In the competition around the Nádraží Holešovice station, five designs advanced

Prague – Two Czech and three foreign architectural firms have advanced to the second round of the Prague Public Transport Company (DPP) and private developers' competition regarding the construction on the northern plots near the Nádraží Holešovice metro station. Karel Smetana, the media representative of the promoters, announced this today. The promoter is the Nové Holešovice Development company, which includes DPP and the groups CPI, J&T, and EPH.

The company was established by DPP in 2021 with Karlín Group, and subsequently CPI Property Group, which also owns land in the vicinity, became involved. This was followed by several years of political negotiations regarding the sale of municipal parcels, which the city leadership finally approved last May. The composition of the company has changed since its establishment, as first J&T Group acquired half of CPI's share, and subsequently, EP Real Estate purchased the share of Karlín Group from the EPH group of Daniel Křetínský.

The competition concerns the plots around the metro station north of Plynární Street. The joint venture announced it in March as a workshop, during which participants receive feedback from a jury and experts while preparing proposals, and multiple studios will work on the final construction design. The organization of the workshop is ensured by the Karlín Group, even though it has already sold its stake in the company.

Initially, eight invited studios participated in the competition, and the five advancing teams will now propose detailed designs for parts of the development. For the second round, the jury, composed of domestic and foreign experts in urbanism, architecture, landscape, and transportation, selected the Danish studio ADEPT, the Austrian firm Baumschlager Eberle Architekten, the German studio Behnisch Architekten, and the Czech studios CHYBIK + KRISTOF and OVA. The presentation of the results will take place in the autumn.

"The main challenge is to create a quality design that can cope with the many restrictions around the railway station while also offering a welcoming entrance to the extensive urban district that will be created here in the future. The location is very central and is close to the Vltava River to the north and south," said the jury chair, urban planner and former chief building director of Hamburg Jörn Walter. Among the requirements are, among other things, two new squares separated by Vrbenského Street, which are intended to function as a single connected entity.