4th Quadrant of Victory Square
International Architectural Competition
Prague, Czech Republic

A new angle on Engel

The 4th Quadrant development is the long-awaited completion of Antonín Engel’s masterplan for Victory Square. Our proposal connects to its historical meaning. At the same time, it opens up new possibilities for diversifying the public realm to attract a variety of residents, users, and visitors.

As the history of Victory Square is closely tied to the birth of the Czech Republic, the symbolic meaning of democratic values is represented in its grand monumental layout and neoclassical architecture. In the present day, democratic values remain strong, but the meaning has expanded to more accessible, inclusive, and engaging spaces. Our proposal highlights the potential of mixed-use development to create ”Democratic Architecture”: a varied program of functions, building typologies, public spaces, and urban interiors that offer something for everyone. We seek to create spaces that are not only functional and aesthetically pleasing but also contribute to the well-being and social, economic, and cultural life of the community.

By opening up Engel’s geometric design to the public, two contrasting qualities arise along Technická Street. On one side, a public square, formed by the surrounding buildings, invites visitors to come together, interact, and celebrate life. On the other side, a more traditional block embraces a semi-private oasis; the micro-forest offers a fantastic living environment. The plinth is fully permeable and is characterized by open façade, welcoming entrances, informal routes, alleys, passages, and squares. The first underground level is seamlessly integrated as part of this plinth, offering an additional layer to public life. It connects directly to the metro station, a mall, a culture centre, the university, offices, retail, and a food market.

The layout of unique buildings is thoughtfully designed to form a diverse yet recognizable whole. This results in a holistic, inclusive, and people-oriented urban development that has a rich and layered meaning – a collage of different shapes and spaces on a human scale, where everyone feels welcome.

History, present, future

Our proposal has the following four objectives:

#1 To complete Engel‘s generous vision for Victory Square, considering the new needs of the city with a smart mix of features that will bring new energy to Dejvice.

Completing the semicircle of Victory Square will showcase the power of the geometric vision and finalize the main axis of the Dejvice campus. It's set to become a prime destination for students, Dejvice residents, and all of Prague's inhabitants. By integrating with the city’s infrastructure, offering diverse spaces, and maintaining a balanced mix of functions, we aim to establish a block that buzzes with life at every hour and throughout the year.

#2 To create a new urban concept of symmetrical blocks with high-quality public spaces interconnected and permeable in all directions, supporting the activation of the city’s parterre.

Two adjacent blocks have the same footprint but unique contexts. The western block terminates at Zikova Street in its centre with a sunken square. It functions as a vibrant administrative and university location. The northern part is purely residential and consists of a hybrid block with a semi-enclosed courtyard that serves as a quiet corner for its residents and visitors. Both blocks are connected on all sides to key pedestrian routes, making them permeable and creating no barriers. The parterre towards the city is open to smaller operations to activate the streets. Towards the inner blocks, the parterre offers everyday seating and tranquillity in a busy city.

#3 To design Dejvice-inspired architecture that brings new opportunities for living, working, learning, and culture for the local community and visitors.

Each façade has a different structure that reflects the building’s function, context, and orientation. This creates a mix that matches the scale of typical Dejvice houses, with a rich material palette and intricate details. The plasticity of the apartment building façades allows for further occupation. Large office and institutional buildings complement the ground floor with their atriums, which will thrive even in the winter months. The design concept is open to further refinement with the investors of the individual buildings. The cultural centre connected at the end of Technická Street represents a new point on the Dejvice cultural axis.

#4 To create an efficient and sustainable structure with high-quality material solutions that will stand the test of time and contribute to solving the climate problems of today‘s city through smart infrastructure.

A sustainable urban design and public spaces require a multidisciplinary approach. We design buildings with high energy efficiency, but also well-designed adjacent public spaces that support forms of sustainable transport. The design of green infrastructure consists of a dense network of surface and point vegetation elements, such as perennial plantings or tree avenues. Green infrastructure helps reduce the heat island effect, improve air quality, and retain rainwater from paved surfaces and building roofs. Sustainable materials, such as wood or recycled materials, are used in the design. The use of local materials is preferred.

Place that connects

In the first round of the competition, we defined the main ambition of our design in creating a “place that connects” spaces, people, and events into a cohesive, structured, and clear urban environment of the centre of Dejvice and the entire Prague 6 district.

From the outset, it was essential for our design to respect the established tendencies of urban use and the position of Victory Square in the behaviour of people, in the dynamics of the city, and the life of the district.

