Florenc is a brownfield site in the middle of Prague. The final of an international competition was decided between three teams looking for ways to bring life back to this complicated part of the city. The aim of the design studies by UNIT, A69 and MARKO&PLACEMAKERS is to connect the locality with the surrounding parts of the metropolis. Hundreds of apartments, new streets with stores and squares will be created.

Were you concerned that impersonal office buildings would spring up in Florenc, scattered freely around the area? This is exactly what the team consisting of Unit, A69 and Marko&Placemakers wanted to avoid. The district will consist of traditional streets defined by building facades with stores and restaurants on the ground floors. The proposal connects all the surrounding districts and heals the wounds mainly left by the structures created for vehicle traffic in Florenc. The planned building blocks are relatively small and irregular. Many people will be crossing paths here and so it is important to make the locality easily accessible.

Small squares with plenty of light will thus be created at junctions, and each such public space will have its own character. Small landmarks (such as a taller building on a corner) have been designed at important points to help people find their way around. And what will be happening inside the buildings? The authors marked out lots for ten types of housing in the plans. You will find apartments for singles, students and pensioners, rental buildings and ones intended for employee housing. Everything is intermixed with job opportunities and commerce so that there will be no dead zones anywhere during the day.

The team placed a multi-functional building, inspired by First Republic palaces, in front of the north-south highway on Na Florenci street. Culture should also find its place here. And the triangle formed by the two arms of the Negrelli Viaduct at Křižíkova street is ideal for transformation into a city market. Stalls and stores can also occupy the arches directly under the bridge.

Yet Florenc will not lose its current crucial function, namely the bus station connecting Prague with the whole of Europe. This currently inefficiently occupies a large area and deadens the development of the entire locality. In addition, the movement of passengers dangerously intersects with the arrival of buses. The new solution is a two-level one. Buses will arrive at ground level, while the departure stands will be located underground. If you're arriving at the last minute, you can take advantage of the direct connection to the metro lobby.

Access to the still-separated Žižkov district remains a fundamental problem today. The study approaches this in two ways. The first is a system of elevated footbridges over the railway. The second is a general modification of the intersection of Husitská and Trocnovská streets, where a new Trocnovské náměstí square should be created.

The transformation of this area will take many years and there is still no general consensus on the final form of the north-south highway. During the reconstruction of the bus terminal, an alternative site for bus departures will be needed. In the distant future, there may be another regional train station, concealed in the Nové spojení 2 (New Link 2) tunnel. This meant the authors had to design a gradual development process for the area and prepare it for these different stages.