Five finalists are competing for the Architect of the Year 2024 title

The Architect of the Year award is not given for a lifetime achievement nor should it commemorate life anniversaries. Its aim is to recognize a significant achievement in the field of architecture from the past five years. "The award is primarily intended for practicing architects but not exclusively for them. Anyone who strives to create a pleasant living space can become a laureate," says Zdeněk Fránek, a laureate of the award from 2020 and a current juror. He discussed the ten nominations for this award with previous winners of the competition – architects Ivan Kroupa, Petr Stolín, Stanislav Fiala, and Ladislav Kuba with Tomáš Pilař. After thorough discussion about the contributions of individual personalities, five nominations made it to the finals.

FIVE FINALISTS – ARCHITECT OF THE YEAR 2024

Three young architects, three classmates from the Faculty of Architecture of CTU in Prague, one common dream. This briefly describes the story of Atelier bod architekti, which was co-founded by Jakub Straka, Jáchym Svoboda, and Vojtěch Sosna in 2015, although their collaboration extends even further into the past. The founders of the studio are active jurors in competitions, they give lectures, and Vojtěch Sosna currently leads the Sosna-Filsak studio at the Faculty of Architecture of CTU in Prague. From modest beginnings, when they designed a reconstruction of a pub in Máslovice, they have worked their way up to the elite of Czech architecture. Today, they boast prestigious projects like the design of the town hall for Prague 7 or the sports hall in Modřice, whose designs emerged from wins in architectural competitions. Other examples include a multifunctional building in Slivenec, solutions for the underpasses of the Prague main train station, a residential complex in Kutná Hora, and a multifunctional building in Botanická Street in Prague's Smíchov district. They have a number of awards under their belt. Their success is no coincidence – it’s backed not only by professional agreement and a long-standing friendship but also by experiences gained under the guidance of renowned architects. With each new project, they demonstrate that young age is not an obstacle to great visions and bold solutions. The bod architects thus represent a new generation of Czech architects who are changing the face of our cities and towns.

The studio, established in 2002 in Zlín, is led by three architects: Jitka Ressová, Hana Maršíková, Helena Víšková, and designer Jan Pavézka. Their work includes a wide range of projects from the reconstruction of Baťa houses to the revitalization of public spaces, such as the award-winning Gahura's prospect or the reconstruction of the market under the chestnuts in Zlín. The entrance object of the company Sporten in Nové Město na Moravě is also worth mentioning. The studio is characterized by a comprehensive approach to architecture and design, emphasizing detail and context. In addition to design activities, Ellement architects actively participate in educating the public through the aArchitektura association. They organize lectures, architectural walks, and lead the Zlín Architectural Manual project. Ellement architects focus not only on aesthetics but also on the functionality and social impact of their projects. Their goal is to create spaces that improve quality of life and respect local architectural heritage. This approach has established the studio as a significant player on the Czech architectural scene. The studio was already among the finalists of the Architect of the Year competition in 2019.

The company EHL & KOUMAR ARCHITEKTI was established in 2015 as a continuation of the work of Šrámková architekti, which was founded in 2005 by Professor Alena Šrámková together with her students, architects Lukáš Ehl and Tomáš Koumar. Among the most important and award-winning works are, for example, the pedestrian bridge in Litomyšl, the fire station in Líbeznice, and Corso Pod Lipami in Řevnice. Currently, they are working on projects from architectural competitions, such as the New Teaching Center of the 3rd Faculty of Medicine of Charles University or the Three in One project in Libčice nad Vltavou. The studio regularly participates in public architectural competitions and is also involved in their promotion, preparation, and evaluation. In their designs, the architects emphasize generosity, a distinctive character, and the dignity of the building in its environment. They prefer simple and conceptual solutions. They long-term strive to involve art in public spaces. The work of the Ehl and Koumar architects studio is based on the tradition and principles of quality and responsible architecture, which they adapt and apply in a timeless manner, without succumbing to the pressure of current trends. Their work has a long mental lifespan.

Associate Professor Tomáš Hradečný is one of the former legendary trio of the HŠH studio, with which he realized winning designs in architectural competitions – Jiřské náměstí at Prague Castle and the Archdiocesan Museum in Olomouc. With undiminished quality, he continues his independent architectural practice as well as his role as an educator. In 2015, he founded the IXA studio, among whose pilot projects are the modifications of the Emauzy Monastery, the Wikov MGI complex, and Vrbatova bouda. In his lecturing and publication activities, he addresses topics of public space, landscape, and monuments; he has been leading a studio at the Faculty of Architecture of CTU in Prague since 2013. A common characteristic of his realized work is the search for the relationship between the old and the new, the original and the added, the historical and the contemporary. Always within the confident use of modern technologies while fulfilling the demands for new functional uses of spaces and buildings. However, the preservation or, rather, strengthening of the identity of the place and the authenticity of architecture remains paramount. Recently, he gained attention with an extraordinary work - the Memorial of Three Resistance Movements – a successful mummification of the birthplace of Josef Mašín, where he demonstrated how broad the concept of architecture can be.

The path of Professor Roman Koucký to architecture is different from the usual – it led from carpentry through a secondary industrial building school to the Faculty of Architecture of CTU in Prague. Perhaps this indirect path created the conditions for Koucký's exceptionally wide and complex approach to architectural and urban design. He worked with Martin Kotík and Ivo Oberstein at the Project Institute of the City of Prague and served as a lecturer at the AVU School of Architecture in Prague under Emil Přikryl. In 1991, he founded an architectural office, and a year later he co-founded the publishing house Zlatý řez. At the Faculty of Architecture of CTU in Prague, he was the head of the Institute of Building Science; he lectures here and leads a studio. From 2012, he was the head of the Metropolitan Plan Office and subsequently the director of the City Planning Section at the Institute of Planning and Development of the Capital City of Prague. Roman Koucký's work encompasses an unusually broad range of topics and scales from architectural detail to large urbanism. Independently or with his collaborators, he has processed more than 200 projects of various types, of which about a quarter have been realized. His Besídka and Fárům house in Slavonice surprise with their artistic details, in which one can discover new meanings and references to history and craftsmanship. The design of the square in Slavonice is a perfect model of the contemporary approach to this topic, which many successors loosely follow. Major construction projects, such as bridges in Ústí nad Labem, České Budějovice, and Prague, are always distinctive and uncompromisingly consistent. The absolute urban visions of Roman Koucký are completely original and unparalleled not only in the Czech context. The pursuit of the absolute also inevitably brings with it the certainty of a seemingly never-ending struggle in which victory cannot be achieved - yet it is necessary to persevere. He was already among the finalists of the Architect of the Year competition in 2022.

HONORARY RECOGNITION – ARCHITECT OF THE YEAR 2024
In addition to the laureate award, the jury will also grant one honorary recognition in September.

ARCHITECT OF THE MUNICIPALITY 2024
Part of the Architect of the Year competition is also the Architect of the Municipality award, presented by the Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic, the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic, the Czech Chamber of Architects, the Association for Urbanism and Spatial Planning of the Czech Republic, and the magazine Moderní obec. The aim of the competition is to honor the architect-municipality tandem and highlight the contribution of their collaboration to the creation of quality construction.