Benthem Crouwel wins in Prague with mixed-use green design called Valley

The Czech Republic’s capital city is getting a verdant new addition thanks to the latest winning effort from one of Amsterdam’s top firms.

Benthem Crouwel Architects has been named the winner of an international competition for its mixed-use design that features housing units, retail destinations, and upgraded public areas surrounding a new urban core. 

Situated in Prague’s Olbrachtova district, Valley is anchored by a mid-rise office tower on one end, and on the other, a smaller, cantilevered building that marks the entrance to the metro station. 

Walkability is a constant theme, with smaller public squares and a network of greenery beset throughout the program. The site is well-connected to the adjacent city and streetscapes, with a “route architecturale” which loops through the site spotted with small pedestrian bridges and brought together by an undulating landscape designed by Felixx. 

Each apartment will have its own private loggia and access to a green roof which further establishes the natural elements intended by the design team as a reference to the "mountainside meadows" in Bohemia. PV paneling covers the roof and facade of the office tower, and its structure is based around an easily adaptable “future-proof” regular grid topped off by a green roof for improved energy savings. 

Per the architects: “The design facilitates a diverse mix of affordable, high-quality housing and workplaces, characterized by the impressive silhouette of the lush roofscape which creates a strong identity for Prague, the community and for individual residents and users.”

Benthem Crouwel has now won the commission for three large-scale developments in the Czech Republic, following the recently-announced Brno train station and Nádraží Žižkov residences in Prague.