The Hanus Zapal Prize was awarded to the new fire station

Plzeň - The central fire station building of the Fire Rescue Service in Plzeň, designed by architects Václav Ulč and Radek Dragoun, today received the Hanuš Zápal Award in Plzeň. The award, named after a significant Plzeň architect, was given to the authors for the most interesting building constructed in Plzeň from 1990 to 2005. According to Mayor Miroslav Kalouse, the awarding of the prize should help elevate building culture and encourage public and investor interest in creating structures with high architectural and technical quality. This year, the award is being given for the first time.
    The winning authors received a graphic print featuring a portrait of Hanuš Zápal, a certificate of award, and 100,000 crowns. The Plzeň mayor announced the award at the end of June, and the jury received nearly thirty proposals from both the public and experts. Among them were renovations and constructions of residential, administrative, and corporate buildings, complexes of family homes and residential zones, the construction of a faculty of electrical engineering, a chapel in a meditation garden, a new meteorological station, a bank, and more. The fire station building impressed the jury the most as it is considered evidence of the harmony between function and form of the structure.
    "In evaluating the winning central fire station, the jury particularly appreciated the benevolent purpose and social benefit of the facility itself, which did not flaunt the amount of financial resources invested in the construction," said jury chairman Vladko Milunić.
    According to jury member Pavla Kordovská, the building is a combination of rational functional design with slightly playful contemporary details, characterized by well-executed technical and technological solutions. The jury decided on the winner in three rounds, reported the competition secretary Irena Langová. Eleven proposals proceeded to the second phase of evaluation, and nine proposals entered the third, which involved a thorough inspection.
    The construction of the fire station at the edge of the city towards Karlovy Vary began in December 2001, and professional firefighters started using it in 2004. It is oriented to the south, with a training tower as its dominant feature. The low horizontal portion consists of garages and technical facilities. Part of the three-story building serves the operations of the firefighters, and the complex includes a gymnasium with an indoor climbing wall, outdoor competition tracks, playgrounds, a heliport, and other elements. The layout and technical specifications make it a very complex facility, merging elements of industrial operation with accommodation, a training center, and crisis management, according to the jurors.
    According to the then director of the regional firefighters, Jaroslav Salivar, the station cost 160 million crowns, with an additional 30 million for technology. The firefighters received support from the city, which contributed land and a project valued at about 25 million crowns, while the Plzeň region allocated 12.5 million for the construction and interiors of the station.