Around Victory Square, a number of significant buildings have emerged since 1989

Publisher
ČTK
01.11.2021 20:55
Czech Republic

Prague

Dejvice

Prague – The Business Card of Vítězné Square in Prague 6 (the consortium of companies Penta Real Estate, Kaprain Group, and Sekyra Group purchased the land at the square from VŠCHT for one billion crowns):


- The square at the intersection of Dejvice and Bubenec emerged in the mid-1920s as a center for new construction on what was then the western edge of Prague. The author of the urban design for the new Dejvice, architect Antonín Engel, also contributed to the designs of several buildings around the square, but his concept could not be completed due to the economic crisis and the subsequent war. Today, the eastern part of the square features First Republic apartment buildings, while the southwestern part is associated with the military, including the General Staff. The northwestern part, which is the subject of the current transaction, has yet to be developed, although a vast university campus has grown in its immediate vicinity since the First Republic.

- In 1925, the first buildings began to rise here, with the laying of the foundation stone attended by President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and Prime Minister Antonín Švehla. For example, the current headquarters of the University of Chemistry and Technology welcomed its first students in 1933 (at that time, the school was part of the Czech Technical University), and the second building was completed in 1937, which chemists now share with ČVUT. In 1928, a new building for the Catholic Theological Faculty of Charles University opened a few hundred meters to the west, which includes seminar and teaching spaces as well as a church for 1500 worshippers.

- Between 1927 and 1929, the complex of what was then the State Research Institute of Agriculture was also built (it is now used by the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences), but further construction stalled with the onset of the crisis and the subsequent outbreak of war. The Dejvice technical campus had to wait for further expansion until the mid-1960s. In 1959, construction began on a joint building for the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, which was completed in 1965; between 1962 and 1982, a following complex of buildings for the Faculty of Civil Engineering was created, allowing for a significant increase in the number of students in the Dejvice university campus.

- After 1989, several prominent buildings were constructed around Vítězné Square, most of them within the university campus. Between 2006 and 2008, a new building of the National Technical Library rose on the former parking lot in the Dejvice campus, costing more than two billion crowns. In 2011, near it, a new building for the Faculty of Architecture designed by Alena Šrámková was completed, built for over one billion crowns.

- In June 2014, a new pavilion of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Academy of Sciences was opened, which cost more than one billion crowns. The modern building has a rounded triangular layout and is nicknamed “cauliflower,” resulting from licensing fees for patents from the American pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences for discoveries made by biochemist and long-time head of this institution Antonín Holý.

- In recent years, plans for the development of the northeastern corner of the square have attracted attention. The investment group PPF, based on Evropská Street about half a kilometer from Vítězné Square, planned a multifunctional building designed by architect Radan Hubička. The design was awarded the best architectural project in the Construction of the Year competition in 2013. The project, nicknamed “Polar Bear” for its shape, faced opposition from part of the public - among the criticisms was that it did not fit into the square's space and was too large.

- The company Vítězné náměstí, which planned the building, ended up in the hands of new owners five years ago, and it is now owned by the group Penta and Kaprain Group of financier Karel Pražák. There are plans for an apartment building on the plots between Jugoslávských partyzánů and Verdunská Streets, designed by architects from the studio of Jakub Cigler. It is to have nine above-ground and two underground floors and should be of a similar height to the surrounding buildings. The building will include approximately 100 apartments, as well as commercial spaces on the ground floor. The construction permit for the project was issued this July.
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