Experts want to protect Transgas, the author of the building is against demolition

Prague - One of the architects of the group of Prague buildings Transgas, Václav Aulický, disagrees with the planned demolition of the building. He stated this today at a press conference that dealt with the heritage protection of buildings from the post-war period. The investor wants to demolish the Transgas complex on Vinohradská Street and replace it with a new building designed by Jakub Cigler. The Ministry of Culture (MK) did not grant the buildings heritage protection. The Club for Old Prague, which proposed it, plans to request a review of the decision.

The decision is also protested by heads of art history departments from universities. They believe that the brutalist style buildings are exceptional structures, and the building that is supposed to replace them is an ordinary utilitarian office building.

"Of course, I do not agree with the demolition," said Aulický. According to him, the basis of the decision lies in the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ). "Because they don't like it," he added. According to the chairwoman of the club, Kateřina Bečková, the investor has already applied for demolition - even before the decision on potential heritage protection was made.

"We submitted the request before the debate erupted about whether the Transgas buildings should be protected," stated Jakub Verner from the investment company HB Reavis to ČTK. He also reminded that Aulický had previously admitted to the demolition of the buildings. "In the end, even I, when I was invited by the investor to express my opinion on the new solution of the complex in the form of a study, proposed in principle a similar solution that took into account the demolition of the existing buildings," it states in the architect's statement, which is available to ČTK.

Cigler's design, according to Verner, reflects the surrounding scale of Vinohrady. "It accounts for the revitalization of this area - a new public space with greenery will be created in the calm courtyard, with publicly accessible terraces and a barrier-free passage through the area. There will be restaurants with outdoor seating, and life will return to this part of Vinohradská Street, which it naturally deserves," he noted.

Historians complain that the state does not sufficiently protect post-war architecture. Without heritage protection, it is at risk of extinction. In Prague, the last building from the mentioned period declared as a heritage site was the Máj department store ten years ago; a total of 12 buildings from after 1945 are recognized as protected in the capital city. Nationwide, there are about twenty.

"Before our eyes, an entire architectural layer is disappearing - at a time when we are already capable of appreciating its quality," said Richard Biegel from the Club for Old Prague. The reasoning for why the heritage department of the Ministry of Culture did not declare Transgas a heritage site is considered vague by the club. "It merely states that it does not fit into the urban solution in the heritage zone. It does not address the building itself and its qualities," said Biegel.

According to him, the Transgas buildings cannot disrupt the heritage zone because it was declared at a time when they were already standing. They are located within the Vinohrady heritage zone and in the protective zone of the Prague Heritage Reserve, which was declared in 1971. The buildings were constructed between 1966 and 1976.

Not declaring the building a heritage site was recommended by the heritage experts of the Prague City Hall and the Prague office of the NPÚ, while the expert council of the NPÚ director as well as the evaluation committee of the ministry were in favor of the declaration.