Zlín - The highest award in the Building of the Year 2017 competition of the Zlín Region, the Grand Prix of architect Pavel Novák, was awarded this year to the Educational Complex of Tomas Bata University in Zlín. It was designed by architect Eva Jiřičná, a native of Zlín, and her Prague team. The building in the center of Zlín was opened last December, and the project cost over 500 million CZK. The Grand Prix is not awarded every year but only to extraordinary constructions, said the chairwoman of the jury, Dagmar Nová, to reporters today. The Educational Complex is the fifth building in the history of the competition to receive the award; this year marks the 16th year of the competition.
Experts praised how the new construction was integrated into the pre-war Bata architecture. There are other school buildings in close proximity, as well as a congress and university center also designed by Jiřičná. "This area is very sensitive to development, it had been empty for many years," Nová told ČTK, noting that there had previously been efforts to build on the site, and there was also a risk that, for example, a market could be established there. The city then sold the land to the university, which planned the complex there.
"The school complex was planned by urban planner František L. Gahura as early as the late 1920s, and then architect Lorenc designed the school buildings and the area was built up. The initial designs by Gahura were far more extensive. When new construction was regulated, the initial ideas of architect Gahura were used," Nová stated. She also appreciated the new technologies, materials, and details of the building executed at a high level.
In the past, three buildings in the former Zlín industrial complex of Baťa received the Grand Prix: the Business and Innovation Center, the Baťa Skyscraper, and the Baťa Institute, as well as the Citadela hospice in Valašské Meziříčí.
The Educational Complex also received an award this year from Governor Jiří Čunek (KDU-ČSL) as part of the competition. The competition is organized by the regional organization of the Association of Entrepreneurs in Construction of the Czech Republic and the Czech Chamber of Authorized Engineers and Technicians in Construction. This year, the judges evaluated 39 buildings completed by construction companies from the Zlín Region last year. According to the judges, the level of buildings, their execution, materials used, and technologies are still improving.
Most buildings were traditionally registered in the category of Community Facilities, with 12 entries, while the main award went to the Prediko Center in Zlín. The best among residential buildings was an apartment building on Kvítková Street in Zlín. In other categories, the main award went to the Valve Control complex in Nivnice, the project for the capacity expansion of the spring and reconstruction of the water pipeline implemented by Vodovody a kanalizace Kroměříž, and the reconstruction of the Holešov Castle.
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