Nominate a personality for the Architect of the Year 2023 award

Until July 21, 2023, it is possible to nominate significant personalities for the Architect of the Year competition. The award is annually given to an architect or another creator who has, in the past five years, made a valuable contribution to architecture in the Czech Republic through either outstanding architectural work or support for quality architecture.
The Architect of the Year award aims to highlight the creative work of architects and other experts involved in the creation of quality architecture, as well as civic engagement, while also promoting awareness. The award is primarily intended for practicing architects, but not exclusively. Any individual whose actions contribute to a pleasant public space for our everyday lives can become a laureate. Therefore, initiators of exceptional projects, authors of buildings, architecture theorists, artists, journalists, and other personalities can be nominated. In the past, awards have been given to artists like Kateřina Šedá, who experiments in public spaces, and architecture promoters Adam Gebrian and Marcela Steinbachová.
“We award the Architect of the Year prize with the aim of highlighting the significant role of architects who shape and influence the quality of the environment for our lives. For fifteen years, we have been able to honor outstanding Czech creators. For example, last year, the expert jury selected the duo of Brno architects Ladislav Kuba and Tomáš Pilař, who have dozens of excellent buildings celebrated for their magnificent monumental space, as well as for their details,” summarizes Martin František Přívětivý, CEO and Vice Chairman of the Board of ABF, a.s., the organization that runs the competition.
Personalities nominated for Architect of the Year are always evaluated by an expert jury composed of five laureates from previous years (this year they are: architects Ladislav Kuba and Tomáš Pilař, as well as Petr Stolín, Stanislav Fiala, Zdeněk Fránek, and Petr Hájek) who will select 3–5 finalists from whom the winner will be announced at a ceremonial event on September 12, 2023, at the Center for Architecture and Urban Planning (CAMP) in Prague. The jury aims for a comprehensive evaluation of the contribution of the nominated personality, whether from the perspective of public interest protection and community development, professional and moral integrity, influence on the creation of quality buildings or public spaces and landscapes, the expert level of work, use of innovative solutions, etc.

“I am convinced that how we feel in our country is largely influenced by local architecture. Therefore, it is extremely important that we write about it, talk about it, and promote quality architecture. I believe that the Architect of the Year award not only increases interest in architecture but also recognizes those who positively affect it significantly. For this reason, we support this award and I personally consider it one of the most prestigious awards given in the Czech Republic,” says Jan Hejhálek, publisher of the magazine INTRO, which is the main media partner.

Part of the Architect of the Year competition is the special award Architect to the Municipality, which seeks to highlight the importance of collaboration and mutual symbiosis between architects and local governments in the development of municipalities. The award is given to an architect and a municipality, i.e., a collaborating tandem that has continuously dedicated itself to the conception of the built environment of the municipality and has significantly contributed to quality architecture and sustainable development of the municipality through its approach. The Architect to the Municipality competition also supports the role of city architects and thus has a direct connection to one of the goals of the Architecture and Building Culture Policy of the Czech Republic, which is to strengthen the role of city and municipal architects. The nominations for the Architect to the Municipality 2023 award will be evaluated by an expert jury (Radka Vladyková, Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic, Josef Morkus, Ministry of Regional Development of the Czech Republic, Jan Kasl, Czech Chamber of Architects, Petr Durdík, Association for Urbanism and Spatial Planning of the Czech Republic, Daria Balejová, holder of the Architect to the Municipality 2022 award, Ivan Ryšavý, magazine Moderní obec, and a representative of ABF, a.s.). The ceremonial award presentation for the winner of the Architect to the Municipality 2023 competition will also take place on September 12, 2023, at CAMP in Prague.

