An international jury has selected the winning proposals for four blocks that will replace the former railway brownfield in Prague’s Florenc district. Together with the already completed competition for the administrative block B06, the first phase of the brownfield’s revitalisation in the very centre of Prague now has its final form. A total of 15 architectural studios from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland will work on the first phase. The new Florenc21 district, which will connect Karlín with Nové Město, will offer predominantly housing supplemented with offices, services and a hotel. A pedestrian zone with high-quality public spaces will be created, contributing to the improvement of the area around the Florenc metro station. The total floor area of all new blocks is 108,000 m².
“This architectural competition has brought world-class architecture to Prague. It follows on from the successful urban design competition held in 2021, whose resulting concept was incorporated into the planning agreement with the investor, approved this June. Now we can see the results of this work in the form of concrete architecture that will connect Nové Město, Karlín, and Žižkov into one functional urban unit and a liveable city district for people,” said
Petr Hlaváček, Deputy Mayor of Prague for Urban and Strategic Development.
In the architectural competitions, teams designed a total of six blocks in the western part of the district. They had to follow the block layout, street lines, height regulations and traffic solutions set out in the regulatory plan, which forms a binding part of the planning agreement.
“Architectural consortia composed of Czech and international teams have brought a wide variety of proposals that together will create a new lively city district based on an open ground floor, highquality public space and a functional mix of uses. Florenc21, with Penta’s estimated investment of roughly CZK 20 billion, will offer hundreds of apartments, offices, hotels, retail, and a modern bus terminal with a new departure hall. We would like to begin construction in 2028, and by 2031 see the new, vibrant Florenc21 completed, naturally connecting Karlín with Nové Město,” said David Musil, CEO of Penta Real Estate.
Representatives of the National Heritage Institute participated as invited expert jurors in the international architectural competitions for blocks B01 to B05. From the heritage conservation perspective, they provided materials for the competition brief and commented on its preparation, course, and all proposals, including the winning ones. “The goal was to achieve such a volumetric and height composition that would allow new buildings to naturally integrate with the surrounding historical development. The winning proposals for the individual blocks generally meet these requirements and offer a very good basis for their final refinement,” said Jan Holeček of the National Heritage Institute.
The winner of the competition for Block B01 on Na Florenci Street is the Danish architectural studio Adept in collaboration with the Czech studio ohboi. Block B01 is conceived as two administrative buildings framing the arterial road, with a total floor area of more than 20,000 m². The building will also serve as a gateway to the new district. In assessing the proposals, the jury emphasised the building’s relationship to the Desfours Palace, a listed cultural monument. The aim for the design of Block B01 was to respect the context of this historic building. The proposal also includes a temporary “popup” market with a food court, activating the space under the highway similarly to the former Manifesto Market.
The Winner, the Danish studio Adept has recently achieved success in the Czech Republic as well, winning the competition for the new Žofinka district in Ostrava and preparing the Ostrava Towers Complex near Nová Karolina. In Denmark, Adept has delivered several exceptional projects, such as the Aarhus School of Architecture building.
The competition for the residential block B02, with a total area of 22,900 m², was won by a consortium of Czech architectural studios Aulík Fišer Architekti, Machar & Teichman and studio reaktor, in cooperation with the landscape studio Partero. The design divides the block into three parts, each referencing the architectural character of Karlín, Žižkov and Nové Město, while maintaining a unified identity. The block is conceived as a traditional Prague residential block with a private courtyard and active groundfloor uses. On the north side, it will directly connect to an entrance to the Florenc metro station.
Blocks B03 and B05, with a total area of 16,400 m², were part of one competition. However, the jury decided to award two first prizes. Block B03 will be built according to the proposal by the Czech studios Edit! Architects and A69architekti together with the Dutch studio NL Architects. Studio Edit! recently completed the Iconik apartment building in Karlín, awarded at the Czech Architecture Award, and is also involved in the next phase of the nearby Rohan City development.
