All the buildings have one thing in common which is quality. They not only stand out from ordinary buildings, but they largely differ from one another. There is, for instance, a house made of straw with clay inner walls, a multi-storey house faced with copper plates or a single-storey villa.

The aim of the event is to establish a prestigious competition which will present quality architecture mostly for private purposes and which will show that there is more than catalogue houses. The competition wants to award good unbridled ideas. Despite the fact that this year, there were fewer contestants than last year, the quality and originality of authors is increasing. This is the main thing, said minister for regional development, Jiří Čunek, whose ministry together with Czech Chamber of Architect organise the competition.

Thirty one projects had entered the competition and eight of them received an award. Visualizations of the projects are displayed in Veletržní Palace until the 4th of January 2009.

There were four categories in the New Home of the Year 2008 competition:

  • newly-built family house (14 competing projects)
  • newly-built apartment block (10 competing projects)
  • reconstruction of an apartment block or another type of residential premises (6 competing projects)
  • apartments in houses for special purpose (1competing project)

Evaluation criteria:

  • quality of architectural design of the building
  • integration of the building into surroundings
  • land utilization, sorting out traffic (parking, garages)
  • implementation of the building
  • structural design
  • environmental friendliness

The jury evaluated all presented documentations non-anonymously. Selected buildings were looked and evaluated on the spot to prevent evaluating quality photographs instead of quality buildings. With regards to a disproportionate number of buildings in individual categories, the jury decided on a different distribution of awards and prizes in compliance with the set competition rules.

Members of Jury

Ing. Pavel Rakouš (Ministry for Regional Development)

Ing. arch. Martina Hovořáková (Ministry for Regional Development)

Ing. arch. Ladislav Kuba (authorized architect, Czech Chamber of Architects)

Ing. arch. Jan Aulík (authorized architect, Czech Chamber of Architects)

Doc. Ing. arch. Tomáš Brix (authorized architect, Czech Chamber of Architects)

Ing. arch. Martin Rössler (authorized architect, Czech Chamber of Architects)

Awards in individual categories

1st category – Newly-built family house

  • 1st prize: 50 000 CZK

    Villa in Nespeky – Ladislav Lábus, Marek Nábělek

    Realization: 2005–2007, area in use 211,8 m2, enclosure 1038 m3, total cost not disclosed, photography: authors’ archive

  • 2nd prize: 20 000 CZK

    Family house in Zlín-Prštné – Pavel Chládek

    Realization 7/2008, area in use 218,5 m2, enclosure 906 m3, total cost not disclosed, photography: author’s archive

  • 3rd prize: 10 000 CZK

    Family house in Lelekovice – Svatopluk Sládeček, Daniela Babíčková, Pavel Velecký, New Work

    Realization 2007, area in use 136,2 m2, enclosure 614,5 m3, total cost 2 500 000 CZK, photography: authors’ archive

  • 3rd prize: 10 000 CZK

    Family house Polívkova – Michal Schwarz

    Realization 2005–2007, area in use 169 m2, enclosure 710 m3, total cost not disclosed, photography: author’s archive

2nd category – Newly-built apartment block

  • 1st prize: 40 000 CZK

    Terraced house in Košíře – Pavel Hnilička, Veronika Hamšíková, Petra Bláhová-Kandusová, Jan Dluhoš

    Realization autumn/2007, area in use 954,43 m2, enclosure 4121,4 m3, total cost not enclosed, photography: authors’ archive

  • 2nd prize: not awarded
  • 3rd prize: not awarded

3rd category – Reconstruction of an apartment block or another type of residential premises

  • 1st prize: not awarded
  • 2nd prize: 30 000 CZK – Reconstruction of a historical building Míšeňská 4 – Hana Seho, Petr Hlaváček, R.U.A.

    Realization 10/2005–02/2007, area in use 460 m2, enclosure 1490 m3, total cost not disclosed

    photography: authors’ archive

  • 3rd prize: not awarded

Reward: 10 000 CZK

Straw house in a barn – Oliver Kálnássy, Lukáš Gavlovský

realization 2006–2008, area in use 70 m2, enclosure 350 m3, cost 17 143 CZK/m2, photography: authors’ archive

4th category – Apartments in houses for special purpose (day-care, nursing homes, sheltered housing)

  • 1st prize: not awarded
  • 2nd prize: not awarded
  • 3rd prize: not awarded

Reward: 30 000 CZK

Nursing home Hagibor – Jan Línek, Josef Kolář, structural design – DELTAPLAN, s. r. o.

Realization 2008, area in use 8200 m2, enclosure 12 807 m3, cost 18 000 CZK/m2, photography: authors’ archive

Photo: authors’ archive