<Project construction in Revoluční is coming to life, the investor has chosen a different author>

photo: Kateřina Bečková

Prague - The investor of the Novomlýnská brána project, meaning the new building at the end of Revoluční Street by the Vltava River, has chosen a new architect. The shape of the building and the author's name will be presented by the company RSJ Private Equity next week. The architect was selected in a small competition where the investor approached several studios; the winner was the one who met both economic conditions and sensitivity to the given location, said Jana Zbortková, a representative of the company, to ČTK. The previous design by the DaM studio, which had already received approval from Prague's heritage authorities, emerged from a similar competition; however, the new investor rejected it.
    The Novomlýnská brána project aims to complete Revoluční Street and serve as a sort of gateway to the city center from the river. An unusual building that involved the demolition of a neo-Renaissance building, currently devastated, and the incorporation of a low Baroque house was presented by Brobosu Properties at the beginning of last year.
    In the location where there has been a gap for over 70 years, DaM proposed a structure that was not meant to be a traditional city building - it does not have a classic façade with windows. The building is to have an abstract shape, and its exterior was to be covered with perforated copper-colored sheet metal. The building was to include a passageway that would provide access to a picturesque nook leading to Lannova Street.
    Experts from the National Heritage Institute did not like the project, but city heritage officials gave it approval. The Ministry of Culture, as the appellate body for state heritage care, later changed their decision and ruled that the demolition of the historical house was unacceptable. The owner of the house and investor appealed, and the Ministry's appellate commission dealt with the case until this year when it returned it to Prague's heritage authorities. By that time, however, the new investor had already had a project that did not want the new building in the proposed form.
    The design of the building, which was more of a sculpture than a house, provoked negative responses among proponents of a conservative approach to urban development - as has been the case in Prague with almost all planned buildings that diverge from the tested model, for at least the last hundred years.
    The new investor has approached architects of their choice and is consulting the preparation of the building with the Club for Old Prague, which heavily criticized the previous proposal. RSJ Private Equity claims that it wants to give Prague a new architectural landmark that resonates with the historic center. Karel Janeček, the founder of RSJ, is a member of the supervisory board of RSJ Private Equity.