On October 12, 2023, an architectural exhibition entitled Czech Pavilion EXPO 2025: Competition Proposals started in the National Museum.
It is organized by the Office of the General Commissioner for EXPO 2025 in cooperation with the National Museum. The exhibition of contemporary Czech architecture will present visitors with all 38 competition proposals, which in March 2023 fought for the unique opportunity to design the national pavilion for the next world exhibition. It will take place from April to October 2025 in Osaka, Japan.
“Although there can only be one winner, we would like to thank all the competing teams for the tremendous amount of time, effort, and work they put into the competition. That is why we have prepared an exhibition of architectural designs in cooperation with the National Museum. We want both specialists and the general public to be able to come and see it,” says Ondřej Soška, general commissioner of the Czech participation in EXPO 2025, adding: “The dignified background of the museum makes the exhibition even more attractive.” After more than twenty years, when the Czech national pavilions were created using the “Design & Build” method, the General Commissioner for EXPO 2025 Ondřej Soška, after consulting with experts from various fields, decided to return to the approach of how pavilions were built, for example, in Brussels (1958), Montreal (1967) or Osaka (1970). The Office of the Commissioner General, which is in charge of the preparation of Czech participation in world exhibitions, therefore announced an open anonymous architectural competition in December 2022 for the design of the national pavilion for EXPO 2025. The competition took place in accordance with the rules and recommendations of the Czech Chamber of Architects.
38 competition teams applied for it, from which an expert jury led by the world-renowned architect Eva Jiřična selected the winning design in the shape of a glass spiral from the Apropos Architects studio in March 2023.
The load-bearing structure of the building will be made up of modern wooden panels, while the facade will be made of art glass, which has a centuries-old tradition in the Czech Republic. The national pavilion will offer a worthy background for the Czech participation in EXPO 2025, which will be held from April to October 2025 on the artificial island of Yumeshima in the Osaka Bay. The pavilion will have a permanent exhibition, a multifunctional auditorium, facilities for business meetings, a restaurant, a VIP lounge, and in front of the pavilion there will be a relaxation area with a view of the sea for visitors.
“The EXPO exhibition is a unique opportunity to spread awareness about Czech culture and what the Czech Republic can offer in this area abroad. But at the same time, I am also pleased that we can bring the great world exhibition closer to the people here in the Czech Republic, precisely through the competition proposals, which will be on display during the month in the Travertine Hall of the New Building of the National Museum, which has a considerable connection to the EXPO world exhibitions. ” says the director general of the National Museum, Michal Lukeš.
Before the entrance to the building of the former National Assembly, today the New Building of the National Museum in Prague, there is a copy of the New Age sculpture. The original was created by the sculptor Vincenc Makovský for the Czechoslovak pavilion at the international exhibition Expo 1958 in Brussels, where the sculpture received the Grand Prize of the World Exposition. In the Travertine Hall there is a Sculpture for the Parliament by the Czech glassmakers Jaroslava Brichtová and Stanislav Libenský. The sculpture is almost nine meters long, and its shape follows on from another successful realization by the authors for the Czechoslovak pavilion at the EXPO 1970 exhibition in Osaka, Japan, where the couple exhibited a large-scale sculpture of the River of Life.
The exhibition takes place in the Travertine Hall of the New Building of the National Museum and is open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until November 19, 2023. It presents the competition proposals to visitors in the form in which they were submitted to the open architectural competition by individual teams. Each design consists of three panels. The panels usually contain visualizations, explanation of the design, architectural-interior design and technical drawings. At the same time, visitors will learn more information about world exhibitions, Czech participation or the plans of the Japanese organizers for the next EXPO.
The partners of the exhibition are CCEA MOBA and Mattoni. Czech Radio and the Czech Press Office are the media partners. The event is held under the auspices of the Czech Chamber of Architects and with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Expert jury for EXPO 2025
The Office of the Commissioner General together with the organizer of the CCEA MOBA competition assembled a highly specialized and diverse jury for the purpose of selecting the winning design of the Czech pavilion for the world exhibition EXPO 2025. On March 6 and 7, 2023, the complete composition of the seven-member jury sat on the submitted proposals, their goal was to agree on three winning concepts. The expert jury was chaired by the world-renowned architect Eva Jiřičná, the other members were the partner of the renowned architectural studio Kengo Kuma & Associates Balazs Bognar, the chief automotive designer Jozef Kabaň, the architect Markéta Smrčková, the chairman of the Czech Chamber of Architects Jan Kasl, the founder of the Association of Czech Industrial Design Martin Wichterle and the general commissioner of the Czech participation of Ondřej Soška. The jurors also had their substitutes and expert advisors,