The new viewpoint is located at the site of a historic crossroads northwest of the centre of Nebusice. The town council has restored the old dirt roads here and the new landmark on the route from Šarka to the Central Bohemian Region promises to take cyclists away from the busy town centre. "We restored the paths several years ago and they are really used a lot by cyclists, tourists and especially families with children walking around Nebusice. That is why we are very happy that we have managed to enrich this beautiful place with a view of Nebušice and Prague with an exceptional work," says the mayor of the municipal district Viktor Komárek and believes that the viewpoint will become an attractive place for all those passing by and walking by.
The task of the semester design-build project in the Seho-Poláček studio was originally a lookout tower. "But why build a tower when the view from the site is beautiful even without it? So we built a "rocking chair" as an accent of the place where two roads meet above Nebušice. One is planted with a row of cherry trees and the other with walnut trees," explains studio manager Hana Seho.
Design-and-build projects allow students to invent, draw and build a building with their own hands. Through this alternative to standard teaching, students experience the entire process of creating a building, teamwork and collaboration with the specialists and craftsmen involved in its construction.
It is also the way the faculty engages in public affairs. In the past, the Institute of Design II has cooperated with the Krkonoše National Park Authority, for which it built footbridges and shelters in the Krkonoše Mountains. It also cooperated with the Prague 6 municipality.
The cooperation with the Prague-Nebušice municipality began in spring 2021 with the identification of the place where the new viewpoint will stand. 15 students of the studio then prepared their own design, the project for implementation they selected together with the mayor of Nebusice and their teachers.
"Behold, an eye! What is it? To the adventurer a lookout tower, to the small explorer a swing, to the photographer a frame in the landscape," the author of the concept, Jan Čech, a student of the Master's programme, quotes the poem that was at the beginning. From where the Eye stands, the panorama of Nebušice and the distant landmarks of Prague can be seen. The building blends into its surroundings and looks subtle in the landscape.
The shape of the Eye is determined by bent wooden beams meeting on the horizontal axis. Its main supporting structure is made of 10 pairs of glued laminated timber profiles, 18 inner profiles are made of spruce wood, 4 edge profiles are made of larch wood. For greater durability, the profiles are protected by cover slats made of larch. In the transverse direction, the balks are connected by stainless steel bolts.
A hidden mechanism allows the Eye to move sideways. It consists of two pairs of rubberized rollers on which the object swings. The construction is complemented by a number of steel elements that prevent the Eye from sliding out of the roller mechanism.
Project management: Hana Seho, Jiří Poláček
Student team: Jan Čech (author of the concept), Klára Fólová, Max Goldberg, Sophia Kačena, Veronika Cirmonová, Nikol Zelmanová, Johana Zafarová
Consultant: František Denk (statics)
Cooperation: the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University, RENEX s.r.o., Havlíček Joinery, Valenta ZT s.r.o., Tomáš Beran Locksmith
Investor: the Municipal District of Prague-Nebušice
Photo: Lubomír Kotek
