
The Green Quadrant
The competition aimed to provide a missing puzzle piece in one of Prague’s most successful districts, the Dejvice neighbourhood in Prague 6. Ever since Czech architect Antonín Engels completed his masterplan in 1924, one side of Victory Square, at the heart of the masterplan, has remained empty. MVRDV’s entry to the competition resurrects the past that never happened, mediating between historic and contemporary architecture.
- Location
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Status
- Competition
- Year
- 2023
- Surface
- 102000 m²
- Programmes
- Educational, Mixed use, Offices, Retail, Residential, Bar-restaurant
- Themes
- Architecture, Mixed use
Designed alongside AED, Openfabric, and Buro Happold, the proposal's low-carbon ‘veil’ echoes the monumental façades of Antonín Engel’s design, with the rhythm and hierarchy of the neighbouring classical buildings. The project even includes a central arch structure that bridges Technická street, helping to define the axis that formed the highlight of Engel’s plan.
Yet this classical language is reduced to its essence; behind this veil are functional buildings more suited to modern requirements. From balconies, arcades, and winter gardens to planters with shading greenery and even pocket parks, the buildings within the veil step closer and further from the regimented outer façade to accommodate the functions needed in the in-between space.
By creating this flexible interstitial space, the design can also preserve the characteristics of the site that have flourished in the absence of Engel’s proposed design. Where possible, the design preserves the existing trees – including a valuable pear tree – and incorporates them into pocket parks and courtyards. The veil itself can be subtly adapted with arches accommodating routes into the courtyards of the buildings, following the “desire paths” worn into the grass over generations.
The various programmes of the brief are incorporated as efficiently as possible. When viewed from Victory Square, the building on the right contains housing, while the building on the left contains offices and, on the corner between Technická and Studentská streets, the new building of the Prague University of Chemistry and Technology. Both buildings feature ground-level retail, forming a fluid retail circuit that winds in and out of the courtyards, through the veil and along the surrounding streets. The main arched gateway contains a cultural function and a restaurant, while below ground level, a shopping passageway connects the Dejvická metro station to the centre of the site.
With its many-layered approach to the location on Victory Square, the Green Quadrant aims not to be “timeless”, per se – it aims instead to be of all times. It respects the past, while acknowledging how society has progressed; it meets the needs of today, while aiming to provide beyond those needs; and it helps push Prague into the future, while leaving that future open to interpretation.
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Credits
- Architect
- Founding partner in charge
- Director
- Design team
- Competition phase 2:
- Gijs Rikken
- Cas Esbach
- Daniele Dalbosco
- Guido Boeters
- Xiaohu Yan
- Yue Shi
- Partners
- Co-architect:
- AED
- Landscape architect:
- Openfabric
- Advisor:
- Buro Happold
- Visualisations:
- Aand3