The Congress Center Prague has announced a competition for the completion of the building

Prague - The Congress Centre Prague (KCP) announced an international architectural competition, in which architects are to propose options for expanding exhibition areas and modifying the adjacent Pankrácké Square. At a press conference held at the KCP today, Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO) and the newly appointed director of the Congress Centre Prague, Roman Ray Straub, made this announcement. The results of the competition will be known in mid-2017.

The new hall will be located in the southern sector of the KCP complex, where there is currently a parking lot. It will have an area of 5,000 square meters and will cost between 250 to 300 million crowns.

The Congress Centre Prague, the largest congress center in the Czech Republic, is often considered an architectural remnant of socialism. "The Congress Centre is not one of the gems of architecture; it is a building reflective of its time, but we have to deal with it somehow," stated the mayor. "Public space is very important to us, and we are trying to cultivate it," she added, mentioning places such as Malostranské Square and Wenceslas Square.

Prague is a minority owner of the KCP, holding a 45.65 percent stake. The majority owner of the center is the state. In 2014, with the entry of the state into the ownership structure, the KCP shed a debt of approximately two billion. The initial debt, which reached up to four billion, was incurred in 2000 due to renovations before a meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

This year, according to the chairman of the board, Radim Haluz, KCP's operations will end with a profit of about 100 million crowns. The company has more than a billion crowns ready for the renewal of the building and the completion of the new hall. Some time ago, the city increased the company's equity by 800 million crowns due to renovations and the elimination of internal debt. According to Haluz, the renovation of the interiors has already started and will last until the end of next year. The completion of the new hall could begin in 2018 or 2019, he told ČTK.

The KCP includes the Business Centre Vyšehrad along with the Holiday Inn hotel. The capacity of the center's spaces allows congresses to be held for up to 9,300 participants in more than 50 halls, lounges, and meeting rooms.

The Congress Centre Prague, originally the Palace of Culture, was built over five years starting in 1976, among other purposes, for congresses of the then-ruling communist party. It is one of the least favorite buildings in Prague, although experts say that, for example, the acoustics of the Congress Hall is among the best in the world.