Design competition for new cable car in Prague has five finalists
23 studios from nine European countries entered the international one-round architectural competition.
The international architectural competition for the design of stations and supports of the planned new cable car in Prague from Podbaba to Bohnice has five finalists. They were selected from 23 entries by an eleven-member jury chaired by Arjan Dingste, director of the Amsterdam-based UNStudio. The competition was announced this May by the Prague Public Transit Company (DPP).
The finalists are DWAA (Poland), Grimshaw Architects (UK), ov architekti and Olgoj Chorchoj (Czech Republic), Snøhetta (Norway), William Matthews Associates (UK). The architects mostly submitted references from train or bus station projects, some submitted cable car projects as well.
The finalists’ task is to prepare and submit an architectural design for all three stations and five supports of the planned Podbaba – Troja – Bohnice cable car, which will provide the missing connection between the banks of the Vltava in the Troja basin. The jury will select three designs from the submitted proposals. DPP will conclude a cooperation agreement with the authors of the winning design; this is expected to be announced in August.
A total of 23 studios from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Spain, and the United Kingdom entered the international one-round architectural competition. DPP had the competition organized after a prior technical feasibility study.
DPP started preparing the Podbaba–Troja–Bohnice cable car following a mid-June 2020 city council decision. A cable car is considered the best solution for connecting the Prague 6 and Prague 8 districts. In the future however, a tram line should connect both shores.
DPP has already concluded a contract for the design work. The CZK 38.25 million contract was awarded to a consortium of Metroprojekt, Sagasta and SIAL. The winning consortium will process the EIA documentation and provide all construction-related projects. It will design both the construction and the technological part while coordinating with the architect.
Edited and translated by Lucie Trávníčková