Praha announced an architectural competition for the design of the Prague Market

Prague – The Prague City Hall has announced an international architectural competition for the design of public spaces between the buildings of the Holešovice Prague Market. ČTK was informed about this today by Prague spokesperson Vít Hofman. Participants will design the appearance and arrangement of the spaces and entrances to the complex, as well as solutions for greenery and rainwater management. The results of the two-round competition are expected to be announced in February next year. The owner of the market complex is the capital city, which is gradually renovating it.

"The solutions will involve the entrances to the complex, individual corridors and squares, spaces between the halls, and furniture. We require that the solutions respect the historical appearance of the market, while also reflecting the most modern approaches to landscape architecture, including consideration of climate change-related needs," said Deputy Mayor Pavel Vyhnánek (Prague for Itself).

After the announcement of the competition results, the winning design will be implemented over several years in coordination with planned building renovations, according to the city. The city anticipates that the reconstruction of public spaces will cost hundreds of millions of crowns.

According to Vyhnánek, the city wants the complex to be as green as possible and to utilize rainwater. Competition participants will also have to take into account the heritage protection of the complex. The topic will also include new entrances, primarily from Argentine Street, near which the construction of a new city quarter, Prague-Bubny, is planned for the future.

The entrance from Jateční Street by the Alza e-shop pickup point is also set for modifications, including addressing the currently unsatisfactory traffic situation. The reconstruction will also involve the main entrance from the waterfront, where a new pedestrian bridge between Holešovice and Karlín is to be built, which the city aims to start constructing this year.

The competition will have two rounds, with the jury selecting five entries from the submitted proposals in October that will proceed to the second round. The competition was announced following the rules of the Czech Chamber of Architects. The jury will be chaired by architect and urban planner Gabu Heindl from the Vienna studio Gabu Heindl Architektur. Other jury members will include French-born architect Régis Guignard and Irakli Eristavi from the Slovak studio zerozero. Representing Czech architects in the jury will be Štěpánka Šmídová, Marek Obtulovič, Jiří Žid, and Jiří Kotal.

The complex originally served as Prague's slaughterhouse, established in 1895. It operated as a slaughterhouse until the 1980s, when it began to transform into a market. The complex was declared a cultural monument in 1993.