Tens of thousands of passengers pass through the Václav Havel Airport in Prague each day, and their numbers will continue to increase in the future. Just last year the volume increased by 7.5% year on year. The influx of passengers itself makes demands for the development of the public space in front of the terminals to the largest Czech airport, which is not suitable over the long term. Czech Aeroholding, in collaboration with the Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR) therefore announced a transport and urbanistic competition in order to gain an expert view of the transport system and an overall plan for the future of the outdoor public spaces.

15 proposals were submitted for the first round of the competition, of which the Commission selected the five best plans for the second round, for which the competing teams further refined their overall projects. The final winner was selected by a seven-member jury composed of professional representatives and representatives from Czech Aeroholding. The jury did not award a second place and the third place was divided between the plans submitted by Ateliér D3A and a combined team from CMC Architects and Ateliér DUA.

“The winning project comes the closest to our plans to reorganise the transport system and to modernise and improve the area in front of the airport terminals,” said Václav Řehoř, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Czech Aeroholding.

According to the jury, the winning design represents the best approach to an extremely complex task involving the reorganisation of the transport system and providing a new concept for the public spaces in front of the terminals. The design introduces a modern concept for restricting surface transport and prioritising pedestrians, who are the main users of the public space at ground level. In the winning design, the area in front of the terminals will become a sophisticated extension of the concourse areas.

“As soon as we have closed the period for filing objections, we will start to discuss further cooperation with the authors of the winning design. The first stage will then involve land use plans, to finalise the project, and this will lay the groundwork for the next steps. Our priority will be to establish a new transport system, with state-of-the-art and clear navigation aids for drivers, to reorganise taxi services and airport parking,” was how Mr Řehoř outlined the next steps.

“I am delighted that Czech Aeroholding decided to hold an architectural competition. As an important and respected institution, it has set a positive example for others,” said IPR Prague Director, Petr Hlaváček. “The redevelopment of the airport is also one of the priorities set out in the Metropolitan Plan, as well as in the upcoming strategic plan,” he added.

The competition designs will be made available to the public in an exhibition presenting all the designs submitted, which should take place during next year at Václav Havel Airport.

More information on the competition can be found on www.iprpraha.cz/letiste, where all the competition designs will also be available within 14 days.

The redevelopment of the terminals and the surrounding area is part of Prague airport’s long term plan to make the time passengers spend at the airport more pleasant. This is part of the Měníme letiště pro vás, (We are changing the airport for you) project, which also includes changes in the parking system and catering services. For more see www.menimeletiste.cz.