For Block B05, the jury awarded first place to the proposal by a consortium of the German studio Kempe Thill, the Czech studio re:architekti and the Italian studio baukuh studio associato. The building along the railway promenade will offer an innovative coliving concept, with smaller residential units complemented by shared community spaces inside and on the rooftop. “The jury was impressed by the concept of an internal street — a passage for residents connecting the various community spaces and groundfloor commercial units accessible from the street,” said the jury’s vice-chairman Štěpán Valouch.
Block B04 is located along the railway line and directly adjacent to Zaha Hadid’s Masaryčka building. It includes a residential building in Prague 1, a hotel along the eastern edge of the highway and another residential building on the Karlín side — making it the most functionally diverse of all the blocks. The winning proposal was submitted by the French studio LAN (Local Area Network) and the Polish studio P2PA.
“The jury appreciated how Block B04 was divided into wellconsidered buildings, each logically adapted to its programme and location while maintaining a consistent identity of the entire block. The hotel’s rooftop terrace will offer a remarkable experience with views of the distinctive combination of Prague’s cityscape, infrastructure and topography,” said jury chairman Stefan Behnisch. LAN is among the most progressive French architectural studios, currently undertaking the renovation of the iconic Grand Palais in Paris and responsible for the pioneering timber residential building Wood’Up in the new Rive Gauche district.
“For Prague 8, Florenc is the everyday gateway to Karlín. That’s why we paid special attention in the jury not only to aesthetically pleasing buildings but to whether the proposals create a real urban structure — a district that will work in everyday life. I appreciate that the winning projects emphasise a clear street network, Prague appropriate scale, and high quality ground floors and public spaces. As a municipal district, we expect that the revitalisation will eliminate the barrier between neighbourhoods and create a lively and safe place where people will want to live. It’s a unique chance to heal a long neglected area and create a natural extension of Karlín towards the city centre,” said Radomír Nepil, Deputy Mayor of Prague 8 and jury member.
Most buildings will serve residential purposes, including the one next to Masaryčka in Prague 1. “In our comments from the Prague 1 district, we insisted that the new neighbourhood include high quality and affordable housing for longterm city centre residents. At the same time, the district closely monitors whether new projects respect the historical context and provide adequate services and high quality public spaces,” said Karel Grabein Procházka, Prague 1 Councillor for Urban Development.
“The juries of the four parallel international competitions consisted of an independent part, made up of renowned Czech and international experts, and a dependent part, composed of representatives of the investor Penta Real Estate, together with representatives of the City of Prague, IPR Prague and the districts of Prague 1 and Prague 8, in whose territory the project is located,” explained Petr Návrat from ONplan, the organiser of the competitions.
Independent jurors included, for example, the Dutch architect and urbanist Kees Christiaanse (KCAP), Lithuanian architect Gilma Theodora Gylytė (DO ARCHITECTS), Italian architect Maria Alessandra Segantini (C+S Architects) and Czech Architecture Award laureate Štěpán Valouch (ova). The jury was chaired by German architect Stefan Behnisch, renowned for his contribution to sustainable architecture. The authors of the winning 2021 urban design proposal were represented in the jury by urbanist Filip Tittl.
Architectural studios from around the world expressed interest in the new Florenc. The four competitions for the Western Phase received 157 applications from 33 countries across Europe, the Americas and Asia. Thirtytwo teams were selected for the second phase, eight for each block. Based on the submitted concepts, the jury shortlisted 16 finalists — four per block — who presented their refined proposals to the international jury in the autumn. The jury has now selected the winning proposals for each block, which together will shape the new urban district. The international architectural competitions were announced in 2024 and took place throughout 2025, in close cooperation between the City of Prague, IPR Prague, the investor Penta Real Estate and the districts of Prague 1 and Prague 8.
A separate competition for Czech and Slovak studios selected the design for the administrative building in Block B06. The winner is studio A8000, whose architecture reflects the layered history of the site and offers a contemporary interpretation of historical façades with a refined material palette inspired by Prague’s characteristic colours. The jury appreciated the integration of the block into its surroundings and the connection of the ground floor to the newly created streets within the pedestrian zone layout.
