Shelsea D., Author at Prague Morning

Prague will welcome the New Year 2020 with a video-mapping show on the facade of the National Museum.

The screening will start at 6.15 p.m. and it will be repeated three times every hour.

Videomapping will be divided into seven images and will take 10 minutes. The screening will be repeated at 7.15 pm, 8.15 pm.

“The video mapping will last ten minutes and is called My, Praha. The show will be screened at the National Museum building and will be repeated three times every hour; the first screening will start at 6:15 pm,” Vít Hofman, spokesman for Prague City Hall

“It is a helpful step not only for all citizens of the metropolis who are sensitive to excessive noise but also for animals that face unnecessary stress every year,” Prague City Councilor Jan Chabr said.

During the three projections, Prague Police will divert the traffic in the area. Between 17:00 and 21:00, the upper part of Wenceslas Square will be closed (the entrance from Wilsonova Street will be closed, as well).

Stand anywhere in the top half of the square for a good view.

The Central Group developer(s) plans to start construction within two years on five large brownfields in Prague.

What comes into play, however, are the admitted agreements between the boroughs and the municipality (determining who will pay for the construction of the infrastructure) and the length of the authorization process. At the same time, the first outlines of the future residential Ruzyně district are outlines.

The Central Group has been buying land in retired industrial and warehouse premises in the past recent years. “We own about 1.5 million square meters for the construction of 30,000 flats,” stated Dušan Kunovský, owner of the Central group.

According to Kunovský, the reconstruction of the former Tesla Hloubětín, and the Park quarter in the part of Žižkov railway station are in their beginning stages. The question remaining is how the project will evolve on the of Žižkov Telecom, where it promotes residential towers designed by architect Eva Jiřičná.

2,200 apartments, kindergarten, and school

The company wishes to build 2,200 apartments with shops and services on the ground floor of the houses, as well as four smaller kindergartens to be part of the apartment blocks on the premises of Ruzyně and Liboca (Liboca is where the company owns a warehouse facility called Westpoint).

The apartments may have a maximum of eight aboveground floors, as the developer believes. A new elementary school is also planned out and has been negotiated with the municipality.

The urban study of the complex was prepared by architect Jakub Cigler. In cooperation with Prague 6, a regulatory plan was created to serve as an expert basis for further development.

“The assignment should not, therefore, change with every exchange of political representation,” said councilor Eva Smutna (club TOP 09, KDU-CSL).

This residential construction investment will cost 13 billion (CZK). The company is hoping that the construction will be completed by 2023. And, hopefully, the new district can expand even into the west.

Photo: Jakub Cigler Architekti

Photo: Jakub Cigler Architekti

Photo: Jakub Cigler Architekti

Photo: Jakub Cigler Architekti

It is no longer necessary to prove a physical card to a conductor or inspector; a mobile application suffices.

The newest PID Lítačka application has arrived for regular passengers and public transport in Prague, as well as suburban lines in the Central Bohemia Region.

This is another step in the modernization and digitization of urban travel, in where the new transport system started in Prague and the Central Bohemia Region last year. This significantly facilitated the purchase of tickets and coupons as well as their recording on physical carriers. Until now, only physical plastic cards have been used as identifiers with which you could prove yourself during the transport control.

Since the launch of the new transport system, the PID Lítačka application has also worked, but it was only possible to buy short-term fares. However, this is now changing, and it is finally possible to upload long-term coupons (i.e. quarterly, half-yearly or yearly) to a mobile application that works on both Android and iOS. As of December first, the application can serve as an identifier.

Lítačka has been ready for long-term coupons and their uploads for a while, but more than 3,000 check-in devices had to be ready for vehicles to work with in-app vouchers and reviewers. With the vehicles now prepared, they can safely recognize a long-term coupon on both a plastic card and a mobile phone.

Either a card or app

A long-term coupon can still be uploaded to a single identifier, but you can only have it on either a physical card (Lítačka, In ČD Card, Visa, Mastercard) or in the PID Lítačka mobile app. Therefore, it is not possible to prove your card just once, by your mobile phone— you have to choose, or manually change your coupon when you change the carrier.

