157 studios from 33 countries in Europe, America and Asia have applied to the competition for the revitalisation of a brownfield and the construction of new city blocks in Prague's Florenc. An international jury led by renowned German architect Stefan Behnisch has selected the advancing teams of four concurrent architectural competitions.
The process of concurrent architectural competitions follows after the Florenc21 urban planning competition workshop, which took place four years ago. The aim was to find a suitable urban solution for the now neglected area. It was organised by Penta Real Estate in cooperation with the City of Prague, the Prague Planning and Development Institute and the Prague 1 and Prague 8 city districts. The winning urban design by the UNIT architects, A69 architects and Marko & Placemakers team defined the streets, blocks and building heights.
Revitalisation of Prague brownfields is one of the main missions of the Prague Planning and Development Institute. It requires long-term coordination of many stakeholders from the public and private sectors. “We know the future of Prague brownfields from visualisations; some are being built on, but most are still lying fallow. Construction would be better and faster if cities had more of the powers that the state currently holds. Florenc21 is one of the examples where Prague, in cooperation with an investor, has shown that cities can be active in planning and development,” added Ondřej Boháč, Director at Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR).
This year, teams are expected to participate in three competition workshops; the winners, who will give a specific form to the new district, should be announced in the autumn of 2025.
The buildings will be designed primarily for housing with retail and service premises on the ground floor. The block through which the main road passes will then contain office space.
“Florenc is a large brownfield on the border of the conservation area, it is the inner periphery of the city. The new district will connect the inner center, which is alive with business and tourism, with districts like Karlín, where it is pleasant to live and work,” said David Musil, Country Managing Director of Penta Real Estate for the Czech Republic.
The independent part of the jury includes leading foreign and Czech experts, such as Kees Christiaanse (KCAP), Gilma Theodora Gylyté (DO ARCHITECTS), DaeWha Kang (DeaWha Kang Design), Maria Alessandra Segantini (C+S Architects) or Štěpán Valouch (OVA).
The high interest of architects from all over the world in the transformation of Florence is due to the uniqueness of the location, as well as the transparent conditions of the competitions, a high-quality international expert jury with renowned architects and, last but not least, adequate prizes for the competitors. The total cost of prizes and rewards in all four competitions is almost CZK 18 million (€721,000).
The selected advancing architectural studios:
Florenc21: Phase West Block B01
CHYBIK+KRISTOF / Atelier Ten Ltd / Mfs Group
Barkow Leibinger Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH
querkraft architektur / Jan Proksa Architects
Kuba & Pilař architekti
SAS COLDEFY ET ASSOCIES / A69 – architekti
Vietzke & Borstelmann Architekten / Jakub Klaska ltd
ADEPT / OH BOI
Studio Egret West Ltd
Florenc21: Phase West Block B02
Morris+Company
Baumschlager Eberle Lustenau GmbH
Aulík Fišer architekti / Machar Teichman / studio reactor
A69 – architekti / ADEPT
De Architekten Cie International B.V.
Vietzke & Borstelmann Architekten / Jakub Klaska ltd
LAN / P2PA
Botticini+Facchinelli / ARW Associates
Florenc21: Phase West Block B03
hasscookzemmrich STUDIO2050
AllesWirdGut Architektur / creatura studio s.r.o. / DnD Landschaftsplanung / AED project, a.s.
Morris+Company
re:architekti / baukuh studio associato / Atelier Kempe Thill bv
edit architects / A69 – architekti / NL Architects B.V.
De Architekten Cie International B.V.
Studio Perspektiv / Studio Ninedots
Ingenhoven associates GmbH
Florenc21: Phase West Block B04
Pelčák a partner architekti / Thomas Müller Ivan Reimann Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH
Pavel Hnilička Architects+Planners
Baumschlager Eberle Lustenau GmbH
A69 – architekti / ADEPT
Ingenhoven associates GmbH
LAN / P2PA
De Zwarte Hond Groningen bv / Apropos Architects s.r.o.
agps architecture / Dürig AG / MOBA studio
