The rooftop saunas at Kravi Hora offer a panoramic view of the city. Photo credit: M. Schmerkova, MMB.
Brno, Sep. 20 (BD) – The reconstruction and completion of the modern wellness facility next to the swimming pool complex on Kraví hora is nearing its final stage. Today, the investor, the City of Brno, ceremonially handed the project over to the Brno-střed city district, which will operate the facility through its Kraví hora Sports and Recreation Area public company. All that remains to be added is the indoor equipment, and from 17 October, the facility will open to the public to relax and rest in one of the seven saunas or the Turkish steam bath.
The original ground-floor building from the early 1970s, which had long been considered both technically and functionally inadequate, has been replaced by a new wellness centre. The investor for the project is the City of Brno, which provided funding of CZK 117.5 million.
“The idea of building a wellness facility on Kraví hora began approximately ten years ago,” said the Mayor of Brno, Markéta Vaňková. “Even then, in Brno-střed, where I worked for many years, we were concerned about whether the city district itself had enough funds for such a large investment. I am glad that it was finally realised with the significant support of the City of Brno. This way, the original plan is finally being fulfilled to diversify the available sports and recreational services as much as possible in the extremely valuable location of Kraví hora.”
The Brno-střed city district provided the complete project documentation for the reconstruction, and is also financing the supply and installation of all interior equipment of the new centre, such as furniture and massage tables, an entry system, and equipment for the changing rooms. The total value of the interior wellness equipment is expected to be around CZK 8.5 million.
“Expanding the area of the swimming pool complex on Kraví hora to include wellness facilities is one of the long-term plans of the Brno-střed district. Partly thanks to the fact that we already had the project documentation ready, we managed to implement the plan in a record time of 21 months,” said Vojtěch Mencl, the mayor of the Brno-střed district.
The wellness centre on Kraví hora will offer visitors seven saunas, five of which are of the Finnish type, specifically the classic Finnish, salt, ceremonial and two rooftop panoramic ones. There will also be one low-temperature aromatic sauna and a Turkish steam bath. Water elements include an indoor and outdoor whirlpool, a Kneipp path and a cooling pool. In the interior of the centre, wood is used on the floor and ceiling of the main corridor, the walls heavily feature glass mosaics and smoked glass, and the floors are mostly suntanned granite. The interior panelling of the saunas is made of five different types of wood; two of the saunas are divided by an illuminated wall of salt bricks. The rest zone is dominated by a geometrically divided moss wall, complemented by a lounge with a fireplace.
The wellness areas will be accessible to visitors through the main entrance with hygiene facilities located in the existing underground section of the covered swimming pool. The premises are divided into social, relaxation, water and sauna areas, and a separate area for massages is also planned. Part of the long-unused original sun terrace areas on the roof of the building have been adapted into an outdoor relaxation area with deckchairs, two panoramic saunas and an outdoor hot tub with a view of the city. The remaining area of the roof is decorated by a layer of vegetation planted with meadow grass. Direct access to the roof terrace from the interior of the wellness area is made possible by a new glass superstructure.
The architectural design team, for DRNH Architects, were Antonín Novák, Petr Valenta, Radovan Smejkal, and Eduard Štěrbák. The construction was carried out by Komfort a.s.
The building will eventually also house office and administrative spaces, the capacity of toilets for summer will be increased, and a new summer catering facility will be added.
