camp; a place suitable to hold reverential events
  • creation of so-called external expositions – space in the area of the Memorial, where part of the themes of the Memorial will be presented
• road network connecting individual places of the Memorial and creating logical visitor circuits with navigation and information system – a small visitor circuit around the Memorial site and a large visitor circuit connected to sites associated with the history of the camp

c/ Transport

• arrival for the visitors to the Memorial from the current connection of the pig farm to the road I/19
• parking for 25–30 cars and 3 buses
• space for occasional parking of additional 50 cars