<p>The public can get involved in the renewal of Masaryk Station</p>

The proposal consultation is being created in collaboration with the Railway Administration (SŽDC), and the project's authors from the London studio Zaha Hadid Architects and the Prague office Jakub Ciegler Architects are participating. "As part of the consultation process Masaryčka connects, we want to present the public with the overall concept of revitalizing the oldest Prague station and its surroundings. The event will culminate nearly a decade-long process during which the best solution variants were sought," stated Penta Real Estate spokesperson Ivo Mravinac.

An exhibition of the revitalization proposal will be located at the entrance to Masaryk Station from Na Florenci street. In the week from October 22 to 26, everyone will have the opportunity to speak with the authors of the proposal and get answers to questions about the project. Daily guided walks in the area with architect Petr Kučera will also take place, allowing the public to discover inaccessible parts of the station and learn about its nearly 170-year history.

Masaryk Station and its surroundings are set for transformation in the coming years. It should become a transport hub in Prague connected to the airport and also a meeting place. It will connect adjacent urban areas from Florenc to Žižkov for pedestrians. Two new tracks will be added to the station, enabling fast connections from the center of Prague to Václav Havel Airport and Kladno. The tracks will be covered, and a garden will be created on the roof, which will allow passengers to access each platform via an elevator.

"The area of Masaryk Station not only has many underutilized spaces but also represents a significant barrier to movement in the center of Prague. Our revitalization proposal creates new attractive pedestrian connections that will bring life to currently neglected places. At the same time, we are creating new public spaces with trees and greenery for relaxation and social activities," clarifies Jakub Klaška, who is responsible for the project at Zaha Hadid Architects.

Masaryk Station, built in 1845, is the oldest major railway station in the capital city. The project related to the construction near the station is over 14 years old. The complex of eight buildings covering the area from the station to Florenc is expected to cost a total of 6.5 billion crowns. Penta Real Estate, in collaboration with Czech Railways and SŽDC, is preparing the revitalization project. In 2004, Czech Railways signed an agreement that granted Penta preferential rights to the area. For the first phase, Penta purchased land from Czech Railways in 2016 for 235 million crowns. In September 2016, the reconstruction of the station hall began, and further phases of the project are now being prepared.

The project is based on a design by architect Jakub Cigler, with Studio Zaha Hadid Architects as the conceptual architect. According to earlier information, the building, according to Hadid, will feature a façade resembling tracks, which will symbolically end in a kind of golden tower. The British architect of Iraqi origin was the first woman to receive the most prestigious global award for architects - the Pritzker Prize. The groundbreaking project for a woman, according to experts, was the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, built in 2003. In the Czech Republic, she is primarily known as a member of the jury that ultimately selected the unrealized design of architect Jan Kaplický for a new building of the National Library in Prague in Letná. The architect passed away in March 2016.