Celebration of Active Architecture

On Wednesday, May 29, at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery in Prague, the ceremonial announcement of the results of the second year of the student competition organized by Velux, Active House Award, took place. The competition was held in two categories – new construction and renovation, with both categories based on active house principles.

The active standard is defined by its consideration for the environment, energy efficiency, and high-quality indoor spaces. However, it represents a comprehensive view of construction. The overall vision of an active house is more a long-term conceptual goal, not just architectural quality and a tabular active standard. It involves creating a theoretical platform in the design approach to effectively link the energy demand of buildings, high-quality indoor environments, and minimal environmental impact.

All of this was also criteria in evaluating the submitted projects. “Let’s imagine evaluating buildings based on their ability to improve our lives…”, explains Ing. arch. Klára Bukolská from Velux Czech Republic, Ltd., and Martin Jančok from the architectural studio P-L-U-R-A-L adds: “One of the greatest challenges in architecture is to maintain consistency. This becomes increasingly important given the current conditions with ever-increasing demands for the complexity of buildings.”

The international expert jury ultimately awarded eight competing projects and positively assessed the social dimension and creativity of the selected designs. During the evaluation, jury members Mag. Arch. Juri Troy, Gunther Zsolt, MA Lone Feifer, Ing. arch. Martin Jančok, and Ing. arch. Klára Bukolská found themselves with more questions than answers, which was nicely illustrated graphically on the gallery floor. Is green architecture enough? …

The winner in the new construction category was the Inventory of Archetype, a project for an active apartment building by the student of the Faculty of Architecture at VUT in Brno, Norbert Obršál.

The jury particularly appreciated the use of the existing structure of the village and the addition of a new object to part of it. They also highly valued the integration of work and living in the building, along with the semi-public courtyard as an urban solution. The entire accompanying report can be found in the photo gallery. We were also intrigued by the work with the archetype of the building in the village, and we asked Mr. Obršál what he thinks about current constructions in villages and why people today reject original archetypes?
“Villages are increasingly being filled with non-native constructions of various catalog bungalows and clumps. The character of southern Moravia is gradually becoming blurred with Wallachia and Haná. The original structure - local archetypes created an incomparably smarter structure. I believe that the rejection of the archetype is driven by the automatic association of "house = catalog house," and anything that looks different is suspicious. Archetypes are thus mockingly referred to as barns.”

Second place in the new construction category was awarded to Juraj Kačenka and Eva Bírová from FA VUT in Brno for the Country Houses project.

The jury appreciated especially the architectural expression derived from the historical context of the village in central Slovakia where the house is situated. The project also detailed the principles of an active house. The only criticism the jury had was regarding the new construction in open countryside. We asked Mr. Kačenka to justify the building in the mountain meadow: “We chose a site (a southern gentle slope in nature with an interesting view) and based our building on that concept. The answer to the question, therefore, is - yes, we wanted to try building in open nature and later searched for a concept that fits this place the best.”

The winners in the renovation category were Jaroslav Matoušek and Adam Michna with the Za humny project from the Faculty of Architecture at VUT in Brno.

The project was praised for its sensitive and attractive transformation of an existing agricultural building into a combination of living and home office. The jury also greatly appreciated addressing the issue of recyclability of the new structures and the possibilities of self-sufficiency within the site. And will renovations be the main domain of the coming years? “We don’t know if renovations will be the main domain; it always depends on the specific place and situation. However, we believe that great potential lies precisely in the countryside. Due to changes in agriculture, many structures are now abandoned, numbering in the hundreds to thousands. It wouldn't hurt to know a specific number. We do not claim that renovating them would cover the demand of all people who want to live in the countryside. On the other hand, we believe that it is essential to take stock of existing buildings, explore their possibilities, and only then start paving over land. In many cases, these are beautiful architectures that respond to particular places and highlight the genius loci...”, says Jaroslav Matoušek.

In the same category, a special jury prize was awarded for the revitalization of the beer cellars in the center of Ghent to the RAW restaurant project by Ivana Linderová, Barbora Látalová, Eva Čápová, and Michala Lietavová, students of FA VUT Brno and FA STU Bratislava.

The unique and visionary design of a self-sufficient restaurant on the riverbank enthused the jury but also raised several questions about the smooth operation of so many different technological principles. The jury was also excited that the project brings a significant green element to the city, and we are curious whether the authors view the re-growing of vegetables in cities/on rooftop terraces merely as a fleeting trend or if it is truly the future path?
“It is true that urban farming is currently a rapidly spreading trend worldwide, and we believe that within sustainable development, this trend has a real future to become part of every well-functioning city. Its main advantage is the reduction of environmental pollution from transporting fruits and vegetables to cities and also the reduction of transportation costs for these agricultural products. An essential benefit is also that it actively contributes to the expansion of green spaces in built centers of cities.”

In addition to these main and special awards, the jury also awarded four more prizes to projects that interestingly worked with the principles of an active house: Cohousing Vinoř by Eva Eisenreichová and Tomáš Eckschlager (Faculty of Civil Engineering, CTU in Prague), Cohousing Vinoř by Patrik Janoušek (Faculty of Architecture, CTU in Prague), Project Gro[w]ing House by Michaela Smolková (Faculty of Civil Engineering, STU in Bratislava), and Design of Štěpánovský Špalíček by Vojtěch Šedý (Faculty of Civil Engineering, CTU in Prague).

The awards and acknowledgments were distributed, and the evening gradually moved to the Open Air Arena of Betlémské Square, where everyone was awaiting a pleasant outdoor buffet and a concert by Brno bands. The entire event resembled a Brno evening. Most of the awarded are from the Faculty of Architecture at VUT Brno. Why is that? Is Brno better?
Certainly not. This competition is very demanding; not only quality architecture but also challenging technical calculations, which are sometimes not included in regular teaching, are part of it – reflecting the ratio of submitted to delivered works, which was one third. In general, one could assume that the faculties of civil engineering might have the advantage, but really only those who already know something about energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, and architecturally interesting design and are actively interested in it had a chance for success. Specific results are about specific people, and this year the "active" ones gathered in Brno.




Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!