As the representatives of Prague Integrated Transport have revealed on our inquiry on Twitter, the impossibility of multiple identifiers is mainly due to the possible misuse, which significantly increases the existence of one coupon on two identifiers. Two people could theoretically travel on one document, one showing the card and the other on their mobile application.

The developers do not exclude that the system will be technologically modified in the future for the possibility to use more identifiers, because—even according to them—although it would be a “more friendly and modern” solution, it is not yet possible. However, the Czech Railways In Karta card, for example, works both on the physical card and mobile application.

To verify the long-term coupon, the QR code will be displayed in the PID Lítačka application, which will be scanned by the attendant or reviewer. Contactless NFC chip will also work on selected Android mobile phones. It will be possible to identify in both metro and trams as well as buses or trains, as was the case with single tickets so far.

Passengers still have to go to the PID Lítačka e-shop when they want to buy a long-term coupon. Momentarily, the ICT operator is working to move this feature into the mobile app. We should expect further updates next year.

Food quality is an increasingly discussed topic in Czech society because Czechs are becoming more interested in and aware about what they eat.

They could have been skeptical about certain foods entering their bodies, but they never knew for sure. And that was the biggest problem: there was no such database in which to find detailed information about most foods. Then came along Petr Václavek and his latest, innovative application— Foodgroot.

Foodgroot has become the gateway in helping customers figure out from a wide range of products what is exactly in them. The app is able to learn your habits and help you choose according to what foods you just want or needs to eat, and while shopping at a store it then immediately recommends which foods are suitable for you.

Moreover, it determines the overall quality, origin(s) of the food, and their impact on the environment or effect on your health. In the app, you scan the bar code of the selected food which then runs the information about its quality, origin, or environmental impact. All in maximum detail. The app rates products on over 70 parameters.

Photo: Foodgroot

“What Google did to the internet, we’re doing for the food market,” Václavek said about Foodgroot in an interview with Brian Kenety in November 2018. “Food is a basic, essential part of our lives, and we should know [what’s in it].”

Václavek and his team worked on the platform for months, testing it with several hundred users this year and is now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel from launching Foodgroot among the users. Tomáš Čupr and his biggest Czech online supermarket, Rohlik.cz, has become partner with future development.

“From the outset, our goal was to find a strong strategic partner, because integrating our solution into online platforms is an essential tool for the rapid growth of our platform. In parallel, of course, we are also preparing a stand-alone application covering the whole market,” said the Foodgroot founder.

Tomáš Čupr and his online grocery store will use the Czech application for comparison of food quality in his shop. The integration of Foodgroot into Rohlík will take place in the coming weeks or months.

Power of smart purchasing

Foodgroot is a free app and knowing this brings in the question of how Václavek will make a profit. Václavek stated he is not too worried, for he plans to install in-app purchases on the app, where users and customers alike can buy their (healthy) goods and needs right from there. He also wishes to extend this new food app to the EU nations. This is a smart way to bring in profit and benefit from his own business, as well as the app be beneficial to Czech society. For the time being, however, Václavek will let Foodgroot flourish into the large platform it is soon yet to become.

Velvet Revolution 2019 is, historically, the largest celebration yet. In Prague, the program of the Freedom Festival was attended by 200,000 people. Concerts, discussions, and screenings were also held in 50 other cities throughout the country.

One of Prague’s exceptional events this year was the Velvet Procession, in which 11,000 people followed the memories of witnesses. Albertov, Wenceslas Square and Národní třída were visited by the most people in the history of the Freedom Festival, organized by citizens’ initiatives in Prague and 50 other cities around the country for the sixth time this year.

“Thanks to the participants it was a very dignified and sophisticated reminder of this important historical event,” says Jakub Vedral, one of the parade organizers. The official part of the parade program ended at the Vltava River, where thousands of visitors continued to the all-day Korzo Národní program on Národní třída, and in the evening attended the Concert for the Future on Wenceslas Square.

A total of 200,770 people passed through all Prague events. The data was provided by the mobile operator O2. “We measure anonymous data on the number of registered SIM cards on mobile transmitters in the given location – in this case, Albertov, Narodni trida, and Wenceslas Square. We then recalculate the results to the whole population. One spent at least thirty minutes in the measured location – people who even just passed the trams [don’t] counted,” adds Lucie Jungmannová, a spokeswoman for the company.

