Prague will likely select a proposal for the renovation of the Industrial Palace this week

Prague - The capital city may select the architectural design this week, according to which the damaged Industrial Palace will be completed and a underpass will be built beneath this landmark. CTK was informed by Jan Kněžínek, the director of the culture and heritage department of the Prague City Hall. The architectural competition was announced by the metropolis at the beginning of March, and proposals were accepted until Friday.
According to Kněžínek, around 11 or 12 proposals were submitted. "I am glad that there are so many. The jury will meet for the first time on Thursday; I expect that the evaluation will take us at least until Friday," Kněžínek stated. The jury will evaluate only anonymous proposals. Only after selecting the best ones will they learn from lawyers who their authors are.
The aim of the competition is to develop an architectural proposal and methodology for the reconstruction of the palace and construction of the underpass. The main criteria for evaluating the proposals will be the quality of the overall solution, authenticity of execution, and quality of the proposed materials, constructions, and technologies, which must also meet current safety standards and conditions for issuing a building permit.
The three best proposals will receive financial rewards. The winner of the competition will receive a financial reward of 600,000 crowns, the second place will receive 400,000 crowns, and the third place will get 200,000 crowns.
According to previous information, the jury should include four representatives from the Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA) Jan Aulík, Miroslav Cikán, Aleš Lapka, and Milena Vitoulová, as well as three representatives from the city, which will include, besides Kněžínek, also the director of the city investor department Jiří Toman and the chairman of the control committee František Hoffman (KSČM).
After the architectural competition, the city will still have to announce a tender for the construction contractor. City representatives have previously estimated that construction could start as early as this year.
The costs for the restoration of the palace, including the construction of the underpass, were previously estimated by the city to be around 1.5 billion crowns. The completion may be complicated by unresolved disputes between Prague and the tenant of the Exhibition Centre, the company Incheba. The metropolis is currently trying to remove Incheba from the Exhibition Centre. However, Incheba disagrees with leaving.