Our proposal for the second phase harks back to the specific themes in Antonín Engel’s design. The key for us is his vision for Technická Street, laid out as a university avenue terminating in a triumphal arch gateway to Victory Square, accentuated with a high-rise rectorate building to the north. We focus on the clear spatial definition of the university avenue and its relationship to Victory Square. We feel that each space in central Dejvice has a different function and place in the hierarchy of the system of public spaces. Victory Square, with its scale and usage, constitutes the representative function of the centre of Dejvice and the centre of the entire Prague 6 district. The crossroads of Technická and Šolínova Streets, where we are placing the piazzetta, functions as more of a community and social space.

In the design, we enhance the different characters of the two squares. We reinforce the commercial character of Victory Square with a continuous shopping centre connected to the Dejvická metro station.

On the other hand, the Piazzetta is a platform for a pair of public institutions: the University of Chemistry and Technology, and the Cultural Centre, which, through their programs and openness, nourish the cultural and commercial axis of Dejvice and stabilize it at the interface between the university campus and the urban structure. We see this space as a platform for open communication, as a gateway to central Dejvice, and simultaneously, a gateway to the academic campus. We believe in the synergy of both institutions, thanks to which the site can become an important focal point strengthening the role of the 4th Quadrant as the cultural and social centre of gravity of Dejvice, thus taking on a city-wide significance.

Prague’s Victory Square and Dejvice

Prague’s Victory Square forms the heart of Dejvice in Prague 6. Over the years, it has become one of the most successful districts in Prague: chic, urban, popular, expensive, and mixed. It forms a coherent, beautiful, and classical urban part of the city where grandeur blends with everyday life. Its architecture is distinctive and graceful; its masterplan, by Antonín Engel, is a coherent but also creative application of neoclassical urbanism.

The 4th Quadrant

At Victory Square, the central space of Engel’s masterplan, one part is missing: the 4th Quadrant. It was designed by Engel as the highlight of the square, especially through the inclusion of a monumental gate towards Technická Street.

The Completed Masterplan

Our proposal aims to complete Engel’s masterplan by bringing back his original intentions for the 4th Quadrant, but updating it towards future standards. We propose two building blocks: one containing the required offices and the university building, the other containing the housing program.

The Filigree

These volumes are outfitted with a façade that resembles a veil; a filigree of low-carbon material, echoing Engel’s original design, forms the core of the project. This filigree is subtly adapted for various programs and desires, creating many different relations, leading to a wonderfully varied quarter with its own character. It is sometimes intensely connected, sometimes extraordinarily open and accessible.

The Green Quadrant

And it is green. Literally, by placing trees and shrubs behind the veil, on balconies and roofs, and against façades and walls. But also from the point of sustainability, by using low-carbon materials, PV-panel infills, and water-storing capacities. Over time, the Green Quadrant will form an oasis of lush vegetation. It can thus become a vibrant and culturally rich place with a high density of users, brought together by a green shelter.

The Centre of Prague’s Dejvice district was composed as a monumental representation space. The statement of pride and power of the new young democracy. Czech democracy has not come easy in the 20th century, and the space was patiently waiting for its completion. Nowadays, history lets us wander in a vast space, which fulfils the duty of a huge traffic crossroad rather than anything it was originally meant to be.

One can experience many contrasts in the area. If you delve into the surrounding housing quarters of Dejvice and Bubeneč, you will often find yourself in spaces of a very different quality. Streets with wide pavements under a canopy of mature trees. Cosy small-town-like squares are enlivened by busy restaurants and cafés. Young families can be seen pushing their strollers around the playgrounds.

The 4th Quadrant plays a particularly interesting part in this picture. As it has lain intact for decades, people started using it as their own. Despite the low urban quality, the locals would find there a big open and accessible space they needed. Farmers markets and various cultural events have become very common, turning the site into an essential part of the local community’s daily life.

We respect the heritage of the 1920s masterplan. Yet the local people’s behaviour and their expectations inspire us to go beyond its mere fulfilment. We would like to build on the urban qualities of the housing part of Dejvice and to exploit the full potential given by the proximity of public transport. That is why we propose to open otherwise solid street lines and therefore keep the whole site accessible to the public.

Our vision is to finalize the block urban structure of the district while creating new vibrant public spaces inside the blocks – to activate new social and commercial lungs of Prague 6.

A place with a past for the present and the future

Victory Square was conceived a century ago, and yet, this strong urban gesture remained incomplete. This will change in the near future. For us, an appropriate answer to the challenge of completing the ensemble must respect its history, the initial masterplan, and the existing buildings. But times have moved on. We live, work, move, and meet differently than we did 100 years ago. Therefore, the missing quarter should also reflect contemporary and future needs. The result should be an ensemble that links times, spaces, people, and uses. In that role, it will become an activating and lively place in itself.

