Gahura Prospect

Gahura Prospect is one of the most urbanistically valuable places in functionalist Zlín. This main compositional axis of the city, created in the 1920s and 1930s by architect František Lýdia Gahura, forms a natural ‘green spine’ of the city centre, linking the surrounding forests with the city parks.

The prospect was intended as a place for rest and socialising for thousands of young men and women – employees of the Baťa company accommodated in the dormitories lining both sides of the space. The women’s dormitories stood on the left-hand side, while the men’s dormitories were located on the right. The first dormitory for young men, built in 1928, is today’s Hotel Garni.

Over the years, Gahura Prospect underwent several changes – after the tragic death of Tomáš Baťa in 1932, its upper end was crowned a year later with a glass memorial in his honour. Although both the prospect and the memorial were later affected by a number of unsuitable partial alterations, the original green character of the area was preserved. In its lower section, however, the space lost its clear form during the second half of the 20th century – in 1961 a monument to Klement Gottwald was erected here, which was removed in 1990, and the area then remained neglected for many years.

A fundamental change only came in 2011, when the city of Zlín announced a public architectural competition to revitalise Gahura Prospect. The winning proposal by the Zlín-based studio ellements architects (Jitka Ressová, Jan Pavézka and Hana Maršíková) transformed the lower part of the prospect into an original and contemporary urban space.

New pedestrian routes, set below the level of the undulating terrain, follow the original worn footpaths and naturally connect the newly renovated department store with the buildings of the Congress and University Centre designed by architect Eva Jiřičná. Viewed from below, the four intersecting paths in the shape of two X’s appear as a continuous green band leading all the way up to the Tomáš Baťa Memorial.

Today, Gahura Prospect once again fulfils its original purpose – it is a place for rest, meeting and brief pauses. Students spend their free time relaxing on the grass, families stop here with their children, and passers-by make use of the low walls for sitting.