Finalists of the Architect of the Year Award 2026

In the 18th year of the Architect of the Year competition, the expert jury selected five finalists. These are architects who have significantly contributed to architecture in the Czech Republic through their outstanding work or by supporting quality architecture and the profession.
The Architect of the Year award highlights the significance and importance of architecture in our lives and for the development of society, as well as the exceptional role of architects, who fundamentally influence the level of construction through their work. Since its inception, the award has aimed to profile itself as a means of spreading awareness and promoting contemporary quality architecture. Therefore, the Architect of the Year award is not an accolade for lifetime achievement, nor should it commemorate life anniversaries. Its goal is to recognize significant achievements in architecture from recent years. The award is primarily intended for practicing architects, but not exclusively. Any individual seeking to create a pleasant living space can become a laureate.
The ten nominations for this award were determined by the winners of previous years' competitions – architects Roman Koucký, Ivan Kroupa, Petr Stolín, the duo Ladislav Kuba and Tomáš Pilař, and last year's laureates Marek and Štěpán Chalupovi. After thorough discussion regarding the contributions of individual personalities, five nominations made it to the final. “As in previous years, we aimed to observe the complexity and continuous quality of the work of the finalists, as well as their moral and professional integrity,” says juror Petr Stolín.
The results of the competition will be announced on September 9, 2026, at 6:30 PM at the PVA EXPO PRAHA venue. The ceremony will also include the presentation of the Architect of the Year 2026 award to an architect and representative of a municipality who have long jointly endeavored for good architecture and an improvement in the quality of life of residents in our settlements.

The five finalists – jury's justification

Atelier Ehl & Koumar Architekti represents a leading position in contemporary rational Czech modernism. Regardless of fashion trends, they create permanently beautiful buildings that reference the archetypes of architecture, enhancing the meanings of landscapes, urban spaces, and the buildings themselves. The recent design of the Suchdol Bridge by this author duo showcases a monumental and technologically and aesthetically ambitious work. The placement of this structure within the rocky canyon landscape evokes joyful feelings. The Suchdol Bridge was preceded by a victory in the competition for the Teaching Centre of the 3rd Faculty of Medicine at Charles University with a design for a transparent pavilion featuring virtuoso interior organization. The widely published Smetan Bridge in Litomyšl, which also stands as a sovereign urban dominant, has made its way into the public’s consciousness. They are expanding the town hall in Brandýs nad Labem with a Renaissance sensitivity. Their buildings always have a very strong internal order, are calm, and unflinching. Architects Ehl & Koumar not only develop a deeply rooted legacy and school of Alena Šrámková but quietly and steadily create a significant pillar of contemporary Czech architectural culture.

David Kraus - Searching, forging one’s own path, expressiveness, and truthfulness are evident in the work of architect, artist, and educator David Kraus. His unconventional architecture pushes towards the edge of the best possible solution, at the brink of a fall – but David Kraus never allows that to happen. His evident faith in experimentation, uniqueness, and the notion that every architecture should have something hidden, obscured, strange, and unexplained evokes emotions and hope. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in the studio of Miroslav Šik as part of the New Czech Work group, and in 2002 founded the studio Architektura, s.r.o. The wide spectrum of projects from this studio is characterized by a personal, non-fashionable approach, material honesty, and a strong relationship to place. He rejects flashy gestures, believing in an alternative “Czech path” – simplicity, authenticity, context, and lasting value of the work. He works with unusual sources of inspiration, images, and principles. Among his most recognized works are the awarded concrete plant in Strančice, the extension of the primary school in Hradištko, the recently completed senior home in Nový Bydžov, and a number of original family houses.

Architectural Atelier Malý Chmel, founded in 2016 by Miroslav Malý, Miroslav Chmel, and Zdeněk Chmel, is one of the most prominent representatives of the young Czech architectural scene. They profile themselves as creators with a deep sense of spatial research and uncompromising rawness. They entered broader public awareness with their first realization, the extension of the primary school in Nezamyslice (2017), featuring an absolutely reductive internal space arrangement and a consistently bare form. The radical House of Seven Floors, which they characterize as a “vertical cave of light,” has received extraordinary acclaim. They leave a significant mark in South Bohemia. They won a closely watched competition for the reconstruction of the House of Art in České Budějovice for the conversion of a prestigious gallery. Following their success in the area of public buildings, they triumphed in an urban-architectural competition for the city Residential Buildings 4 Dvory. The works of Malý Chmel are rawly honest, relying on durability, beautiful aging of materials, and strong concepts. They counterbalance decorativeness, visual smog, and quick, superficial solutions. They show how to shift the perception of architecture from mere “building houses” towards “creating spatial poetry.”

Pavel Nasadil is known as an architect who never strives for superficial effect but for architecture with lasting value. He has an extraordinary ability to listen to a place, understand its connections, and transform them with great sensitivity into compelling buildings. His work is based on humility, thoughtfulness, and a thorough search for essence – qualities that are rarer today than ever. Along with the FAM Architekti studio, he has long been advancing architecture that is contemporary but never self-serving, enriching its environment instead of dominating it. Among his known buildings are the reconstruction of Komenského Square in Dobříš, the awarded cottage in Doksy, or the ongoing construction of a senior home in Litomyšl. He transfers the same sensitivity and observation skills into photography, which has become not only a creative passion for him but also a personal way of exploring the world. In his documentary cycles, he does not seek sensationalism but the human being – their story, dignity, and fragility. It is the connection of architectural discipline with photographic empathy that gives his work exceptional depth. Pavel Nasadil is simply a person who can read the landscape, city, and human destinies with equal attention – and with extraordinary humility translate them into images, whether built or photographic. He belongs to those creators who do not seek to be seen but rather for their work to stand the test of time.

Jan Šépka is one of the most noticeable personalities in Czech architecture. His work drew attention even during the performances of Miroslav Šik's students in the early nineties within the framework of the New Czech Work group. He started as a partner in the HŠH studio, and in 2009 founded his own design office. Jan Šépka's designs are always based on original and strong conceptual reasoning and surprising material use at the edge of the possible. He consistently applies a firm and uncompromising creative intention transformed into reality, as evidenced by exceptional buildings such as the Room in the Landscape in Modrava, the House in the Orchard in Prague's Kyje, the design for the Central European Forum in Olomouc (SEFO), as well as recent realizations of public spaces and the completion of the gallery and polytechnic workshops at the Automatic Mills in Pardubice, or the convincing symbolism of the material conception of the interior of the Želiv Monastery library. He passes on his experiences as a teacher, first at the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague, then at UMPRUM in Prague and at FUA TUL in Liberec.

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