The Architect of the Year 2019 award was won by Stanislav Fiala

Prague – The award for outstanding contribution to architecture in the last five years, the Architect of the Year 2019 award, was received by Stanislav Fiala, who is the author of dozens of original buildings. The award was presented today by the organizers at the Centre for Architecture and Urban Planning (CAMP) in Prague.

According to the jury, Fiala has been among the top Czech architects since the 1990s. Many of his buildings have received awards both in the Czech Republic and abroad. In 2000, he became a finalist for the prestigious European Mies van der Rohe Award for contemporary architecture with the MUZO administrative building in Prague’s Strašnice. Some of his most significant works from recent years include the Špork Palace in Prague, the DRN Palace on Národní Street in Prague, the Puškinova Residential Building in Prague, the Certovo břemeno Golf Club in Aleniná Lhotě, and his notable buildings for the company SIPRAL – factory, headquarters, and showroom.

Stanislav Fiala was born in 1962 in Most. He studied at the Faculty of Architecture at Czech Technical University and the School of Architecture at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague. In the 1990s, he was a partner at D. A. Studio, later at the D3A studio, and since 2009 he has been the managing director of Fiala+Nemec. According to the jury that awarded him the prize today, Fiala possesses an extraordinary ability to improvise on the construction site, a willingness to engage with craftsmen, and a shared journey into the unknown, unexpected, and unpredictable.

"It is fascinating to see how the fruits of these improvisational skills are manifested even in large-scale buildings. This is truly exceptional, unusual, and easily understandable to anyone from the wider public," the jurors say. "Stanislav Fiala creates an original world that you cannot confuse with the work of anyone else in the Czech Republic," they stated.