In the competition at the embassy in Washington, Chalupa architects won

Prague - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has a proposal for a new embassy building in Washington. The winning design, which emerged from an architectural competition, can be seen from today in the Architects' Hall at the Old Town Hall in Prague. The new building is intended to replace the current premises, which, according to the director of the MFA's press department Jiří Beneš, is inadequate from both an operational and technical standpoint. However, due to a lack of funds, construction is expected to start no earlier than 2013.
    The author of the winning design is the Chalupa architects studio. Their design features a floor plan in the shape of the Greek letter upsilon. The "leg" of the letter accommodates representative spaces, while the arms will house administrative offices. The building will utilize the undulating terrain, with the representative part being single-story and the office section four stories tall.
    "With our proposal, we sought to answer the question of what an embassy of a small European state in the USA should look like, especially for a nation with a long history. We believe it should not be a fortress in hostile territory," said the proposal's author Marek Chalupa to ČTK. According to him, the building should be friendly and open to the garden spaces.
    The MFA did not specify how much the construction of the new building might cost. "It is not possible to talk about the price at this moment. It will, of course, be clarified, and it would be irresponsible to release any figures, even though we have estimates," stated Beneš.
    The second place went to the proposal by the Lennox architects studio, and third place was awarded to Kuba & Pilař architects. The exhibition presents all 87 proposals that participated in the competition.
    According to Beneš, the current embassy building dates back to the 1960s. The MFA believes it is more efficient to demolish the building and construct a new one. "The cost of reconstruction would be approximately the same, but given the age of the building and current requirements for our facilities, we would end up with a renovated, yet absolutely functionally inadequate embassy building," Beneš told ČTK.
    The decision to build a new headquarters was made at the end of 2007. Last June, the MFA announced the architectural competition. Proposals were evaluated in two rounds, with four advancing to the second round.
    The exhibition will last until May 30, open on Mondays from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and from Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.