The best new building in Pilsen over the past four years is the residential building on Roudná

photo: www.zabran.cz

Plzeň - The best new building in Plzeň in the last four years is the residential building on Otýlie Beníšková Street in the Roudná district, designed by architect Jiří Zábran. Today, it won the fifth edition of the architectural competition for the Hanuš Zápal Awards, named after the prominent West Bohemian architect of the 20th century. The expert jury selected from 15 nominated new buildings constructed in Plzeň between 2018 and 2021. Two special awards were also given, to the studio Project studio 8 for a school club in Plzeň - Újezd and for Paluba Hamburk, which is the solution to the space by the side entrance of the main train station and next to the bus terminal.

"It was a pleasure for me to accept from the independent expert jury the proposal to award this building. Among all the nominated implementations, non-Plzeň architects agreed to award the residential building at Otýlie Beníšková number 20, a new building that elegantly closes the block of houses in the historical gap in Roudná and naturally integrates into the life of the city," said Mayor Pavel Šindelář (ODS). Zábran has now won the competition for the second time. In the fourth edition, for the best buildings from 2014 to 2017, he also received an award for the design of a residential building, namely the structure on Sladová Street in the Světovar complex in the Slovany district.

The expert jury unanimously agreed on this year's winner. The prize also belongs to Zábran's collaborators, Josef Houška and Zbyňek Pitl. "Their residential building, which already differs at first glance from current developer production, represents a particularly refined urban-forming work that skillfully works not only with traditional symbolism or metaphors, composition, and materials, but also with a generous commercial ground floor. It is precisely the façade of the building made of white bricks that lends this structure a touch of uniqueness referring to the individual architecture of interwar Czechoslovakia," stated the jury chairman, architect Petr Burian.

The jury was also interested in the completion of the school club in Plzeň - Újezd among the nominated buildings, which included six residential buildings, a forest kindergarten, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, a depot, and a home with care services. According to the jury, its aesthetics is enhanced by the interconnected layout linking it to the school and the school garden. The proposal for Paluba Hamburk also caught the jury's attention, which helped transform the unused space by the main train station. Its components include a viewing tower, resting stairs, benches and terraces, snack stalls, and an information center.

All buildings nominated for the Hanuš Zápal Award are featured in a accompanying exhibition, which is open from today until July 3 on the terraces on Anglické nábřeží under the Komerční banka.