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The public can familiarize themselves with the Nové Hlavák project at the information stand directly at the main station
In connection with the participation of the winning proposal of the competitive dialogue on the landscaping of the main station in Prague, an information stand has been open in the main station's concourse since 10 January. It will be possible to get all the information about the proposal right on the spot until 21 January 2024 and at the same time, from 12 January, visitors will be able to take advantage of a unique 3D walk through Nová Hlavák and the park with special VR glasses. On the same date, it will be possible to fill in a survey at the stand, which is also available online on the project website.
Are you interested in Nový Hlavák? View recordings of public presentations and discussions.
What does the final design of the new "Hlavák" look like? How do the finalists of the competition dialogue want to create a more pleasant and safer place? What was the process of the competitive dialogue? What was the process of announcing the competitive dialogue? Watch the recordings of the presentations and discussions on the project.
Newsletter
Reaction to the current listing of the New Check-in Hall (NOH) of the main railway station in Prague as a cultural monument in the NPÚ catalogue
The Prague City Council, together with the Railway Administration and the Transport Company of the Capital City of Prague, will be responsible for the construction of the railway station. The Prague City Council, together with the Railways of Prague, as the commissioners of the Nový Hlavák Competition Dialogue, consider it necessary to comment on the current situation.
The registration of the main station hall in the catalogue of cultural monuments of the National Institute of Culture came unexpectedly literally overnight and is a surprise for us. However, the listing is based on invalid justification and has no legal basis. The hasty and unsubstantiated action of the National Heritage Institute is not only substandard, but also gives the impression of expediency. Our goal at this point is to get a clear and final opinion from the authorities, with which the winning team can continue working on the architectural study. We are therefore ready to discuss the situation further with the National Institute of Architecture.
During the creation of the tender documentation for the competitive dialogue, we consulted the situation with the National Heritage Institute and the Department of Heritage Care of the Prague City Hall. Representatives of the National Heritage Institute confirmed to us at a meeting before the announcement of the Tender Dialogue that the NOH is not a registered monument. In addition, the Institute had a draft of the competition assignment, which the conservationists did not dispute in any way, and based on the discussion it was added that the participants in the competitive dialogue were expected to follow a sensitive approach to the reconstruction of buildings in the Prague Conservation Area. This makes today's development all the more striking.
Only at the very final stage of the competitive dialogue did the Ministry of Culture tell us that it considered the NOH a cultural monument, referring to the opinion of the Railway Authority. The latter first referred to the NOH as an extension of the Fanta building and then corrected its opinion after completing the documents. This corrected opinion (attached hereto) now shows that the NOH is not an extension to the Fanta building, as the NOH does not meet the condition of being an integral and functionally connected part of the Fanta building. The original communication from the Ministry of Culture has thus lost any justification.
On the other hand, the New Apron forms a structural and functional unit together with the main line, the metro and the side ramps, and thus, if the NOH were to be protected as a cultural monument, parts of the main line or the car park on the roof of the NOH would also be part of the cultural monument. Throughout the entire existence of the NOH, it has not been treated as a cultural monument by the conservation authorities. Repeated discussions on heritage protection were held during the competitive dialogue with the clear result that there is no valid document proving the heritage protection of NOH. This fact is also confirmed by the hasty addition of NOH to the catalogue of the National Heritage Institute three days after the publication of the results of the competitive dialogue. The entire Competitive Dialogue was therefore completed in the knowledge that there was no legal or other basis for considering the hall a cultural monument.
The hall itself was not registered as a cultural monument in the catalogue of the National Heritage Institute until 30 November 2023. The building of the New Check-in Hall was even proposed as a cultural monument by the National Institute of Culture in the past (in 2004), but the Ministry of Culture rejected the proposal and did not initiate the procedure for declaring it a cultural monument. However, in the current registration there is an addendum about this type of legal protection since 1958. However, the hall was not built until 1973-1979. The confused and unconceptual behaviour of the conservation authorities does not change the fact that we, as the contracting authorities, drew the attention of the participants to the architectural value of the hall as well as to the conservation status of the entire area already during the competitive dialogue. They also reflected it in their proposals.
More information about the Competitive Dialogue, participation and proposals can be found on the website www.novyhlavak.com
Exhibition
An exhibition is currently being held in the main station's New Termina Hall, which presents the Nový Hlavák Competition Dialogue in detail and includes a summary of the results of the public participation. After the results are announced on November 27, the winning design will be displayed there.
