Plans for the construction of a house nicknamed marshmallow were bought by V Invest

Prague - Plans for the construction of an apartment building in Prague 1, nicknamed marshmallow due to the color of its facade in visualizations, have been purchased from Italian owners by the domestic group V Invest. The new developer will significantly change the original construction plan near the Agnes Monastery, and does not count on a pink facade. The daily E15 reported this today. Various civic associations had previously opposed the project during the approval process.

The group of Italian entrepreneurs abandoned the project in U Milosrdných street after almost 20 years. Italian developer Francesco Augusto Razetto spoke about the plan to sell the company that owns the project a year ago. He decided to do so mainly because of the officials and the system that, according to him, allows civic initiatives to interfere with projects even outside the administrative proceedings.

According to E15, the new owner will significantly change the construction; heritage conservationists will also sit on his advisory board. He intends to modify the internal layout of the building and will present new visualizations around July. "The new discussion of the building permit is an opportunity for us to make important changes necessary for the construction of a quality project," said Jaroslav Vondřička, director of V Invest, to the daily. He also stated that the placement of windows will change.

The original design was by architect Zdeněk Fránek. In his concept, the windows of the building formed faces. That is why Fránek referred to the project as the Face House. However, there was no pink color in his project; that was brought in by the Italian owners.

The project has already undergone several changes. The original design from 2008, which included a glass facade, was rejected by the Ministry of Culture based on the opinion of the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ), which revoked the permission of Prague's heritage conservationists in 2010. However, the new project with windows in the shape of faces was approved by both NPÚ and city heritage conservators. Further proceedings at the building authority continued after the Prague City Hall issued a favorable opinion again. This opinion was issued by Prague in December two years ago. According to the then statement of the heritage conservators, the Face House was acceptable from the perspective of heritage care. However, in the past, hundreds of people gathered to protest against the building in its current form in the center of Prague.