The appearance of the surroundings and the hall of the main station in Prague will be designed by Henning Larsen Architects

Prague – The project for the renovation of the departure hall at Prague's main train station, the revitalization of Vrchlický Gardens, and the construction of the tram line from Museum to Bolzanova will be developed by architects from the Copenhagen studio Henning Larsen Architects. The results of the competition, which was jointly organized by the Prague City Hall, the transport company (DPP), and the Railway Administration (SŽ), were approved today at an extraordinary meeting by the city councilors. The public announcement of the results will take place next week.

The competition involved several projects concerning the train station and its surroundings. Teams were tasked with designing a new form for the new departure hall, the reconstruction of which SŽ plans. For the city hall, modifications to Vrchlický Gardens were addressed, and for DPP, the tram line that will run from Vinohradská Boulevard around the station to Bolzanova Street.

The competition began last May and took the form of a so-called competitive dialogue, in which invited experts and representatives from the city hall, the transport company, SŽ, and other interested parties were involved in the preparation with the designers. From the original 26 applications, the evaluation committee selected five finalists and subsequently three finalists.

In the winning proposal, the committee appreciated the complexity and coherence of the solution across themes. "It has a harmonious impression," states the approved document. The winning studio will now sign separate contracts with all three clients of the competition and complete its proposal into the form of an architectural study and then project documentation for individual plans. "The start of implementation is expected no earlier than 2028," the document states.

In second place in the competition behind the Danish studio was the team from the Barcelona studios Miralles Tagliabue EMBT and OCA architects, and third was a consortium of the Czech studio re:architekti, the Italian atelier baukuh studio associato, and the Italian studio Yellow Office. The public announcement of the competition results will take place on November 27 at the city's Center for Architecture and Urban Planning (CAMP).