An international architectural competition under the title "Florenc21: Phase West" was announced by the site developer Penta Real Estate. Leading architectural firms are invited to apply and propose innovative solutions for the design of four prominent city blocks in the Florenc District, located in the heart of Prague. Registration runs until 13 December 2024, deadline for submission of concept designs is on February 7 2025.
The objective of the architectural competition is to generate compelling design proposals for the western part of the Florenc redevelopment zone into a vibrant, mixed-use neighbourhood featuring new homes, offices, leisure spaces, and retail areas. Total gross floor area of Phase West is 85,000 sqm.
The site is divided into four distinct blocks of different sizes and functional use, each with its dedicated competition. All four competitions will run in parallel through three phases and share a common jury.
The independent jury includes important personalities of European architecture such as Stefan Behnisch, Italian architect Maria Alessandra Segantini, Dutch urbanist Kees Christiaanse, and Czech Architecture Prize winner Štěpán Valouch among others.
"This is a high-level architectural competition. The brief formulates high quality expectations from the owners and the city of Prague. We are looking forward to judge and find the best solution for the development of Florenc. I can recommend my colleagues to consider applying and taking part in this outstanding project," said chairman of the jury Stefan Behnisch.
The investor, Penta Real Estate, is a subsidiary of the Central European investment group Penta founded in 1994. This year, Penta Real Estate initiated the site regeneration with the opening of Masaryčka, a Zaha Hadid Architects designed office building, which forms a gate into the Florenc 21 site. Its unique contextual design made Masaryčka a new landmark of Prague. The ambition of the investor is to continue with similarly high-quality architectural design in the Florenc21: Phase West project.
David Musil, Managing Director of Penta Real Estate for the Czech Republic, added, "We have a challenging and responsible task ahead of us - to select the best architectural teams that will make Florence a great place to live. We aim to foster the growth of a diverse and vibrant neighborhood that evolves in both architectural character and functional design. That's why we have divided the site into four competitions, so that more architectural teams can contribute to the design. This is a great opportunity from the architects' point of view - brownfields of this size are rare in the centres of European cities."
Florenc21 Phase West competitions will be organised in the form of three workshops, during which the jury, the clients, and other key stakeholders will engage in dialogue directly with the competing teams. All applicants meeting the basic criteria can take part in round one of the competitions in which they deliver design idea and portfolio of reference projects. The jury will shortlist up to eight participants for round two and then up to four for the final third round in each of the four competitions. The winners will be announced in autumn 2025.
"All teams shortlisted for round two and round three will be remunerated. The total sum of rewards is 700 000 EUR," explained Petr Návrat from ONplan, the planning consultancy, which is organising the architectural competition.
The architectural competition builds upon the winning masterplan of the Florenc21 urban design competition, which was won by UNIT Architects, A69, and Marko & Placemakers in 2021. "The Florenc21 urban design competition successfully navigated a challenging environment of differing interests, creating a collaborative process that included input from all key stakeholders. The resulting masterplan has become a respected model for future developments. Building on this foundation, I am confident that the spirit of cooperation and the commitment to creating a vibrant, functional neighborhood will shine through in the new architectural proposals", said Petr Hlaváček, Deputy Mayor of Prague.
Architectural studios interested in shaping the future of Prague are invited to visit www.florenc21.eu for further details and for registration.
Title
Call for Applications: FLORENC21 Phase West International Architecture Competition, Prague – Czech RepublicType
Competition Announcement (Student Competitions)Website
Organizers
Registration Deadline
December 13, 2024 03:00 PMSubmission Deadline
February 07, 2025 03:00 PMVenue
Prague, Czech RepublicPrice
Free