Klub Za starou Prahu awarded the municipal library in Šlapanice near Brno

Prague - The winner of the Club for Old Prague Award, which the Prague association bestows on new buildings that fit well into the historical environment, is the municipal library in Šlapanice in the South Moravian Region. The organizers of the award, which took place for the nineteenth time this year, selected it from seven finalists. The awards were announced this evening in Prague.

The candidates for the award are selected by the club itself and subsequently evaluated by its council, which consists of representatives from various generations, from students to distinguished experts. According to council member Karel Ksandr, the winning project fits well into the surrounding area, which includes a former castle converted into a school and a church. The library also features a café, bistro, and community hall. Ksandr also praised the incorporation of traditional village elements, such as gates, in modern variations.

The authors of the winning building are Milan Podroužek, Martin Kubeš, Jaroslav Mareš, and Petr Buryška from the Archix studio. This year, the second place went to the new pavilion of the Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion located near Karlovo Square in Prague, and the third place went to the municipal library in the Liberec district of Vratislavice nad Nisou. Other contenders for the final included the extension of the slaughterhouse building in Ostrava, a cultural and community center in Prague's Radotín, a multifunctional house on Zenklova Street in Prague's Libeň, and the municipal house in Skalička near Tišnov.

Chairman of the competition and vice-chairman of the Club for Old Prague Rostislav Švácha told ČTK that the finalist buildings represented various interpretations, which proves that a sensitive entrance into the historical environment can take diverse forms. "A peculiarity of this year's edition is the fact that three buildings from Prague reached the finals, which has not happened for many years. Hopefully, this indicates that Prague's architecture designed for the historical context is improving," he added.

According to Švácha, the club assesses buildings based on their quality and how well they fit into the surroundings, but it is also crucial whether another valuable building had to be sacrificed for them. "We do not believe that when an old building is replaced by something more valuable, it has turned out well. If a building has value, it simply should not be demolished," he said. For this reason, the new town hall in Lázně Bělohrad was disqualified from the competition due to the demolition of a neo-Renaissance building. The club at least awarded its authors an honorary mention today.

Last year, the club awarded two buildings: the extension of the regional library in České Budějovice and the new exhibition of the Mountaineering Museum in Turnov. The Club for Old Prague is a non-political civic association dedicated to the preservation of monuments in Prague. The club monitors the transformations of the city and expresses its views on individual reconstructions or new buildings in the metropolis.