Composition of the expert jury:
Ladislav Kuba and Tomáš Pilař - The Brno architects have been collaborating since 1996. By winning an architectural competition for the library of the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University in Brno (1998), they secured their first significant public contract. This project led to other successful competitions, realizations, and accolades – among the most notable are the Faculty of Chemical Technology and sports facilities of the University of Pardubice, the residential complex Na Krutci in Prague, the Omega department store in Brno, the extension of the South Bohemian Science Library in České Budějovice, the reconstruction of the former canteen for the needs of FHS in Prague, and many more. Five of their buildings have been nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award, and they have won the Grand Prix of Architects nine times.

Petr Stolín graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague, then took a position at the Liberec Stavoprojekt and also at SIAL under Karel Hubáček. In 1993, he established his own architectural practice, and since 2008 he has been collaborating with Alena Mičeková. Together, they lead a conceptual analog modeling studio at the Faculty of Art and Architecture of Liberec Technical University, where Petr Stolín also heads the Department of Architecture. In their buildings, they focus on a developed poetics of moderation. Landmark implementations of experimental ZEN-houses in Liberec and a kindergarten in Vratislavice nad Nisou have received numerous accolades and have been nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award.

Stanislav Fiala graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Czech Technical University and the School of Architecture at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague. In the 1990s, he was a partner in the well-known D.A. Studio, later at the D3A studio, and since 2009 has served as managing director of Fiala+Nemec. Many of his realizations have received awards both at home and abroad. In 2000, he became a finalist for the prestigious European Mies van der Rohe Award for contemporary architecture with his administrative building MUZO in Prague's Strašnice. Among his most notable works in recent years are the Špork Palace in Prague, the DRN Palace on National Avenue in Prague, the Čertovo břemeno Golf Club in Alenina Lhota, and significant are also his buildings for the SIPRAL company – factory, headquarters, and showroom.

Zdeněk Fránek is a former dean of the Faculty of Art and Architecture at the Technical University of Liberec (2012-18), graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Brno University of Technology, then worked at ÚHA in Blansko, and in 1989 founded the firm Fránek Architects. He is currently engaged in design, publishing, exhibition, and pedagogical activities both at home and abroad. He habilitated at the AVU in Prague in 2008 and completed his professorial procedure at UMPRUM Prague in 2011. Among his most significant buildings are the Castle in Velké Opatovice (2007), the Church of the Brethren in Litomyšl (2010), the Church of the Brethren in Prague (2010), Energy Center No. 6 in Ostrava-Vítkovice (2012), CCC – Czech China Contemporary Gallery in Beijing (2013), Family House in Croatia (2014), Research Center Liko-Noe and Liko-Vo hall in Slavkov near Brno (2015-2019), etc.

Petr Hájek graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Czech Technical University in Prague and the School of Architecture at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague. In 1998, together with Tomáš Hradečný and Jan Šépka, he founded the architectural office HŠH architects and in 2009 his own architectural office Petr Hájek ARCHITEKTI. Since 2004, he has been active as a teacher at the FA CTU, where he was appointed associate professor (2010) and professor (2017). He founded and is the chairman of the board of the Art-Now Foundation to support art and talent and is the founder of the Laboratory of Experimental Architecture (LEA). He is the author of publications such as Anastomosis, Diagrams 03, etc. The writer Miloš Urban was inspired by him to write the novel Urbo Kune (2015), which takes place in a utopian city designed by students of his studio at the FA CTU.

Architect of the Year - laureates:
2022 Ladislav Kuba and Tomáš Pilař
/ Honorary Recognition Naděžda Goryczková
2021 Petr Stolín
/ Honorary Recognition Kateřina Bečková
2020 Zdeněk Fránek
/ Honorary Recognition 4AM / Forum for Architecture and Media
2019 Stanislav Fiala
/ Honorary Recognition Jana Kostelecká
2018 Petr Hájek
/ Honorary Recognition Dagmar Vernerová
2017 Kateřina Šedá
/ Honorary Recognition Martin Kupka
2016 Marcela Steinbachová
/ Honorary Recognition Michal Škoda
2015 Adam Gebrian
/ Honorary Recognition Petr Volf
2014 Josef Pleskot
2013 Antonín Novák

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