Young architects competed with designs for future family housing

Prague - Works by students participating in the international project Current House: Through the Eyes of Young Architects showcase what family housing in the future could look like. The national section was won by Tomáš Čech from the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University (ČVUT) in Prague. Architecture students from Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia also took part in the event. The best Czech and Polish works have been on display in the atrium of ČVUT since today.
The goal of the competition is to confront and compare the youngest architectural creations, said Ján Stempel, the chairman of the competition, to ČTK today. "I must say that all the proposals were reasonable constructions, rather small, with no extravagance. Young architects emphasize accessibility, using classic materials such as brick and wood," said Stempel, who also teaches architecture.
The task for the students was to design a house for a family of four in the 21st century. "The aim is to find an architectural solution to current requirements that reflects the national specifics of historical and modern residential architecture," stated Stempel. According to him, students from Poland focused more on ornamentation and extravagance. Works from Hungary and Slovakia are still being evaluated.
The Czech part of the competition involved architecture faculties from Brno, Liberec, Ostrava, and Prague. The national jury, which included renowned architects Markéta Cajthamlová, Jakub Kynčl, Pavel Nasadil, and Alexandr Skalický, selected from eleven projects. Tomáš Čech's design impressed the jury with its clarity and variability. "The jury appreciated the use of simple shapes and materials, and above all, the ability to view the building and the site as a whole in relation to the surrounding structure of the development," agreed the jurors.
The winners from each of the four countries will participate in an international workshop in Debrecen, Hungary, in May and an exhibition of villa architecture from the Visegrád countries in Brussels in 2014. A joint proposal for a European House from the students' heads is also expected to emerge in Hungary.
The exhibition in the atrium of ČVUT will last until April 28. In the fall, it will also be presented in other Czech universities. The public can also familiarize themselves with the winning works through the website www.greatvillas.org, where they will be displayed as interactive 3D models.