We believe that a successful quarter adds qualities to the urban fabric on different levels. On the urban scale, Antonín Engel’s plan is a strong framework that calls for a response. The massing should complete Victory Square with buildings that respond and complement the different bordering pieces of the city while having their own distinct character. On street level, the new development should keep the connectivity currently offered by open space, linking different important nodes – the university campus, metro station, bus stops. However, it should also add inviting places to stay. In terms of programme, the area should support pedestrian traffic with active frontages and continuous activity, while also offering living environments that provide space to breathe and withdraw from the bustling street life. Urban spaces and buildings should be designed to last, avoiding an overdose of “zeitgeist” and instead offering a flexible and adaptable structure that can change over time.

The urban plan of Victory Square, as designed by Antonín Engel, remained incomplete. Its essence was the traditional urban design of closed city blocks with clearly defined street spaces and a symmetrical square forming the centre of the district and a monumental symbol of the independence of the new republic.

The aim of the project is to complete the original urban concept in the most natural way, while integrating the conditions and needs of today's city. The project therefore completes the two missing blocks and complements both the space of the square and the surrounding streets. The specific method of symmetry, the size of the individual blocks, the materials, and the scale of the façades are all contemporary, while reinterpreting the basic zoning and architectural composition of Engel's development.

In integrating the two blocks into the existing situation, the project respects the recommended traffic layout and the existing topography. In doing so, it aims to generate synergies between the different parts of the functional programme required by the brief: shops, services, university, offices, and housing. Such a natural mix of different functions and diversity of public life are significant qualities of a traditional European city.

The basic organizing element of the project is the intersection of two pedestrian connections: the monumental axis of Technická Street, which was a fundamental element of Engel’s concept, and which connects the CTU campus with Victory Square, and a perpendicular commercial passage connecting the underground Dejvická metro station with Jugoslávských partyzánů Street and the residential area of northeast Dejvice in a natural way. These connections respect pedestrian movements and divide the two large blocks into smaller units. Along with other passages, they divide the courtyards, create pedestrian shortcuts between different spaces and functional units, and offer a variety of public uses for quiet garden courtyards in a very congested area.

The masterplan Antonín Engel designed a century ago aimed to create a bold and proud centralized district with wide roads and strong view axes. We propose to complete Engel’s vision of a grand central plaza but with one main focus: putting people first.

The oversized blocks designed by Engel meet the representational ambitions of the masterplan, but their size hinders a natural usage by those who should benefit from it the most: its users. By dividing the blocks into three smaller parts, we extend the public space into the development, inviting people into an urban fabric that creates connections, opens views, and generates a diverse urban experience at a scale that invites and fosters human activity. The urban frontage along the main streets is extended into the 4th Quadrant itself, creating more possibilities for a vibrant city life.

Our proposed tripartite division seamlessly integrates into Engel’s masterplan. The strong geometric order of the original design is continued within the 4th Quadrant, albeit at a different scale. However, the division is not an abstract geometric continuation; it is finely attuned to its immediate surroundings. The Zikova street axis is extended into the site, opening the view to the cupola of the Theological faculty at its opposite end and inviting people to enter the district. The central access point to the metro station in the south creates another access point, leading people naturally into the development. The overall outline of the development follows the original street network, keeping the reading of the clear block outline intact from all sides. The blocks integrate into the plaza façade-scape, and the building heights and roof slopes match the existing ones.

The Dejvice district is characterized by a block structure of buildings. However, most of its inner blocks are closed, private, and hidden from the outside world and the public. The design of the extension of Victory Square is based on the character of Dejvice's block development and respects the scale of the university campus block. It complements the missing segment of the square with a superblock featuring a public shared courtyard that preserves the permeability of the area. It thus extends the public realm of the future redeveloped square with a calm public green space.

The external world of the block is based on formal urban-design, and its architecture reinforces the context of Victory Square. It creates an active parterre and a clearly legible spatial hierarchy. In contrast, the inner world is defined by microworlds of smaller scale.

By placing the underground floors below the perimeter of the block, there is ample growing ground for the mature greenery that is the main element of the inner-block microclimate. The gradual transition from a public open garden to a more intimate and contemplative space creates a natural gradation of public space. The active and lively outer perimeter, along with the quieter inner courtyard space, creates a balanced and varied mix of public spaces.

The new city block creates an important through route and an attractive destination. The permeability of the block is ensured by slots that also divide the block into different functions. The corridors through the new city block are made up of passages that can be used in different ways, creating a lively transition zone between the inner and outer world.