The Czech Chamber of Architects confirmed the legitimacy of the competition on Štvanice

The Prague City Hall has decided to organize a public architectural competition for the development of the Štvanice Island area in Prague after an inappropriate selection process held at the beginning of the year. The competition conditions were approved by the City Council in September, declared legitimate by the Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA), and the competition has been announced today. Prague intends to invest 0.5 billion CZK into the revitalization of the island.

THE COMPETITION WILL PROVIDE THE MOST SUITABLE SOLUTION PROPOSAL
The goal of the urban-planning and architectural competition is to redefine the Štvanice Island while maximizing the potential of the Vltava River, its banks, and the islands that are an important part of the city's public space. The proposals should respect the significance of this unique place and its historical development, providing solutions for year-round use for sports activities, relaxation, and cultural events. Solutions should also include suitable transport connections to the surroundings for cyclists, pedestrians, public transport, and, in a limited way, for automobiles.
Participants from authorized architects and engineers can submit their conceptual proposals for the island to the City Hall until January 8, 2013. In the first half of February next year, a professional jury will select the best works that will advance to the second round of the competition. "Initially, the City Hall considered only a one-round conceptual competition. The winning proposal would be retained by the City Hall, and then a public procurement competition would be announced for the cheapest project implementation. Thus, the competition winner would likely not even be able to realize their proposal. Such a process is unacceptable, and the jurors could not agree to it. We are pleased that we were able to advocate for a model two-round competition," explains jury member Roman Koucký, who is also known as the head of the team preparing the Metropolitan Plan for Prague.
In the second round of the competition, the jury will refine the task and assess the feasibility of the selected proposals. The final winner of the competition will receive a financial reward of 1 million CZK for their study. In 2013, a negotiation procedure without publication according to the Public Procurement Act will take place, and the designer will prepare all further stages of the project documentation based on their competition proposal for approximately 35 million CZK.

A WELL-COMPOSED JURY IS IMPORTANT
A pre-known jury composed of renowned experts is always a guarantee not only for the investor, who will be helped to select the optimal solution, but also for the competitors, who will know that their work will be evaluated by highly qualified judges. This was the case for the nine-member jury assessing the Štvanice proposals. It will include important representatives of the city, such as the Councillor of the City of Prague Aleksandra Udženija, and the 1st Deputy Mayor of the City of Prague Tomáš Hudeček, along with leading Czech architects. Besides Roman Koucký, it will also include Josef Pleskot, Miroslav Cikán, Jakub Kynčl, Jakub Fišer, and engineer Martina Forejtová. Among the alternates, we will find Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda, his Deputy Pavel Richter, and other representatives from the architect and professional public, such as Petr Kratochvíl, Adam Gebrian, Irena Fialová, Dan Merta, Ladislav Kuba, and Ivan Březina.
The jury's decision should be binding for the City Hall, which should thus adhere to the results of the competition. The accurate assessment of the proposals is therefore a great responsibility. "We will evaluate the competition proposals based on their comprehensive conceptual and architectural quality," Roman Koucký states.

EXEMPLARY CONTRACT ASSIGNMENT
The Prague City Hall decided to focus more closely on the revitalization of the Vltava riverbanks and islands as early as February of this year. One of the first activities was then to issue a call for price proposals for the future study concerning the development of Štvanice Island. The Chamber of Architects criticized this step, as did several representatives of the professional public. They did not consider the procedure appropriate for the significance of the site and recommended that the City Hall seek the best solution for such an important urban area through an urban-planning and architectural competition. This transparent process allows for more extensive comparisons among a larger number of studies and to find truly the most suitable solution.
The ČKA is legally mandated to oversee the awarding of public contracts in the Czech Republic and always emphatically alerts all investors to the need for quality preparation of the assignment for any contract. Therefore, it offered MHMP collaboration and consultation on the assignment of the contract. Councillor Alexandra Udženija responded positively and promised to organize the architectural competition.

ŠTVANICE - A PILOT PROJECT
"Through the architectural competition for Štvanice, Prague will acknowledge a new direction and thus return to the civilized world," says Roman Koucký. Announcing a competition for such a significant area is a serious test for the city as the contract issuer. "Štvanice is a pilot project. If the competition is successfully realized, conditions for awarding public contracts for construction in the capital could be prepared according to it," adds Koucký. Deputy Mayor Tomáš Hudeček also repeatedly supported the importance of the competition. He stated that every citizen has the right to live in a beautiful and pleasant environment and therefore it is not possible to look for the cheapest project for Štvanice, but for the best: "Hopefully, the Štvanice Island will become a model, and there will be more such competitions."