Kaplicky Internship 2023 was won by VUT graduate Anna Jelínková

The winner of the 9th year of the Kaplicky Internship competition, organized by the Bakala Foundation for students and recent graduates of Czech architectural universities, is known. The expert jury was most impressed by Anna Jelínková, a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at VUT Brno, with her project "Naše cizí místa" (Our estranged places). Her reward will be a fully-funded three-month internship at the Berlin headquarters of the Büro Ole Scheeren studio.
The finals of the competition took place on Monday, November 20, when five finalists presented their projects before the expert jury in the Student Hub of the Bakala Foundation. The jury consisted of Czech experts, along with Deyan Sudjic, emeritus director of the London Design Museum, one of the partners of the competition, and Emma Aulanko, a representative of the Berlin studio Büro Ole Scheeren, where this year's winner will start her internship.
The Kaplicky Internship competition was held for the second time in collaboration with the Czech Chamber of Architects and their Diploma Work Competition (so-called Diplomky). The announcement of the winners of both competitions took place in the CAMP (Center for Architecture and Urban Planning) on the evening of November 20. The ceremonial evening was opened by Ole Scheeren, the director and founder of the studio of the same name, with his lecture on the topic "Form Follows Fiction."
After the lecture, the audience learned the names of the young architects who received various awards. The winner of the 9th year of the Kaplicky Internship is 26-year-old Anna Jelínková with her project "Naše cizí místa" (Our estranged places), which dealt with the usability of empty urban spaces, so-called vague terrains. She situated her multifunctional house in Chrudim, next to the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The intent of the project is described by the author herself: “The initial idea was to connect the properties of vague terrains and investigate whether it would be possible to use them for housing. I sought to find a way of living for my generation, for whom this question is currently pressing, and to propose a suitable alternative to co-living.”
Ole Scheeren explains what impressed the jury about her project: “Population density and the livability of cities are some of the key issues in our profession. Buro-OS has a long-term commitment to creating places for living and integrating nature into the urban environment, not just for the users of our design but also for the city’s residents and communities. Anna Jelínková’s project focuses on urban gaps and underutilized spaces with the aim of making these areas accessible and maintaining a certain degree of flexibility and freedom of use for the community. We believe this provides a common ground for future collaboration and we look forward to welcoming Anna to our team.”
“I am really looking forward to the internship in Berlin at Ole Scheeren's studio, also because their projects are different from those I have worked on so far,” says the fresh winner Anna Jelínková. “It will also be a great benefit for me to participate in projects on different continents.”
Anna Jelínková thus joins the previous 8 winners of the Kaplicky Internship, who gained internships at renowned architectural studios such as Zaha Hadid Architects, Foster + Partners, Eva Jiřičná Architects, and others thanks to their participation.