The Architect of the Year award was won by the Chalupa brothers

Prague – The Architect of the Year award this year has been awarded to brothers Marek and Štěpán Chalupa, the creators of the vestibule of the Kolbenova metro station in Prague and the Metropol hotel in Prague on Národní Street. The municipal architect of 2025 is Lukáš Soukup, the city architect of Jindřichův Hradec. The awards were announced today by the organizers at the Architecture and Urban Planning Centre (CAMP) in Prague. The jury also awarded an honorary mention in memoriam to the philosopher and art theorist Petr Rezek.

The competition was organized for the seventeenth time this year by the company ABF. The Architect of the Year award is given to an individual or individuals who have significantly contributed to architecture in the Czech Republic over the past five years through their approach. In addition to the Chalupa brothers, this year's finalists included Jiří and Barbora Weinzettl from the studio 111 architects, David Kraus, Jan Šépka, and the architectural office Sporadical. The jury evaluated the comprehensive approach to creation, the influence on the emergence of quality buildings and environments, and also assessed the professional and moral integrity of individual personalities.

The Chalupa brothers drew attention in the architectural field in 1998 with the roofing of the staircase at the Orlík Castle of Karel Schwarzenberg. In addition to the Kolbenova metro vestibule and the Metropol Hotel, they worked on the Czech pavilion at EXPO 2000 and the ČSOB bank building in Prague. Their design for the South Bohemian gallery in České Budějovice, Nové Alšovy, and a parking house behind the cathedral in Ostrava is awaiting realization. According to ABF, the brothers create in the spirit of sophisticated minimalism with an emphasis on detail and a clear authorial handwriting.

Philosopher Rezek shaped the philosophical and artistic environment in the Czech Republic since the 1970s. According to ABF, although he called himself a philosophy teacher, for decades he also shaped the thinking of visual artists, architects, and theorists and stimulated discussions on interdisciplinary topics. He was a student of Jan Patočka and projected his phenomenological foundation into many texts. He worked at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University, the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design, and the Faculty of Art and Architecture at the University of Liberec.