Some students of ČVUT and architects are requesting a competition for a new school building in Dejvice

Prague - A group of students and academics from the Czech Technical University in Prague (ČVUT), along with some architects, is calling for an architectural competition for a new ČVUT building in Prague's Dejvice. According to them, the competition should be supervised by the Czech Chamber of Architects. They stated this in an open letter to Rector Vojtěch Petráček, which was signed by about 870 people. According to ČVUT, this is a partial completion of the existing structure. Due to the high cost of the investment, the current rector, whose term ends early next year, will not make the decision, stated Kateřina Veselá from the PR and Marketing Department in response to a query from ČTK.

The project for Building C, which is to be the new building of the Faculty of Information Technology at ČVUT, connects with Building A, which houses the rectorate, and Building B, which is the Technical Canteen on Jugoslavských partyzánů street, the authors of the letter stated. According to them, the construction of all three ČVUT buildings was directly commissioned to the office of architect Petr Franta.

"The quality of this office's project was not evaluated by either the academic community of ČVUT or a professional architectural jury, with a similar process having been criticized in an open letter to the then-rector of ČVUT, Václav Havlíček, in 2010. Nevertheless, the management of ČVUT is proceeding with the same commissioning process in subsequent stages," the signatories stated.

According to Veselá, this is not a new building, but a "completion of an unrealized part of the existing structure." "This implies that if there is to be no change in land use, the final zoning decision must be respected and then proceed according to the approved project documentation of arch. Franta. That is the current legal status," she stated. The contractor of the project documentation for the zoning decision was selected in 2007 through a tender conducted by the now-defunct Department of Construction and Investment Activities of ČVUT.

"The current management of ČVUT respects the result of this tender and cannot act otherwise. Given the substantial amount of the investment, this completion is also not an immediate matter and its realization will certainly not be decided by the current management of ČVUT," Veselá mentioned. A new rector is expected to be elected by ČVUT this autumn. Petráček's second term began in February 2022 and will last until 2026.

The competition, according to the signatories of the letter, is a space for comparing architectural quality, operational functionality, investment economy, building usage, and many other aspects that make the winning proposal an indisputable project, they stated. They are therefore asking the management of ČVUT to abandon the current approach, announce an architectural competition under the supervision of the Czech Chamber of Architects, and allow the winning team of this competition to prepare new documentation for the zoning decision.

The open letter was signed by notable figures such as art historian Richard Biegel, architect and educator Ondřej Císler, architect and educator Michal Kuzemenský, and architect, educator, and former rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague Maria Topolčanská.