One of the largest periurban parks in Central Europe will be built at the confluence of the Berounka and Vltava Rivers. It will be designed by architects from EMF, NORMA, and PARETO.
The City of Prague, together with the Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR Prague), announced the results of an international landscape and urban design competition for the design of the future Soutok Periurban Park at a gala evening held at the Center for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning (CAMP). The winning team is composed of architectural studios EMF (ES-CT), NORMA (CZ) and PARETO (FR). Their project aims to revitalize the Berounka River, revive the forgotten culture of the landscape, and complement it with new urban solutions and flood protection measures.
A Petr Hlaváček, Deputy Mayor for Spatial Development, notes: “The river floodplain at the confluence of the Berounka and Vltava rivers is a truly significant area of over 1,300 hectares, which unfortunately lacked a clear concept for further development and was threatened with gradual degradation. I am very pleased that we are now taking the Soutok Periurban Park project to the next stage. The winning landscape design, selected by an international expert jury, sensitively integrates the interests of the stakeholders in the area and the necessary flood protections, and finds new, creative urban solutions.“
The riverscape at the confluence of the Berounka and Vltava Rivers hold enormous ecological and landscape potential. Although the area is largely a floodplain with no possibility for conventional development, there is an opportunity for river floodplain revitalization, periurban recreation, sustainable agriculture, and landscape interventions to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The competition aimed to select a development team to design the future shape of the riverscape and, together with residents, find a vision for the long-term development of the area in the form of a periurban park.
The international landscape and urban design competition for the design of park was announced in August 2022. A total of 13 teams from nine countries entered the competition. The international jury, consisting of foreign and Czech experts headed by renowned German urban planner and landscape architect Michael Schwarz-Rodrian, invited six participants to submit a competition proposal. Four designs were then selected for the final stage of the competition, from which the winner has now emerged. In addition to the winning team, the runners-up include Bureau B+B / gogolák + grasse; 4ct / Sendler / CIVITAS / NEUHÄUSL HUNAL; and Mandaworks.
The winning team will work to refine the design to a more detailed scale. The final proposal will also include a framework plan – or a ‘guideplan’ – which will provide guidance on how to develop the entire area.
More information about the project can be found on the website https://www.iprpraha.cz/confluencecompetition