Albertov had seen an unprecedented weekend. On Saturday the streets of Chinaski sounded with Tomáš Klus, Voxel and the band ONLY. The visitors enjoyed a truly relaxed atmosphere and the whole program was peaceful. On Sundays, singing was performed early in the morning, student clubs and civic initiatives filled the street, presenting their activities there. Almost two dozen speakers performed on the stage,” Michal Zima commented on the course of the event.

Concert for the future

Filled with Wenceslas Square right from the beginning of the program was a video mapping at the National Theater building and special lighting effects of Tata Bojs. There were fourteen musical performances. “The greatest success of this year’s Concert for the Future is, besides the attendance, mainly the feeling that all citizens are taking home with them. Positive atmosphere, many strong ideas, and great bands. Grumpy fest Jan Gregar.

Korzo Národní

At Národní třída, there were more than 125,000 people. In the afternoon, the organizers had to shorten or cancel some of the 120 program points for safety reasons. Nevertheless, the program of celebrations was a great success, especially the screenings of Memory of the Nation prepared in cooperation with Post Bellum, Prayer for Marta by Aneta Langerová, or the traditional meeting with personalities in the Václav Havel Living Room.

Burger King is now becoming the largest chain of restaurants in Europe. It has been in operation for almost 70 years, but it has probably never experienced such a novelty until now.

The American fast food chain has always specialized in burgers of all kinds, especially one kind – the taste of meat prepared on an open fire. However, these guarantees no longer apply. Burger King is starting to replace beef with its most popular Whopper vegetable alternative.

“In almost 70 years of history, Burger King has been one of the largest product launches on the market. We are introducing a 100% Whopper with 0 percent meat that has gained tremendous interest in the United States and is now coming to Europe,” reported by Daniel Ryška, Head of Burger King in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, today at the recently opened Burger King branch in Prague on I.P. Pavlova.

The new burger is called Rebel Whopper and, according to Ryška, it is exactly the Whopper that everyone knows and loves, but no longer contains meat.

Rebel Whopper also comes to 24 other European countries, including Poland, Germany, and Italy, being enjoyed in over 2,500 restaurants.

Although the food chain back in America betted on the fast-growing company Impossible Foods—which specializes in vegetable burgers in Europe—it opted for the Dutch manufacturer Vegetarian Butcher.

This is because Impossible Foods in Europe has genetically modified ingredients that must first undergo continent testing before being sold. A great choice for Ryška, because the meat in Rebel Whopper is really easily interchangeable in all ingredients.

“That’s why we chose Vegetarian Butcher for cooperation,” Ryška said.

Jaap Korteweg, founder of Vegetarian Butcher, also shared his thoughts on the partnership with Burger King. “Working with Burger King on Rebel Whopper has been a great experience and we look forward to seeing Burger King customers now.” As a farmer in 1998, he decided to stop eating meat after the outbreak of swine fever. Since then, he has been working on plant alternatives that he works to perfection.

Iconic dishes with different names, similar use of meat

US customers have been going to Impossible Whopper for several months now, and European customers will be getting used to Rebel Whopper. According to Daniel Ryška, the composition and productions are slightly different, but the vegetable meat are very similar (cooked on open fire next to beef patties, too). There is still tomato, iceberg lettuce, mayonnaise, ketchup, cucumber, onion and sesame lump in the sandwich.

Ryška revealed that during December, the chain will deploy self-service kiosks in line with the competition and offer the possibility to exchange meat for standard burger meat next year.

There had already been a vegetarian alternative, in the form of a vegetable pancake, called Veggie Burger. However, Ryška sees much more potential in Rebel Whopper.

The popularity of vegetable-meat dish alternatives is increasing all over the world as the younger generation, in particular, is increasingly addressing and becoming more aware about the impact of their behavior(s) on the environment and what they eat today. This new trend has only just begun in the Czech Republic.

There are about 13 percent of flexitarians in the European Union—people who focus on vegetarian diets—but they still enjoy meat occasionally. Them, and others like them, are who Burger King wants to focus on.