At the same time, the participation of the winning design will begin. The stakeholders and the public will have the opportunity to see and comment on the winning design. For local residents, working and studying in and around the area, a meeting on the proposal with a discussion is planned (December 13), and an information booth will be opened in the New Terminal Hall in January for the public to find out all about the proposal and fill in a survey. The survey will be available at the stand and online. The link will be on this website from January 10, 2024.
The announcement of the results of the competitive dialogue design will take place on 27 November
The Nový Hlavák Competition Dialogue is coming to a close. In the second week of October, the evaluation committee met and, after presenting the individual proposals, selected the finalists of the competitive dialogue as the winning proposal procurement procedure for the revitalisation of Vrchlického sady Park, new construction of the tramway line Muzeum – Bolzanova and reconstruction of the New Terminal Hall of the Prague Main Railway Station.
More passengers will use the railway in the future, so modernization is needed
On August 23, representatives of the Railway Administration and the Capital City of Prague discussed the future of railways in the Czech Republic and in Prague as part of a round table. The key topics were high-speed lines or the Prague railway hub, which are supposed to bring a new impetus to rail transport, which will be used by many times more people in the future.
How the public perceives Hlavní nádraží
In order to find out in detail what Hlavní nádraží means for the public, from May to August 2022 we met with you as part of participatory activities and asked what your relationship is with the territory of the station and what Nový Hlavák should be like. Now we bring you the results of the participation. In total, approximately 800 people took part in the participation process, who formulated the main shortcomings of the current state of the territory and, at the same time, ideas about what the territory should look like in the future and what it should serve.
The finalists of the Nový Hlavák dialogue competition presented their proposals using a unique 3D simulation in virtual reality
In the penultimate phase of the Nový Hlavák competition dialogue, representatives of three selected international architectural studios presented their concept of the revitalization of the Vrchlického sady Park, the new construction of the Muzeum – Bolzanova tram line and the modification of the new departure hall of the Main Railway Station in Prague. The presentation of the projects for the members of the evaluation committee was held in a completely unique way in the virtual reality of the Virtuplex hall. Now comes the final stage of finalizing the proposals based on the comments of the evaluation committee and its experts.
The evaluation committee selected three finalists of the Nový Hlavák dialogue competition
The project of renovation of the New Terminal Hall of the Prague Main Railway Station, revitalisation of Vrchlického sady Park in front of it and planned construction of the tram line Muzeum – Bolzanova to the Main station has stepped into its next phase. Three international architectural teams advanced into the final round of the competitive dialogue. The evaluation committee chose them in the first half of December after considering all the architectural concepts.
Advancing architectural teams met up in Prague
Five selected architectural teams that advanced to the next round of the competitive dialogue received an invitation of the contracting authorities to scout the area in question. The competing teams got to take in the extended assignment, documentation and surveys. The two day stay in Prague ended with a two-hour presentation and open discussion on October 7. The conceptual backgrounds, packed portfolios, individual presentation of world-renowned architects attracting a wide public to Prague’s CAMP confirmed, that the revitalization of the Prague Main Station and its surroundings is a highly monitored topic.
Nový Hlavák – Expert Committee Selected Five Architectural Teams for the Next Stage of the Competitive Dialogue.
On the 13th and 14th of September, an expert committee session focusing on the approach methodologies of the registered teams took place. The committee session was a part of the Competitive Dialogue Procurement Procedure for the revitalisation of Vrchlického sady Park, new construction of the tramway line Muzeum – Bolzanova and the reconstruction of the New Terminal Hall of the Prague Main Railway Station. Out of the 26 entries, the committee selected five architectural teams which are advancing to the next phase of the competitive dialogue.
Meeting of the evaluation commitee
On Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 September, the evaluation committee will meet as a part of the competitive dialogue. The selected judges will evaluate the individual approach methodologies of the teams that have passed the qualification phase. Following the session, five architectural teams will emerge to continue the competitive dialogue. We will keep you informed about the results, and we will gradually unveil teams that made the cut.
Competitive dialogue Nový Hlávák announces the number of participants
Prague, July 20 2022 – The tender procedure with a competitive dialogue to revitalize Vrchlického sady park, new construction of the tramway line Muzeum - Bolzanova and reconstruction of the New Terminal Hall of Prague Main Railway Station attracted 26 architectonic teams from Czechia and from abroad.