Šmeral Art Factory

A long-unused industrial hall beside the river has become a gallery, extending cultural life across a wider factory complex while keeping its industrial identity and reconnecting the site with the river and the city.

The experience begins before the door. Walking or cycling along the river, visitors pass the city’s first legal graffiti wall, then enter the complex to find a calm, white exhibition space. The route from raw industrial setting to cultivated interior puts street art, industrial heritage and contemporary art in conversation.

The steel structure and industrial character are kept. New corrugated metal roofing follows the original material, enlarged rooflights bring daylight deeper while lightening the load on the existing frame, and the original light fittings are refurbished with LEDs so the layout can change. Old ventilation ducts become the new air distribution, and worn corrugated sheets from the former roof will return as surfaces for curated graffiti jams.

The interior is cleared for continuous white walls. Support functions gather in an inverted white box at the centre: from outside it carries exhibition surfaces, reception and a bar, while inside it holds an entirely black visitor facilities area. The reception desk, recalling corrugated sheet, was made within the factory complex, a working stamping press stands outside the gallery beside the art, and the factory green of the old structures returns in a muted tone on roof details, window reveals and chimneys.

A new entrance opens the complex to the riverside cycle path, inviting people into a place closed to the public for decades, and the space beside it is ready for exhibitions, performances and events.