Prague, 6 October 2017

According to the jury, this year’s winner of the third year of the Kaplicky Internship is Miroslav Strnad from the Brno University of Technology. In the following months, he will gain valuable work experience in London during a three-month internship in the prestigious architectural studio Allies and Morrison. The unique programme for promising young architects is organised by the Bakala Foundation in collaboration with the London Design Museum and the Kaplicky Centre Endowment Fund.

The winner has been chosen by the jury of experts, including architect Bob Allies, director of the London Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic, architect and architectural historian Zdeněk Lukeš, architect and university professor Michal Kohout, and a honorary member of the jury, Eliška Kaplický Fuchsová.

“Thanks to the Kaplicky Internship, emerging architects have a unique opportunity to work on important projects together with renowned architects. This experience and interesting contacts they acquire during the internship are a great advantage when they start their career,” said the director of the Bakala Foundation, Václav Pecha.

Last year’s winner Petra Ross, who completed her internship in the world-famous studio Zaha Hadid Architects this summer, agrees: “The work in the studio was very inspiring for me. I had a chance to see the creative process of various projects – from designs of future offices and skyscrapers to public atria. I have also worked on a project that won a competition and will be executed – a plan to revitalize the old port of Tallinn,” says Petra Ross.

Miroslav Strnad will also gain experience with a diverse range of projects in the coming months: “In three months, the internship winner will have the opportunity to participate in several projects of different scales, whether it is a development plan or detailed interior solutions,” explains Bob Allies, one of the founders of the British studio.

The recent graduate from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Brno University of Technology has won with his design of a spiritual centre for the housing estate in Líšeň, Brno, which includes a church, multi-purpose hall, classroom, parish office, café and underground garages. “I have decided to design a church because it is one of most interesting topics from an architectural point of view and a challenge in terms of light and space. Last year, I researched what a contemporary church should look like. The resulting solution offers both meeting spaces and a place where you can stop and calm down,” says the winner of the third Kaplicky Internship.

“We liked the way the student thought about the building on many levels. Whether it was the relationship with the surrounding landscape and the housing estate, the functionality, or the play with the rectangular horizontal line of the community centre on the ground floor in contrast to the organic vertical curve of the church building,” commented the members of the jury on the winning project.