Sustainable Architecture in Prague and the ČR

Prague has come to serve as a sort of living museum for a vast array of architectural styles that span centuries. But as environmental concerns dominate the world’s agenda, can the beautiful buildings of the Czech capital also serve as a living example for energy efficiency and eco-friendly design?

In 2007, ČSOB Group opened its award-winning, LEED Gold certified headquarters in Prague, becoming the first LEED-certified building in the country. Skanska, which managed the ČSOB project, is now bringing the country another first—the first LEED Platinum (the highest LEED certification) building with the construction of the City Green Court office in Pankrác. The eight-story structure will see a drastic reduction in energy consumption with a highly efficient building envelop, and also features the use of natural ventilation, state-of-the-art mechanical systems, reduction and reuse of stormwater runoff, indoor air quality control, green roof and the use of local and recycled construction materials. Natural daylighting is key to the building, hinging upon a light-filled multi-story atrium.

City Green Court is the third building to be designed by New York-based architectural firm Richard Meiers & Partners as part of a 10-year revitalization master plan for a superblock on the Pankrác Plains. Construction on City Green Court began in September 2010 and completion is slated for early 2012.

“Skanska Property Czech Republic, our associate architect CUBOID, and our local consultants in Prague are fast becoming experts in green building design,” said partner in charge Dukho Yeon from Richard Meier & Partners. “With its tautly composed form and elements, City Green Court embodies a certain discipline and restraint designed within the framework of Skanska´s green initiative. We hope that we continue to educate each other and influence future development with a critical outlook on architecture and social responsibility.”

Headquartered in Sweden, Skanska is no stranger to building sustainably, and has in fact brought Czech Republic many of its other green design structures. The Kladno Environmental Education Center, which opened in 2009, features a PassivHaus design – a German style that results in ultra-low energy consumption–and won the the Czech Ministry of Environment Ecological Building Award in 2009 and the Czech State Environmental Fund´s Energy Efficiency Building of the Year award in 2010.

Since the early 2000s, there have been several dozen private residences constructed in the Passiv Haus style all around the Czech Republic. But a recently introduced EU directive is setting the sustainability bar rather high: all new buildings in the EU, both commercial and residential, are required to be “nearly zero energy”, in accordance with Passiv Haus criteria, by 2020. Centrum pasivního domu (The Passive Haus Centre), a Brno-based non-profit organization that helps to promote the idea of Passive Haus construction in the Czech Republic, claims its vision is that by 2018, every new house in the Czech Republic will be constructed according to the Passiv Haus standard.

Already an oasis for the architecture buff, and a fertile ground for experiments in sustainable building, Prague has just stepped up its efforts in guiding future architects in the right direction with the opening of a new and private architecture school, ARCHIP. Classes began in the fall of 2010, and include a course in sustainable architecture. The course is taught by Ondrej Hofmeister, architect at the award-winning design firm Projektil, the minds behind the Czech Technical University’s new National Technical Library, completed in 2009 and winner of the 2009 Czech Grand Design award and the 2010 Grand Prix of Architects.

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