In April, Prague will announce a competition for the design of Victory Square

Prague - The new appearance of Vítězné náměstí in Prague 6 will be chosen by the capital city in an architectural competition. The Czech News Agency (ČTK) was informed about this by the Institute of Planning and Development (IPR), which will announce the competition on April 16. The winning proposal, which should be known at the turn of October and November this year, aims to bring a solution to the traffic situation and find a new representative form of Vítězné náměstí, where people would like to spend time.

The result of the competition will serve as a basis for the approval of the change to the zoning plan. "According to the estimated timeline, construction could begin in 2022," said IPR spokesman Marek Vácha to ČTK. According to rough estimates, the reconstruction of the square should cost 550 million crowns excluding VAT, but the final budget will be prepared only based on the refined competition proposals. The investor will be the capital city.

The architectural competition will be in two rounds. In the first round, the jury will evaluate proposals based on urban planning and traffic solutions. In the second round, which will include the three to six highest-quality proposals, emphasis will be placed on detailing and incorporating the jury's recommendations. The reconstruction must respect the regulatory principles of the original plan of the First Republic architect and urban planner Antonín Engel, who developed the urban solution for Dejvice Square in the 1920s.

In addition to representatives of the capital city and Prague 6, the jury will include urbanism expert Jan Jehlík, Berlin architect Ivan Reimann, and Peter Heath, who designed the current appearance of London’s Trafalgar Square. This square is also an inspiration for Prague's leadership. "Experiences from London show that it is possible to combine intense traffic with quality public space and a square where pedestrians are predominant," said Deputy for Urban Development Petra Kolínská (Greens/Trojkoalice).

The transformation of the entire area is also related to plans to build a bypass of the square, which should connect Evropská and Svatovítská streets. The competition assignment includes its construction, but it will probably not begin before 2020. The square is not structurally completed. In the place where the controversial project Ice Bear was supposed to grow in the past, for example, a residential building should be built.

Vítězné náměstí was created in 1925, and several roads lead into it - Evropská, Čs. armády, Jugoslávských partyzánů, Svatovítská, and Dejvická. Throughout its history, it has borne several names, including being called October Revolution from 1952 to 1990. Among the locals, it became known as "Kulaťák."