This year, for the first time, the National Architecture Prize awarded environmentally friendly projects. The first silver cube for the most environmentally friendly construction in this prestigious competition was won by the AMOS Elementary School of Psáry and Dolní Jirčany. "I am very glad that the award went to the public building, especially to the school. It could thus become an example for other contracting authorities in the public sector and not only for them, "said Simon Kalvod, Executive Director of the Czech Green Building Council. The Czech Green Building Council is a professional guarantor of the newly created Green Building category within this most prestigious architectural competition with a 27-year history.
Experts from the Czech Green Building Council participated in the creation of sustainability criteria and selected five finalists from the submitted projects who best met the principles of sustainable development. An expert jury composed of top foreign architects selected the winning project in Psáry.
The quality of the indoor environment is a big problem in our schools. Many schools have invested in insulation as part of subsidies to improve energy savings. This measure stopped heat loss but prevented necessary air exchange. Paradoxically, air quality has worsened in such schools. "We’ve performed measurements in several schools and the CO2 limits were exceeded as early as 20 minutes after the start of teaching," Kalvoda explained. That is why it is important to point out high-quality examples of public buildings, and especially schools, whose operators view the reconstruction or construction comprehensively and address the safety of the building and the quality of the indoor environment for its users.
The example is the new school in Psáry near Prague. It meets the passive energy standard and therefore has an A class energy label. At the same time, it addresses the quality of the indoor environment. An air exchange is provided by a controlled ventilation system with heat recovery, based on CO2 values in classrooms. The water is being saved too. Rainwater from the roof and surfaces is used to flush toilets here. Recycled materials were used as well. “Quality and inspiring indoor environment of the school building is the main topic of the whole project. We have verified that there is no need to sacrifice architectural and spatial qualities of the building, which were always at the forefront of the design, to the strict requirements for low energy consumption. It is still primarily a school for children of the 21st century," said one of the authors of the project, Ondřej Píhrt.
The main prize went to the Modřice Municipal Hall
The jury also awarded prizes in the following categories:
New building - Church of Blessed Mary Restituta, Brno - Lesná
Reconstruction - Headquarters of LASVIT
Family house - Family house in the Dyje valley in Znojmo
Architectural design and reconstruction - Jan Palach Memorial in Všetaty
Interior - House of Wine
Urbanism - Revitalization of Prague embankments
Landscape architecture and garden creation - Tree House
The AMOS Elementary School of Psáry and Dolní Jirčany won a special prize for environmentally friendly construction
The award for lifetime contribution in 2020 was won by architect Jiří Lasovský.