Developer plans a residential block in Vršovice instead of the former Chemapol

Prague - The company Daramis plans to demolish the office building of the former Chemapol on Kodaňská Street in Prague-Vršovice and build an urban block with apartments, shops, and a kindergarten in its place. A competition for urban-architectural design has been announced in cooperation with the capital city. This was announced today by the company's media representative, Jitka Novotná. The company aims to start construction by 2029 and complete it by 2032.

According to the company, the block will have a capacity of about 64,000 square meters and will be passable. In addition to apartments, it will offer public spaces and shops and services on the ground floor. The project will include a stand-alone kindergarten, which will be transferred to Prague 10 upon completion. The design is intended to connect with the traditional block structure of Vršovice.

"We want to create a modern, vibrant, and sustainable urban block here that offers not only quality housing but also well-functioning public spaces naturally linked to Vršovice," stated Daramis founder Omri Sivor. The mayor of Prague 10, Martin Valovič (ODS), emphasized the creation of a new kindergarten. "Improving public spaces is also very important to us because well-designed streets and ground floors create a vibrant and safe environment," he added.

Architectural teams from around the world can apply to the competition until January 12 of next year. In addition to the design of the block, the competitors will address the modifications of adjacent streets and are tasked with examining the potential form of the completion of the northern edge of Kodaňská Street. The results of the competition will be published by the company in mid-next year.

The former building of foreign trade enterprises Chemapol and Investa in Vršovice was constructed between 1966 and 1970 based on the design of architects Zdenka Marie Nováková and Dagmar Šestáková. It is now named Kodaňská 4D Center. The characteristic rainbow coating was applied to the building about twenty years ago. In the past, there were efforts to declare the building a cultural monument, but they were unsuccessful with the Ministry of Culture. Previously, protests against the plan to demolish the building were made, for example, by the Club for Old Prague, which stated that it is one of the most important examples of Czechoslovak architecture from the 1960s.