The Vlček Spouses Foundation has announced a competition for the design of the Cibulka homestead

Prague - The Vlček Family Foundation has announced an architectural competition for the reconstruction design of the Cibulka property in Prague's Košíře district, where it plans to build a children's hospice and a care center for dying child patients. ČTK was informed about this today by the foundation's spokesman Mirek Čepický. Architectural studios can send their portfolios until October 4, from which the jury will select five finalists. The results are expected to be known in February next year. The long-neglected estate was purchased by the couple at the beginning of the year; Ondřej Vlček is the CEO of the antivirus company Avast.

The competition will take place in the form of a so-called competitive workshop, meaning in a dialogue between participants and the jury. The jury will consist of five architects, the Vlček couple, and the foundation's director, Ivana Plechatá. The selected five architectural studios will have until the end of November to develop their proposals, followed by presentations and the opportunity to refine them based on the jury's recommendations, which will then select the winner.

The foundation intends to start reconstruction next year. According to the published assignment, the estimated cost is 300 million crowns excluding VAT. The planned hospice is expected to have 12 beds. They should be used for shorter regular stays by children with life-threatening illnesses, who will be able to stay independently or with their families. Furthermore, the hospice will be designated for children whose treatment has already been exhausted and who need so-called palliative care at the end of life. In this case, the foundation also anticipates the presence of the family. The assignment also includes a mourning room intended for families who have lost a child and need time and space to say goodbye.

In addition to the hospice, the Vlček Family Foundation is also to be located on the premises, which, according to the assignment, plans research and educational activities there. A multifunctional hall with a capacity of 50 to 70 people, two smaller classrooms, and an archive will ensure this. Another foundation of the Vlček couple, called Zlatá Rybka, which fulfills wishes for seriously ill children, will utilize additional spaces. According to the assignment, the area could be complemented by a café or restaurant, a petting zoo, or sports facilities. There will also be landscaping modifications to the currently inaccessible garden, which should be partially opened to the public.

The fate of the unused estate has been discussed since the 1990s, and it has been occupied by squatters several times. The owner of the estate, Oldřich Vaníček, originally approached the Prague 5 city council with an offer to purchase but changed his mind and began negotiating with another interested party.

That interested party turned out to be the Vlček Foundation. In mid-March, the Vlček couple announced that they had invested assets worth 1.5 billion crowns into the newly established Vlček Family Foundation, aiming, among other things, to build a children's hospice and palliative care center. About a third of the amount invested in the foundation is intended for the purchase and reconstruction of the Cibulka estate and the first phase of the operation of the property and the foundation, Čepický stated today. The remaining portion will be allocated as collateral for investments, from which the foundation's operations will be continuously financed.

The Vlčeks are building on the activities of their charity organization Zlatá rybka, which has been operating for six years and aims to fulfill wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses. The assets of their family foundation come from Vlček's quarter-century involvement in Avast, which has become a successful global software company during that time. His wife, Katarína, is a doctor working in the mobile hospice Cesta domů.