The committee selected the winning design for the exhibition about Germans in Bohemia

Ústí nad Labem, June 28 (ČTK) - Collegium Bohemicum today presented the winning design for the exhibition about Germans in the Czech Lands. The team of architects proposed, for example, a projection screen that transforms into a display case, or walls inscribed by hand. The competition included 30 teams, and the jury selected the proposal from the Prague studio Projektil architekti. This was stated by the director of Collegium Bohemicum, Blanka Mouralová, at a press conference today.
"The entire exhibition is in the space, not on the walls. Moreover, they came up with several unique technological solutions," Mouralová justified the selection of the winning design. The architects proposed a built-in structure in most rooms, in whose walls it will be possible to place exhibits and also work with the space inside. One room will feature, for example, a parlor from the Biedermeier period, while another will have a model of the assembly hall.
    In the introductory room titled Who Are Our Germans?, for which the architects had to develop a model, visitors will be greeted by a double-sided projection screen in the middle of the room. A Czech speaker will present the exhibition from one side of the screen and a German speaker from the other. "After the introductory film ends, the screen will illuminate from within and reveal that it is a glass display case with exhibits," Mouralová added. Visitors can also look forward to a barricade made of Czech-German dictionaries or walls that appear to be inscribed by hand.
    The authors of the winning design will be awarded 250,000 crowns by Collegium, and financial rewards will also be given to two other selected proposals. The winning Prague studio Projektil architekti was established in 2002 and consists of Roman Brychta, Adam Halíř, Ondřej Hofmeister, and Petr Lešek. In 2009, they won the Building of the Year award in the Grand Prix architects competition for the realization of the Study and Scientific Library in Hradec Králové.
    It is not yet certain when the winning design will transform into an exhibition covering an area of 1,500 square meters. Collegium Bohemicum must first secure the necessary 40 million crowns. "The preparation for the exhibition so far has been subsidized by the European Union; for the realization of the exhibition, we want to secure funding from the state budget," Mouralová said. According to her, the government could discuss this item as early as the fall. However, if the money were available immediately, it could be completed by the middle of next year, she said.
    The non-profit organization Collegium Bohemicum announced an architectural competition for the realization of the museum exhibition last year, being the first such institution in the Czech Republic. The jury evaluated 30 proposals in two rounds.
    The building of the Ústí museum, where the exhibition will be located on two floors, has undergone several years of renovation. On Thursday, the exhibitions of the Museum of the City of Ústí nad Labem will be ceremoniously opened, and Collegium Bohemicum will offer visitors at least 30 proposals for the future exhibition, several of its exhibits, and functional equipment from the original German pub in its premises. The organization will begin activities in the new building with a professional conference on German architecture in the Czech Republic.