The international Urban Design and Architectural Competition Kodaňská 1441, a new urban block in Prague’s Vršovice district, has a winner. The jury selected the proposal by Prague-based Schindler Seko architekti, which entered the competition together with landscape architects Atelier Rouge and transport consultancy European Transportation Consultancy.
Kodaňská 1441 is a major project whose future development required careful preparation and open discussion. Developer Daramis therefore organised an international urban design and architectural competition in cooperation with the City of Prague and the Prague 10 Municipal District. The competition resulted in the selection of the winning proposal by Schindler Seko architekti. The project was presented at the international real estate trade fair EXPO REAL in Munich, where Daramis participated as a partner of the City of Prague within the Prague section of the Czechia & Prague National Exposition.
The competition sought a design for a new urban block between Kodaňská, Kavkazská and Moldavská streets in Vršovice, replacing the existing Kodaňská 4D Center office building, formerly known as Chemapol-Investa. The new, predominantly residential development will provide housing, shops and services, a kindergarten, a municipal building and new public spaces. The aim was to find a solution that would naturally complement the urban structure of Vršovice and integrate the new development with the surrounding neighbourhood.
The jury particularly appreciated the winning proposal’s clear urban concept, consisting of two blocks, a freestanding kindergarten and a municipal building. The proposal establishes a clear hierarchy of public, semi-public and private spaces, as well as a new square at the interface between the existing and new development. The jury identified the relocation of the kindergarten into a direct relationship with the square as a significant improvement compared with the first phase of the competition, helping to create a natural centre for the new development.
Second place was awarded to the proposal by Portuguese practice OODA Arquitectura, together with LJ-Group, LAIII and Czech studio Upstructure. Third place went to Dutch practice Powerhouse Company in consortium with Felixx International, Studio T-vektor and BREED Integrated Design.
A total of 65 teams from the Czech Republic and abroad originally applied to participate in the competition. The jury selected eleven participants for the first phase, in which they developed concepts for the new urban block. Five teams advanced to the second phase and further developed their proposals based on recommendations from the jury and invited experts. In addition to the three award-winning proposals, the finalists included Pelčák a partner architekti with Müller Reimann Architekten, Vogt and Atelier DUA, as well as Italian studio Stefano Boeri Architetti with ESA engineering, GROSS.MAX and Systematica.
The competition was organised as a two-phase competition workshop, a format that enables direct dialogue between the competing teams, the jury, the Client and invited experts. This allowed the proposals to be further developed between the individual phases and to respond to the jury’s recommendations. The public was also involved in the process and had an opportunity to comment on the finalist proposals. Their feedback was subsequently submitted to the jury as one of the inputs for its final decision.
The winning team is now continuing to develop the proposal further together with the client.