Prague is the second fastest developing city in the European Union, thanks to aid from world trade exposure and high increase in the educated workforce.

This stems from the CEE Investment Report entitled “Thriving Metropolitan Cities,” which analyzed 200 cities and ranked them according to GDP per capita, “human capital,” and city connectivity based on the number of passengers at local airports.

Irish Dublin became the winner of the ranking. Prague has risen to the top by attracting foreign investors to a highly educated workforce that exceeds the EU average and can be compared to, for example, Paris and Madrid. After Prague ended Wroclaw, followed by Sofia, fifth is Košice.

“Few people realize that the quality of life in the largest cities in Central and Eastern Europe, such as Warsaw, Prague and Budapest, is almost comparable to Western Europe. It is not as high as it is in Paris or London, but is approaching some of the renowned Western cities, such as Rome or Madrid,” says a study published by Skanska, Dentons and Colliers International.

In general, the cities of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) dominate the European Union’s list of fastest growing metropolitan areas. CEE cities ranked 20 out of 20 on the ranking.

Warsaw and Prague may even become the second Milan or Berlin in the future. “There will be only two or three world cities in Europe, such as London, Paris or, to a lesser extent, Frankfurt. Then cities like Milan or Berlin are a bit lower, and Central European capitals can find their place at this level,” says Michael Batty, a British urban planner and geographer, and a professor at University College London.

It is also a fact that Eastern European cities still have nowhere to grow. “The last years have been particularly good for the region. GDP growth remained strong despite the onset of a slowdown in the euro area. In 2018, the difference in growth between CEE and the euro area was the largest since the last financial crisis. The explanation is the very strong growth in consumption due to wage growth, ”says the study. Another factor is the relocation of production from Western Europe to Central and Eastern Europe, both in terms of industry and services.

Regarding foreign investment, the authors of the study note the influence of Asia. Since 2013, the CEE region has accounted for less than 3 percent of all capital spent by Asian investors outside their continent. This year, however, this number jumped to 9.5 percent.

South Korea dominates Asian investment in CEE. In the first half of 2019, South Korean companies invested 686 million euros (17.6 billion crowns) here, overtaking German investments. In this context, the study expresses its surprise at the excellent air connections that Asia cities such as Prague have.

After reducing emissions, eliminating noise and protecting groundwater and surface waters, Václav Havel Airport is embarking on a new environmental protection program. It aims to reduce the consumption of disposable plastics in the airport environment as much as possible and to encourage passengers to consume this kind of plastic as little as possible.

For our company, plastic products are becoming an increasing issue to fight against. Even if we now completely stop the production of all plastics and their products, they will still be a problem for many generations to come.

According to a study published in 2017 in the prestigious science journal Science, we have managed to “enrich” our planet by 8.3 billion tons of plastics, whose collection, recycling and subsequent disposal will be a big problem. Moreover, the production rate of plastics remains high and if we do not significantly reduce it, we can be overwhelmed with up to 34 billion tons of plastics in 2050.

This scenario not only stresses out many but also begins to affect many businesses and governments that try to avoid it. This is evident by the recent decision of the European Union to definitively ban the use of disposable plastics, which are one of the most problematic forms of plastic products. It wants to say goodbye to Václav Havel Airport nowadays in the new program Plastics No Longer.

“Although the European Parliament has approved a ban on the use of disposable plastics only since 2021, Prague Airport is already launching its own initiative and will gradually put into practice concrete measures to reduce disposable plastics. The aim is, among other things, to motivate passengers to reduce their environmental impact and to travel with, for example, reusable beverage bottles or to dispose of beverages in disposable plastic bottles prior to a security check but to empty them and use them again,” said the Director of Prague Airport Environmental Protection.

In the fight against plastics, Prague Airport joins other airports around the world, including San Francisco. This completely banned the sale of water in plastic bottles at the terminal, which is one of the most common and often unnecessarily thrown away plastic waste due to airport checks and drinks while waiting for connections. It is often impossible to fill the bottle behind the control gates, so there is nothing else to do but to throw it out and buy a new one.

