The city architect in Děčín will be Ondřej Beneš

On March 19, 2017, a commission appointed by the city council began the second round of selecting an architect for the statutory city of Děčín. A total of eight candidates expressed interest in this newly established position: architects Tomáš Veselý, Ondřej Sikora with the association of architects, Jan Hrouda, Pavel Martínek, Ondřej Pleštil, Alice Horňáková, Alexandr Kotačka, and Ondřej Beneš. All of them met the conditions of the first round, which closed on March 28, 2017, and progressed to the second round, where they were tasked with presenting their vision for the role of the city architect in Děčín to the commission and answering questions from its members. The commission was composed of Mayor Marie Blažková, Deputy Mayor Valdemar Grešík, councilor Milan Rosenkranc, chair of the commission for urbanism and the environment Otto Chmelík, and architects Michal Kuzemenský, Petr Lešek, and Martin Hilpert. The latter represented absent architect Marek Janatka as a substitute.
The qualities of the candidates and their presentations were at a high level. After hearing from all the candidates, the commission narrowed the selection to two main candidates: Ústí architect Jan Hrouda and architect Ondřej Beneš, who works in Prague. Jan Hrouda impressed the commission with an excellent presentation, strong local knowledge, and a realistic view of the position of city architect within the public administration system. Ondřej Beneš was appreciated by the commission as an architect with high professional expertise and as a prominent personality with excellent communication skills, capable of formulating visions and realizing them in broader contexts.
After long consideration, the commission agreed on March 21, 2017, on the verdict that it recommends Ondřej Beneš as the architect of the statutory city of Děčín to the city council.
Ing. arch. Ondřej Beneš, PhD, was born in Tábor in 1969. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture of Czech Technical University and holds a doctoral degree in the field of architectural theory from the same institution. Currently, he works at the Faculty of Architecture in the Stempl-Beneš studio. He also leads his own design practice and is actively involved in lectures and publications.