The contest organised by local urban research platform ONplan lab on behalf of Penta Real Estate seeks compelling proposals for 85,000m2 of mixed-use development including new homes, offices, leisure spaces, and retail areas.The project comes three years after a team including London practice Marko and Placemakers won a high-profile contest to re-masterplan the entire 24ha Florenc area.Florenc is the largest brownfield site in close contact with Pragues historic city centre. It is shaped by transport infrastructure, including a bus terminal, train station and highway flyover, and represents one of the citys most complex urban challenges.AdvertisementAccording to the brief: The objective of the architectural competition is to generate compelling design proposals for the western part of the Florenc redevelopment zone into a vibrant, mixed-use neighbourhood featuring new homes, offices, leisure spaces, and retail areas. Total gross floor area of Phase West is 85,000 m2.The site is divided into four distinct blocks of different sizes and functional use, each with its dedicated competition. All four competitions will run in parallel through three phases and share a common jury.Bjarke Ingels Group won an international contest organised by The City of Prague for a major new 204 million (CZK 6.1 billion) waterfront concert hall close to the Vltavsk metro station in 2022. The City of Prague also announced an international competitive dialogue to rethink a prominent 56ha waterfront site in the same year.Penta Real Estate is one of the largest independent developers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and has worked on previous schemes by Serie Architects and Fuksas. Fourteen years ago, Zaha Hadid Architects won a competition held by the developer for a high-rise Sky Park development in Bratislava.Czech architectural studio ADNS architekti won a contest launched three years ago by Penta Real Estate to design a mixed-use development in Pragues post-industrial Vysoany suburb. In 2023, Studio Egret West and Snhetta working in a 50:50 collaboration alongside local practice Gro Architekti were named overall winners of a Penta Real Estate contest to redevelop Bratislava Southbank.AdvertisementJudges of the latest contest will include the German architect Stefan Behnisch, Italian architect Maria Alessandra Segantini, Dutch urbanist Kees Christiaanse and Czech Architecture Prize winner tpn Valouch.Up to eight teams will be shortlisted for each site and invited to participate in the design phase of the competition. The contest features a 700,000 prize fund and the overall winners will be announced in autumn 2025.Competition detailsProject title Florenc21: Phase West Penta Real EstateClientContract value TbcFirst round deadline 13 December 2024Restrictions TbcMore information https://florenc21.eu/