Photo: Prague Airport

Do not throw away the bottle before inspection

One of the measures offered by the new Prague Airport to passengers is, therefore, a sink and drinking system that allows the liquid to be poured out before the check and the same bottle is filled with drinking water free of charge. Sinks can only be found at Terminal 2 for the time being, with more being added.

At the same time, the airport reduced the disposable plastics in the internal catering of the airport staff. Water in plastic bottles will no longer be offered in offices, meeting rooms and various events. They replace glass decanters with water, often enriched with a variety of herbs. Glasses and small coffee milk in a plastic container will replace plastic cups and milk jugs, respectively.

The airport will motivate tenants to take similar steps. Lagardére Travel Retail, which operates several restaurants and snack bars within the airport, joined the Plastics initiative for the first time. In 2020, instead of disposable cups, customers will receive backed-up cups that they will return after drinking.

“Prague Airport also commissioned a study to help with the selection of suitable alternatives for disposable plastics. Therefore, when choosing alternatives, we will focus on the entire product life cycle, not just one aspect, such as biodegradability. Our aim is to choose a variant that is truly environmentally more beneficial than a plastic variant. Plastic is not always the worst variant, as is gradually confirmed,” added Soňa Hykyšová.

Photo: Prague Airport

The last playroom ended in Prague 7.

In October, the last gambling site at Milady Horákové street was closed. Prague 7 thus achieved zero tolerance to gambling, which the city district enforced due to the City of Prague’s decree in 2015.

“It’s great news. In 2015, we set a zero-tolerance against gambling and gaming machines through a decree of the City of Prague 7. Since then, we have been pushing the Treasury to speed up the lengthy process of licensing. It took longer than [expected], but in the end it [happened]. Prague 7 is now completely without gambling and gaming machines.

Shops filled with gambling sites and pawnshops. We are pleased that Prague 7 is no longer contributing to becoming a pathological player and destroying life,” said the Mayor of Prague 7, Jan Čižinský.

The local referendum on the abolition of gambling clubs in Prague 7 took place in 2014. Although ultimately, it was not due to lower participation than required by law, almost 92% of the more than seven thousand voting citizens voted in favor of zero tolerance.

“The signal from our citizens was absolutely clear. At the beginning of the last parliamentary term, 26 gambling venues were allowed in Prague 7, and we did everything we could to cancel them all. There are a number of negative phenomena associated with casinos and gambling, whether from security or social perspective. Also in Prague 7, there were several very problematic gambling houses, where public order and even criminal offenses were often violated. At the same time, the availability of gambling clubs has a very negative impact on the number of pathological players or people who, through gambling, found themselves in crisis situations,” said Prague 7 Councilor Ondřej Mirovský.

In Prague 7 there is currently only one license for a game room on Komunardů Street. However, this game room has been closed for some time and a café opens in November (in replacement of it). The license expires on December 31, 2019.

Shared services thrive in the capital. The same is true of so-called carsharing. The number of cars in this segment could almost double in the coming months.

The first foreign player entered the market this past spring. The Anytime multinational service first deployed a hundred cars to Prague’s streets. Now it intends to expand its fleet by another two hundred vehicles.

Next year, the German Volkswagen is considering entering the Prague market with the WeShare service, whose electric car has already proved its worth in Berlin. The Hungarian GreenGo is also planning to expand this year, which will also offer around a hundred electric vehicles in the capital.

According to experts, carsharing services, along with well-functioning public transport and taxis, can make part of society decide not to own a car. “In a large Prague-like agglomeration, one shared car can replace up to ten parked cars in the streets,” explains Kryštof Kruliš, Chairman of the Consumer Forum Board.

Car sharing will soon find a use for small entrepreneurs, as well. At least the director of the Institute of Circular Economy Soňa Jonášová thinks so. “It is important not to try to apply these new concepts in every area and field. We need to analyze the needs of the car,” she adds.

Universities also involved

So far, five companies registered in the Czech Carsharing Association have offered their services in the capital. Among them is Uniqway University, which was established in cooperation with three Prague universities. It celebrated its founding day a few days ago and is now going to launch seven more cars into the streets.

