Karlovy Vary concert hall wins Czech Architecture Award 2024
This year’s Czech Architecture Award went to the new Concert Hall in Karlovy Vary, set within the renovated Imperial Spa complex.
The newly completed Concert Hall in Karlovy Vary, designed by architects Petr Hájek, Nikoleta Slováková, and Martin Stoss of the Petr Hájek Architekti studio, has won the prestigious Czech Architecture Award for 2024. Located in the historic Imperial Spa, the distinctive red, freestanding structure serves as a new venue for the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra and hosts concerts, theater performances, film screenings, and conferences. With retractable seating, a customizable orchestra pit, and adjustable acoustic panels, the Concert Hall is designed for flexibility and superior sound quality.
The Czech Architecture Award, organized by the Czech Chamber of Architects, attracted 307 entries this year. The jury selected five additional finalists and one honorable mention, highlighting a range of innovative projects across Czechia.
Jan Kasl, chairman of the Czech Chamber of Architects, praised the award’s role in showcasing exceptional architecture, which he believes can inspire both private and public sectors in renovating existing structures and planning new ones.
Among the finalists was a renovated building in Prague now housing art studios and the UMPRUM Technological Center, designed by Ivan Kroupa, Jana Moravcová, and Tomáš Zmek. Another finalist was the Sports Hall in Řevnice, funded by a private investor and intended for local school and community use.
The jury also recognized a creative transformation of an industrial brownfield into a functional space: the adaptation of a former grain silo in Pardubice, part of the revitalized Automatic Mills complex. Architects from Prokš Přikryl focused on improving accessibility and adapting the building for its new purpose. Lukáš Smetana, the project’s initiator, received a special commendation for his exceptional contribution to preserving the complex.
Other finalists included a house renovation in Kutná Hora by Jan Holub and Tomáš Hanus of BYRÓ and a project for a municipal services facility in Prague’s Lysolaje by architects Jan Kalivoda and Vojtěch Kaas from Progres.
This year’s honorable mention went to a unique project revamping a traditional garden pavilion in an allotment colony, also designed by Holub and Hanus of BYRÓ.
The international jury, led by Greek architect Alexandros Vaitsos, included notable figures such as Swiss architect Doris Wälchli, British landscape architect Neil Porter, Austrian architect and urban planner Silja Tillner, Slovak architect Peter Moravčík, Italian architect and writer Adriana Granato, and Lithuanian architect and educator Andrius Ropolas.
