Open letter to the vision of demolishing the new terminal building at Prague Main Station

From:
Students of Professor Bočan
On behalf of the organizing committee:
Ing. arch. Martin Tomáš
Nučničky 4
41201 Travčice
Data. sch.: HKQVTZS

To:
Director General of the Railway Administration
Bc. Jiří Svoboda, MBA
Dlážděná 1003/7 110 00 Prague 1 - New Town
Data. sch.: uccchjm
As a representative of the property owner

Mayor of the Capital City of Prague
doc. MUDr. Bohuslav Svoboda, CSc.
Mariánské nám. 2/2 11000 Prague 1 - Old Town
Data. sch.: 48ia97h
As a representative of the competition client

General Director of the Prague Public Transport Company
Ing. Petr Witowski
Sokolovská 42/217 190 00 Prague 9 - Vysočany
Data. sch.: fhidrk6
As a representative of the competition client

Open letter regarding the vision of demolishing the new departure hall of the Main Train Station in Prague

Dear Mayor, esteemed directors,
In our student days, Professor Bočan shared a good story about how he met the famous Japanese architectural star Shin Takamatsu:
“He came to Prague quite spontaneously, and when he saw the portal of the Main Station, he was so thrilled that he inquired who designed it, and eventually someone pointed him to me. So we debated about art over breakfast.”
He taught us that architecture is the creation of space, a journey from the outside in. That the building we design influences and shapes the environment in which it exists. It defines a new microcosm with its proportions, light, structure, and colors. The harmony, dynamics, or even the poetics of the combination of these elements is then the architect's responsibility. A significant responsibility, because their work will affect people long after they themselves will feel nothing.
The new departure hall of the Main Station, alongside the embassy in London (which excited British architects, an enthusiasm sealed by the RIBA Award for the best building by a foreign architect on UK soil), Stockholm, and Tbilisi (with similar recognition to London), stands among its most successful constructions.
In a team where, apart from his professional twin Zdeněk Rothbauer, he also collaborated with the Šrámek spouses, whose perspective on architecture was always slightly different, and complemented by Josef Danda and others, they exceptionally resolved a challenging, ever-changing brief (let’s just recall the change from a subsurface tram to a metro). With a memory of the limitations of building material choices at that time, we can still marvel at how timeless a structure they managed to create. And despite all the complications, they kept in mind that it was not just about constructing the hall itself but about the integration of the original and the new hall. They not only reconstructed the old Fantova waiting hall but also maintained its status as the dominant building. We, the undersigned former students of Professor Bočan, consider this building one of the fundamental structures, whose high-quality architecture represents the period of Czech brutalist architecture in our territory. Following the demolitions of the Hotel Prague and Transgas, it even remains one of the last monuments of this period in Prague. In connection with the gradual disappearance of buildings from one era, we carry with us the discontent of the voluntary involvement of some architects in the process of destroying historical values.
The format of the competition based on dialogue would be a good solution if it didn’t ignore (apart from the initial informative meeting) the opinions of the heirs of copyright. How many other opinions were formally included in the solution but factually ignored? Each of these matters is important. Protocol protests from jurors are also not a common part of a well-conducted selection. How tense was the selection process that they had to resort to this extreme solution?
Limiting the number of applicants to a minimal number quite frankly gives the impression of municipal lotteries. In no way do we want to disrespect the competitors who did their work to the best of their abilities. But wouldn’t the recognition of the applicants themselves be more convincing if their proposal was selected from at least twenty proposals?
Based on the above alone, it cannot be claimed that the selection was carried out responsibly and transparently and that the selected solution is the only possible reason for demolishing the artistically valuable parts of the station building.
For us, it makes no sense to debate whether the building is heritage protected or not. The new departure hall is undoubtedly quality architecture, and the elimination of its significant elements is an irreversible interference not only with the city's structure but with the entire structure of Czech visual arts.

Sincerely
Ing. arch. Martin Tomáš,
Ing. arch. Petr Janda,
Ing. arch. Martina Novotná,
Ing. arch. Juraj Sonlajtner,
Ing. arch. Matouš Erban,
Ing. arch. Veronika Hnátková,
Ing. arch. Josef Smutný,
Ing. arch. Tomáš Petrášek,
Ing. arch. Petr Kopečný,
Ing. arch. Pavel Kopecký,
Ing. arch. Ivo Herman,
Ing. arch. Petra Hámmerle,
Ing. arch. Kristýna Zechmeisterová,
Ing. arch. Lucie Zavřelová,
Ing. arch. Max Hoffmeister,
Ing. arch. Lucie Hemmy,
Ing. arch. Klára Strejčková,
Ing. arch. Tomáš Oth,
Ing. arch. Zdenka Hoffmeisterová,
Ing. arch. Lucia Horkavá,
Ing. arch. Vladimír Vašut,
Ing. arch. Ondřej Hilský,
Ing. arch. Jakub Koňata,
Ing. arch. Irena Hartlová,
Ing. arch. Zdeněk Šimoník,
Ing. arch. Pavel Táborský,
Ing. arch. Robert Seidl,
Ing. arch. Helena Znamenaná,
Ing. arch. Karel Filsak,
Ing. arch. František Novotný,
Ing. arch. Kristýna Pavelková,
Ing. arch. Pavla Sukaná,
Ing. arch. Andrea Smiljanič ARB RIBA,
Ing. arch. Ilona Soldo,
Ing. arch. Eva Vopátková,
Ing. arch. Aleš Kubalík,