In addition to students, cars and people from partner universities can rent cars as part of carsharing. “One of our main goals is to meet students becoming mobile and learning to take advantage of a shared economy,” says Uniqway manager Dominika Svárovská. Most often, students use cars in Prague. “Or for weekend trips and trips home but sometimes also abroad,” adds Svárovská.

Interest mainly in men

Anytime plans to expand its services by two hundred cars these days. “The inhabitants of Prague and its surroundings enjoy our service. That is why we decided to triple our offer,” says Milan Beutl, the company’s director.

One hundred Volkswagen e-ups will be brought to the capital by the Hungarian company GreenGo, which started its operations in Budapest three years ago. Volkswagen, which wants to enter the Prague car-sharing market next year, has not yet provided details.

Those who care most about car sharing are “the younger age group, and significantly more men than women have the closest approach to it,” Beutl explains.

The advantage of shared cars is that drivers can park in blue zones for free in Prague. Cars are mostly equipped with automatic transmission and parking camera.

Vladimír Pinta played the saxophone and trombone on the Old Town Square for 17 years. Originally a teacher, he performed in cafes, nightclubs, ships, and foreign hotels. Although his love to perform is on the street, he was threatened with thousands of crowns fines due to the new Busker Decree (recently became valid).

The 86-year-old has been performing regularly on the streets of Prague’s center since 2002. The municipality excluded street artists from the Old Town Square and the musician had to leave his usual place.

Vladimír Pinta sits comfortably on his folding chair opposite the Baroque church of St. Nicholas. With his back to the Old Town Square, he prepares a mouthpiece for his saxophone. While carefully cleaning the musical instrument, people look at it curiously.

The ban on so-called busking extends to the whole of Old Town Square, Velkopřevorské náměstí, náměstí Míru, Nerudova Street and part of Spalena. In addition, it prohibits “appearances in disguises of animals or characters from films, television programs or computer games” and “appearances in disguises clearly beyond the proportions of an adult.”

“As soon as I blow, I’ll tell you a nice story,” said Vladimír Pinta. He used to perform on Charles Bridge—where the amended decree does not apply and is governed by separate conditions—but had to leave his spot.

Source: Vladimir Pinta Facebook

He has no fear of city policemen and intends to defend himself against a possible fine. Years ago, he obtained permission to operate artistic activities in public space and intends to prove it in the event that the officers hit him. This also happened on Sunday and, in his words, his permit did not help him with the police officers, so he had to leave his place under the threat of a fine.

“On the street, I can see what the regime has changed,” he says. When the musician plays the first tones of his favorite jazz records on the saxophone, tourists and strangers stop by and listen to him with a smile on their lips as they record Vladimír Pint on their phones.

The artist is a favorite among tourists in Prague; his recordings of theatrical performances can be found on a number of YouTube videos. He even has a fan group on Facebook. People throw small coins into his hat and get a sight from his wife.

“And now I’ll play Ave Maria unaccompanied”

He goes to the center to play from Revnice near Prague, where he lives with his wife several times a week (according to his mood). Years ago, Vladimír also performed in cafes and nightclubs throughout Prague, and during his engagement, he met Karel Gott at Alfa Café on Wenceslas Square. While he was already a seasoned musician, Gott’s career was just at the beginning.

Pint used to play with Bob Šmidrkal, Ladislav Bezubka, Zbyněk “Hennessy” Červinka or Karel Hála, and Olabí Svobodová.

“When the Russians arrived in ’68, the whole band I played with ran away to Germany and no one could understand why I didn’t run away with them.” “And now I play unaccompanied Ave Maria,” he says, beeping and then singing. The financial contributions from the listeners did not wait long.

Nevertheless, during his life, Vladimír Pinta has become famous abroad as well. “He could play in various places; he was recently invited to Mexico, too. But he’s happy and especially to play whatever he wants,” explains wife Daniela Pintová.

Photo: Jakub Plíhal

Sinatra [and] salsa

Vladimír Pinta also likes to play his own compositions, which mostly deal with contemporary society and problems. You can also listen to them on the Internet Youradio.

