EUROPEAN PEACE FORUM AND CENTER FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION/RECONCILIATION

The European Peace Forum and Centre for Conflict resolution is a purpose built complex, to facilitate the process of reconciliation and peacemaking. The idea grew from an interest in European conflicts and several observable conflictions between Czechs and their neighbors (particularity Czechs and Sudeten Germans). There were few examples of architecture that truly attempted to aid in the process of peace or reconciliation. Surprisingly large monumental events held by the EU, UN are rarely held in appropriate spaces. Instead, conference centers and hotels are often the venues for such momentous events despite their inadequacies. As Architects, we know how the built environment can influence emotions and the impacts this can have on the human psyche, this project explores the relationship between nature, architecture and the resolution process. The idea of creating a space that is purposely designed for aiding in the process of resolution and peace is nothing new. Churches and chapels have been employing Architecture for that very purpose for hundreds of years. The European Peace Forum is extending those same principals to real-world events. UN talks, peace negotiations, climate controls these should all take place in a neutral and passive space. Space that is designed to insight communication and resolves prejudices so that important resolutions can be made a little bit easier. The concept of taking something conflicting and making it "whole or good" again is something that was translated into an architectural language for this project. The concept of expressing our imperfections or trauma comes from Kintsugi potters in Japan who repair cracked porcelain with gold inlay making the trauma ornamental. The site of this project is an exhausted limestone quarry to the south-west of Prague. The site is a literal scar on the landscape and conveys a physical wound in the landscape. Extending the idea of reconciliation to the design phase of this project enabled me to prepare a design that would metaphorically reconcile the site, whilst expressing its history and past in an ornamental way. The regeneration of the flora was vital to create a place of reflection and serenity. The buildings abstractly form a detached or separated "whole" that has been re-attached using bands of vegetation and nature. These sections form green corridors between the building and provide outdoor break out spaces to the occupants.