<hospic>In the vicinity of Cibulka, the studio Petr Hájek Architekti will propose a hospice</hospic>

Prague – The new design of the Prague estate Cibulka, where the Vlček Family Foundation plans to build a children's hospice, will be proposed by the architectural studio Petr Hájek Architekti. They succeeded in an architectural competition, the results of which were announced to journalists today by representatives of the foundation. The long-neglected estate was purchased by the foundation from the CEO of the antivirus company Avast, Ondřej Vlček, and his wife Katarína at the beginning of last year. The hospice plans to open in October 2026.

The foundation aims to sensitively restore the existing buildings of the estate and add a new building that will house the healthcare section. "The design presents a respectful restoration of the historical estate with a sensitively treated new building that does not overshadow or diminish the original historical estate. At the same time, the new construction is cultivatedly integrated into the eastern garden, where it blends in with the terrain,” stated the jury's position on the winning proposal.

"The basic thing for us was how to combine the historical spirit of the place, which is undoubtedly present here, with the functional purpose we want to imprint," said Vlček regarding the proposal. He added that all five final designs were of high quality and the selection was challenging. "It seemed to us that this was the greatest connection of history, nature, and functional arrangement," added his wife Katarína.

She stated that it was essential for the selection that each hospice room had its own terrace or garden and direct access to the garden. The interior spaces also needed to offer enough communal space and privacy. "It wasn't entirely easy to consider all of this, and Mr. Architect Hájek managed to do it the best, although there was something great in every design," she said.

The new wing with the hospice will be directly adjacent to the park. "We want to enable the children to look into the treetops, to be able to go out or wheelchair out into nature several times a day as easily and without any barriers as possible," said the foundation's director Ivana Plechatá. A change to the zoning plan will be necessary for the construction, which the representatives of Prague 5 recently recommended for approval.

The existing buildings will serve as offices for the Vlček Family Foundation and the organization Zlatá rybka, which the couple also operates, after reconstruction. There will also be rooms for parents, therapy rooms, a bistro, and a lecture hall.

The foundation has already carried out stabilization work on the site, which it will continue this year and next according to the project's chief architect František Brychta. The foundation would like to obtain a building permit for the new construction in about a year to a year and a half. The existing courtyard and buildings will essentially remain unchanged. "The only new element will be a connecting bridge that links the barns and somewhat revitalizes the original layout of the estate,” said Brychta.

The first significant changes are expected for the gardener's cottage at the main entrance to the estate, which should be fully renovated next year and will house a café for the public and a temporary headquarters for the foundation. The entire renovated area is intended to be opened by the foundation on October 22, 2026, exactly 200 years after the death of Bishop Thun Hohenstein, who had the estate rebuilt into its current form at the beginning of the 19th century.

The fate of the long-vacant estate has been discussed since the 1990s, and it has been occupied by squatters several times. The former owner Oldřich Vaníček approached the Prague 5 city council two years ago with a sales offer, but then he changed his mind and began negotiations with another interested party. That turned out to be the Vlček Foundation. Ondřej and Katarína Vlček invested assets worth 1.5 billion crowns into their newly established foundation with the aim of building a children's hospice and palliative center.

The Vlčeks are building on the activities of their six-year-old charitable organization Zlatá rybka, whose mission is to fulfill the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses. The assets of their family foundation come from Vlček’s 25 years of work at Avast, which has become a successful global software company during that time. His wife Katarína is a doctor working in the mobile hospice Cesta domů.

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