Young architects received awards for designs to improve public space

Prague - Six architectural projects received the Young Architect Award today in the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery for authors under 33 years old. Among the awarded is a project that was only in the public space for a short time - the Grosseto viewpoint bench created by authors Vítem Šimkem and Štěpánem Řehořem from the H3t architects studio allowed people on the Alšova embankment to admire the panorama of Prague, which is otherwise obstructed by a large floating restaurant moored on the Vltava.
The architects raised the bench from the embankment on a simple steel structure - so that it was possible to "overlook the unmissable floating restaurant and pizzeria." "After a few days it disappeared, we don't know where, but we assume that the restaurant had it removed," architect Vít Šimek told ČTK. With the installation, they aimed to highlight that a private venture on the river prevents people on the embankment from perceiving the panorama of Hradčany, thus a normally accessible and shared public space.
"The theme of the competition was public space. The jury this year left the initiative to the contestants to look for specific problematic locations," said jury chairman Tomáš Pilař. The jury established the discovery of a place and the utilization of its hidden potential as the evaluation benchmark. The competition had two categories, the first entitled Places - school projects offered specific assignments prepared by representatives of cities and municipalities. The second category, Initiatory Studies, allowed participants to choose their own problematic location.
The highest award went to a project on improving the area around the Nádraží Holešovice metro station in Prague. Titled Prefa Compact City, it was submitted by Šimon Brabec, who proposed transforming the former panel factory site into a built urban neighborhood with references to the industrial past of the location.
A pair of Slovak authors was dedicated to Brno, who received high praise from the jury for their functional idea of revitalizing the banks of the Brno river into a space for relaxation and recreation for the city's inhabitants. The project by Martin Machala and Jana Matlovičová, Revitalization of the Svratka River, received the Rector's Award of the Czech Technical University. Smaller towns, which also struggle with urban planning issues, did not go unnoticed. The studies proposing original extensions to the historic center of Litomyšl (Lukáš Koubek - Award of architect Josef Hlávka) and Polička made an impression in the competition. The latter project (Small Typologies in Polička by author Tereza Scheibová) earned first place in several categories.
The exhibition of competition projects will last in the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery until September 29 and then will travel to other cities until April 2014.