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This year’s National Architecture Award – Architecture Grand Prix was in a way a turning point. For the first time, it was organized by the Society of Czech Architects together with the Czech Chamber of Architects. It was the first time the Academy of Architecture cast their votes. 39 authors were invited to enter as a result of that vote and 30 of them accepted the invitation. The Family House category was introduced for the first time, and it is also the first time all entries will be offered in digital form to the National Gallery – Gallery of Modern Art to record the development of Czech architecture and for further scientific work.
The chairwoman of the Jury, Mrs. Juliette Bekkering from the Netherlands, declared after the Jury finished their work that a large number of entries were on a very high level and there was not so much quality difference between the main and other prizes as one would have expected. Unlike her own country, very few civil buildings financed from public funds were entered. This might give some evidence of the number of architectonical competitions in the Czech Republic. The Czech member of the Jury, Doc. Tomáš Vlček, who had the opportunity to compare with previous years, was pleased by the increasing quality of the show with its total of 116 entries.
I believe that we have all taken the right path.
Ing. arch. Oleg Haman
Chairman of the Czech Architects Society
In Prague on 19. 5. 2008