“I like this one,” he says before blowing into the saxophone, from which the tones of Sinatra’s hit The Way You Look Tonight line up with the accompanying music from the speaker. Pinta sings not only in Czech and English but also in Italian or Spanish. He learned the correct pronunciation of Latin and Spanish songs from [a] Colombian, whom he met during one of his street-playing sessions.

Mr. Pinta does not understand the municipality’s decisions too much. “It’s strange. We were in Valencia and the buskers we met in Prague, we met there. They take turns in different places and may have amplifiers. I don’t understand why they cut it here,” he says.

“I’m not the one lying in bed watching or walking in the waiting rooms. So if I have to go away, I’ll go abroad for example,” concludes the musician, then puts a saxophone back in his mouth and closes his eyes to begin another tune.

After being banished from Old Town Square, he moved temporarily to the nearby Franz Kafka Square.

Source: Vladimir Pinta Facebook

Prague will see new concrete additions in the coming years. The “Prague: Next” exhibition—which visitors could see in the Mánes Exhibition Hall—revealed the architecture’s direction of individual city districts.

The exhibition, organized by Czech Architecture Week Prague, presented over 190 present and future visions of urban development in the Czech capital. Visitors had the opportunity to see a number of models of buildings and look under the lid of the preparation of magnificent buildings. At the same time, the exhibition charted the development of Prague from 1918 to 1938.

Residence U Milosrdných

Location: U Milosrdnych, Prague 1
Architect: Fránek architects s.r.o.
Realization: 2020-2021

The building of the apartment house U Milosrdných seeks to respect the historical center of Prague, and its architecture is inspired by textiles and fabrics. This inspiration is also evident in details such as the undulating and serrated facade.

Smíchov City

Location: Smíchovské nádraží, Prague 5
Architects: A69 architects, Cuba and Pilar architects, Haascookzemmrich STUDIO 2050, Chalub architects, Labus – AA – Architectural studio + IGLODO, D3A, Projectile Architects
Realization: 2019-2020

Smíchov City will be a modern multifunctional district that will be built in the area of the former freight station Praha-Smíchov (on an area of 20 hectares). It will provide housing for approximately 3,300 inhabitants. A number of shops, restaurants, and offices will be built on-site, providing facilities for 9,000 jobs.

Smichov City

Victoria Palace

Location: Vítězné náměstí, Prague 6
Architect: Jakub Ciger architects
Realization: 2019-2020

Victoria Palace will be a unique apartment building that will grow up between the streets of Jugoslávských partyzánů and Verdunská. According to the project, the building interconnects contemporary modern architecture with the historical intention of the palace neoclassical look of the Victory Square from the 20th century by the renowned architect professor Antonín Engel.

Victoria Palace in Prague 6

Residence Palata

Location: Holečkova, Prague 5
Architect: Ing. Jan Šesták
Realization: 2019

In an attractive location under Strahov is a residential project, which will provide a quiet living next to the Kinsky garden. The name of the project reflects the history of the place where the former homestead Dolní Palata used to stand. The project will be built on the site of the historic building U Modrého Zvonu.

Green Point

Location: Mozartova, Prague 5
Architect: AHK architekti, s.r.o.
Realization: 2017-2019

The GREEN POINT office building is growing near Mozartova and Plzeňská streets. The building will offer nine aboveground and three underground floors. The building will be equipped with modern technologies and at the same time reflect the requirements for ecological sustainability.

Green Point at Andel

New Town Hall Prague 12

Location: Generála Šišky, Prague 12
Architect: LOXIA a.s.
Realization: Under construction

Prague 12 will soon be one of the most modern city halls in the capital. The architects also focused on making the building look timeless, combining three basic elements. The first is cubes that are lined up along the street and delimit the entire area. The main facade is oriented to the west, from where visitors of the office will flow. Finally, the illuminated pillared facade with a clock will define the entire town hall.

Park Kavčí Hory

Location: Kavčí hory, Prague 4
Architect: Josef Pleskot
Realization: in preparation

A modern park will be built on the site of the unused brownfield, which will offer Prague citizens a place to relax with plenty of greenery. The winning design by Josef Pleskot came from competition under the auspices of the Czech Chamber of Architects.

Park Kavčí Hory