The competition for the headquarters of Lesy ČR was won by architects Chybík and Krištof

Hradec Králové - The winner of the international architectural competition for the design of the wooden headquarters of the state enterprise Lesy České republiky (LČR) is the Brno studio Chybik+Kristof, founded by architects Ondřej Chybík and Michal Krištof. This was confirmed today by the spokesperson of Lesy ČR, Eva Jouklová. There were 42 proposals in the competition. The new headquarters will be located in Hradec Králové in the same area as the current headquarters of the enterprise.

The estimated cost of building the headquarters, parking lot, and public park according to Lesy ČR is 470 million crowns excluding VAT. If everything goes according to plan, the new headquarters of LČR could be completed in 2020. Lesy ČR owns half of the forests in the country, and the company reports annual profits in the billions of crowns.

In a statement to ČTK, Chybík equated the victory in the competition for the headquarters of Lesy ČR with their success with the Czech pavilion at the World Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy. The Milan pavilion, designed by Chybík and Krištof, won a bronze medal for architecture at the Expo. The Brno studio succeeded in the competition against authors from the USA, France, Spain, and Austria, reported the server ihned.cz, which highlighted the results of the competition today.

The creators named their proposal for Lesy ČR "Forests in the Forest." The building seems to grow from the central space into the forest and the forest into the building. The house has five branches that connect to a representative foyer with an entrance. Each branch represents one administrative unit of the enterprise. The roofs of the two-story structures will be covered with greenery, and there will be a forest in their vicinity. "Inside, there will be only a minimum of corridors. The entire building should be a combination of one large 'open space' and cellular offices. These can be variably constructed, removed, and adjusted as needed due to movable walls," quoted ihned.cz Ondřej Chybík.

The jury, led by Dorte Mandrup-Poulsen from Denmark, placed the proposal of the Prague Atelier bod architekti in second place. The third place was awarded to the Prague company DAM architekti. The winning proposal will receive a prize of 1.55 million crowns, the second 930,000 crowns, and the third 620,000 crowns. According to the conditions of the tender, the winner of the competition should receive a contract from Lesy ČR for the preparation of all stages of project documentation and for the performance of authorial supervision. The estimated value of the entire competition was assessed by Lesy ČR at 39.7 million crowns excluding VAT.

Details of the competition and awarded projects will be published by Lesy ČR at a press conference in Hradec Králové on Wednesday, February 1. Subsequently, the awarded proposals will be presented to the public at exhibitions in the Hradec Králové Study and Scientific Library and in the Hradec Králové City Library.

According to earlier statements from Lesy ČR, the new headquarters should be a model of the use of wood in construction and renewable energy sources. According to Lesy ČR, a similar administrative wooden structure for around 200 employees does not yet exist in the Czech Republic.

The new center is expected to replace a non-compliant panel building from the 1970s. The building, which used to house the East Bohemian State Forests, is considered statically unstable by LČR, is not insulated, lacks ventilation, and most offices do not meet today’s standards.

Lesy ČR has been headquartered in Hradec Králové since its establishment on January 1, 1992.