The competition for the design of the Town Hall of Prague 7 was won by Atelier bod architects

"According to the competition rules, we will further negotiate with the top three award winners and evaluate their offers in terms of financial and professional background. The decision on who will ultimately carry out the reconstruction is most likely to be made by the end of June," stated city councilor Pavel Zelenka, responsible for leading the entire project.

Prague 7 aims to start the reconstruction in the first half of 2017. "It is quite an ambitious plan. Just the design work, obtaining a building permit, and the selection process for the general contractor will take ten months if all legal deadlines are observed," added Zelenka.

The winner was decided by a jury composed of representatives from the city council and architects from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, and Spain. "We politicians were in the minority. During the competition, I confirmed that this is the right approach," added the mayor of Prague 7, Jan Čižinský (Prague 7 for itself). The jury particularly appreciated the simplicity and clear expression of the winning proposal, which befits a public building. It also positively evaluated the respect for the existing structure and the context in which the building is located.

A total of 70 proposals were submitted in the international two-round competition; the jury selected eight proposals for the second round, which the authors then elaborated further. The winner receives 550,000 CZK, the runner-up 350,000 CZK, and the third 250,000 CZK. The studios in the subsequent places that advanced to the second round will share an additional 350,000 CZK among themselves.

The decision to purchase the administrative building at U Průhonu 38, which cost more than 90 million CZK, was made by the councilors despite opposition last November. According to the mayor, the repairs should cost an additional 100 million CZK. The decision came after several years of complications surrounding the acquisition of a new headquarters. The original city hall leadership planned an investment of around one billion CZK.