The first competition for urban apartments was won by studio bod architects
“I was pleased with the design of the V Botanica apartment building, which emerged from the architectural competition. In the opening of the city block on the main Smíchovská Street, a representative house will be built that meets the requirements for modern living and contemporary architecture. City rental apartments in Botanica will be intended for preferred professions that ensure the running and services of the city or single mothers. There will be shops and services on the ground floor of the building,” says First Deputy Mayor for Territorial Development Petr Hlaváček.
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The winning design was selected by a jury led by architect Boris Redčenkov from the A69 studio, which is behind, for example, the Smíchoff City urban planning model and the future Smíchov terminal or the urban planning studio Florenc 21. According to him, the jury primarily appreciated the stabilization of the complex context of the given place and the soothing aesthetics.
“The house is a worthy partner of Portheimka and the church of St. Wenceslas. We were interested in the architectural and material facades of the house and the creation of a peaceful solution to the closed environment of the courtyard as a place for social contact of its inhabitants,” said Redčenkov to the address of the winners, who are also the author’s reconstruction of the town hall in Prague 7.
According to the jury, architects from the ov-architekti studio contributed the second best design. Third place went to the Austrian studio Baumschlager Hutter. The award-winning architectural teams will divide 1.9 million crowns between them.
PDS was founded on the initiative of Petr Hlaváček in mid-2020 as a contribution organization of the capital city. Its task is primarily to expand the city’s housing stock so that the city has significantly more apartments for rent, which can be available especially for the so-called preferred professions. PDS now manages more than 600,000 square meters owned by the city. Up to eight thousand apartments should be built on them in the next ten years.
In addition to the apartment building in Smíchov, PDS is preparing other urban projects. Among them is an apartment building near the Ďolíček stadium in Vršovice, an apartment building in Palmovce or several projects in the new city district in the vicinity of the future metro station D Nové Dvory.