The new house on Revoluční Street should be designed by Eva Jiřičná

Prague - A new building on Revoluční Street in Prague, referred to as the Novomlýnská Gate, will be created according to the design of architect Eva Jiřičná. Today, it was presented by RSJ Private Equity, which took over the project from the original investor. The design of the building does not yet have a specific form. Jiřičná was chosen by the company in a small competition, during which several architectural studios were approached.
     The Novomlýnská Gate is intended to complete Revoluční Street and become a sort of gateway to the city center from the river. RSJ Private Equity entered the project two years ago as a minority shareholder to participate financially. However, it could not make decisions about the form of the building.
    The new building, which planned the demolition of a neo-Renaissance building currently devastated and the incorporation of a low Baroque house, was presented by the majority shareholder, Brobosu Properties, at the beginning of last year. The project was prepared by the DaM studio, and the design had already received approval from Prague's conservationists. RSJ Private Equity later became the majority shareholder and rejected the project by the DaM studio.
    "We wanted a project that would not provoke so much controversy," company representatives stated today. They were dissatisfied that the majority of architects proposed "to create their own sculpture regardless of how it would be received by both experts and the lay public, and regardless of financial implications". Therefore, before selecting a new architect, they reportedly consulted the new building with the Club for Old Prague, which was a vocal critic of the previous project, as well as with heritage officials.
    "I didn’t say yes immediately because I know how incredibly difficult it is, in Prague 1, opposite the Baroque house, opposite the Merkur Palace... But the temptation to tackle it was stronger than wisdom, so I said I would take a look at it," Jiřičná said today. She expressed a desire to build a house that meets all functional requirements, will be contemporary architecture, and "while not screaming: Look at me." "I really dislike demolishing anything, I really dislike destroying trees, but I think this building has no good option for being renovated," she commented on the intention to demolish the adjacent neo-Renaissance house.
    She indicated that she would approach the project with as much respect for the surroundings as possible. However, not all historic buildings, in her view, need to be preserved, and even the center of Prague must develop. "When a person believes in something, they can fight - we will try to have answers to all the arguments that will oppose us," she stated.
    The form of the building from the DaM studio, which was more of a sculpture than a house, received negative responses among proponents of a conservative approach to urban development - as is the case in Prague with almost all planned buildings that deviate from a proven model for at least one hundred years.
    Experts from the National Heritage Institute did not like the project, but city conservationists granted it permission. However, the Ministry of Culture, as the appellate body of state heritage care, later changed their decision and ruled that the demolition of the historic house was unacceptable. The owner of the house and the investor appealed, and the commission for appeals at the ministry dealt with the case until this year when it was returned to Prague’s conservationists. By that time, however, the project already had a new investor who did not want the new building in the proposed form.