The Diplomky 2020 competition show brought awards to four students from the Faculty of Architecture

The jury awarded the 2nd prize to Julie Kopecká for the diploma projects of the railway station in Pec pod Sněžkou processed under Tomáš Hradečný, Vojtěch Rudorfer won the Honorary Jury Recognition for Ny-Ålesund, the hangar for the research airship that he designed in the studio of Mirko Baum and Vojtěch Hybler. Tomáš Pevný received a Special Award from Cegra for the project of Fláje Waterworks, which he worked under the direction of prof. Petr Hájek and Tomáš Rain received special Award of Czech Centres for DP on the conversion of the Branické ledárny site, which he created under the direction of prof. Václav Girsa.

The ceremony took place at the Centre of Architecture and Urban Planning on January 12, 2021 and was carried online (here you can find the recorded footage). The aim of the competition show is to compare the quality of teaching in universities focused on architecture teaching in the Czech Republic. The submitted diploma projects, which were successfully defended by university graduates and architectural education faculty last academic year, were evaluated by a panel of experts headed by president Monika Mitášová. The other judges were architects Tomáš Jiránek and Alena Mičeková, architecture historian and theorist Benjamin Fragner and columnist Petr Volf.

The overall winner was Jakub Wiesner from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. The second prize went to Julie Kopecká from our faculty for her work at the railway station in Pec pod Sněžkou. According to the jury, it is a demonstration of the possible typology of railway stops following a sensitive landscape solution. The judges stressed that it was a generous piece of landscaping, not just the construction of transport infrastructure. They appreciated the sensitive involvement in the structure of the site and the convincing minimalist, yet dynamic, conception of the object itself, which expands the existing typology of railway stations. Veronika Chalupová from Mendel University's Faculty of Horticulture in Brno finished third.

The honorary recognitions were awarded by the jury of Blanka Štuříková of the Faculty of Architecture of the VUT in Brno and Vojtěch Rudorfer of the Faculty of Architecture of the CTU in Prague, who in his thesis project designed the Ny-Ålesund Hangar for a research airship with scientific and technical equipment. The work, according to the jury, oscillates on the edge of structural sophistication and architectural solution. The judges appreciated the precision of the construction system, including the calculations and the execution of the details. The project, they say, is characterized by a perfectionism not common in universities.

The jury also awarded five special prizes, two of them for graduates of the Faculty of Architecture of CTU Tomáš Pevný and Tomáš Rain. Tomáš Pevný received the Cegra Company Special Award for the Waterwork of Fláje. He designed a concrete dam that turns into a columbarium and a ceremonial cemetery hall. According to the jury, the author empathically completes the concrete temple, based on its factual and visual power, and uses it to underpin new development.

​​Tomáš Rain won the Special Award of the Czech Centres for the project of the Conversion of the Branické ledárny. It is a proposal for a gallery for the location of the Slavic epoch within a multipurpose cultural facility. This space, according to the jury, is exactly what's been searched for years, yet it is in plain sight. All you need is good will and rare paintings will finally find a permanent home in Prague.

Other winners were Roman Balšán from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Jan Urbášek from the Faculty of Architecture at Brno University of Technology or Jakub Vašek from the neighboring Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague.

The diploma show is a competition of the Czech Chamber of Architects for recent graduates of universities and faculties providing architectural education in an accredited master's degree course focusing on architecture, urban planning or landscape architecture. It is open to all candidates who have successfully defended their diploma projects at a recognised and related school in the relevant academic year.

All works and jury assessments are available on the website diplom.ky.