beyond.aco | 10 June 2021 – On Site

Fragment Prag, David ?erný & Marcel Soural, CZE-Prague

Artist David ?erný and developer Marcel Soural have teamed up to create bold architecture and to shape Prague in a new, modern way.

Among other projects, they are realizing the Fragment rental apartment project in Prague, Czech Republic. The building in the Karlín district is conceived as a work of art – the reclining figure of a soldier as a fragment of the history of Invalidovna, a Baroque building complex in the immediate vicinity of the project site that served to house and care for war invalids until the 1930s. This fragment of the past will be connected to the present through the new building, while the fragments of the future will be represented by 140 rental apartments, which will be available for residents to move into from 2022. Investor, developer, and builder of the project is the Trigema Group. Its final appearance is the result of Trigema’s collaboration with the architects David Wittassek and Ji?í ?ezák from the prestigious Qarta architektura studio and well-known artist David ?erný whose giant sculptures will give Fragment a distinctive character.

“Our ambition was to bring the creative connection between quality architecture and contemporary art into the Fragment project in order to return Prague to the forefront of modern construction. We enjoy working on buildings that reflect our bold visions of the future. We want to construct something beautiful, functional, and useful, but a little bit provocative as well. We don’t have time to “just” make money by constructing the same buildings over and over again. We want to discover non-traditional concepts that are funny, effectively serve their purpose, yet forge a connection between everyday life and art. The exceptional location of the Rohanské Embankment directly across the Invalidovna historic building deserves to be treated differently and creatively,” says Marcel Soural, Chairman of the Board at Trigema.

The fragmentation of matter, its splitting into repeating modules, will result in a unique building that from afar seems to be made of broken up pieces, but up close is clearly a logically arranged whole. The abbreviated name of the project, “FRGMNT,” underscores the fragmentation concept. Fragment is the first bold project that will hopefully be one of many that have the potential to enliven Prague’s contemporary urban architecture.

Fragment will feature rental housing, shops, and services. It will offer 140 distinctively designed and fully furnished apartments for rent with layouts from studios to spacious duplex penthouse units with rooftop terraces and views of the Prague Castle. The building’s technical facilities include heat pumps, a system of ceiling heating and cooling, green roofs, automatic window shading, charging stations for electric cars, a photovoltaic power station, and a smart home control system in each unit. Fragment will therefore be an economical and energy-efficient building. Final approval and the grand opening of the building will take place in the second half of 2022.

www.frgmnt.cz/en

 

David ?erný  (*15 December 1967, Prague) is a Czech artist and architect who is best known as the creator of controversial and provocative sculptures. In the years 1988 – 1996, he studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, and is a laureate of the Jind?ich Chalupecký Award, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant and a prize at the Kortrijk biennale.

 

Marcel Soural (*17 April 1965) graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague. He gained his first professional experience in Germany.

He is the founder, the sole shareholder and at the same time the chairman of the board of directors of the Trigema a.s. Group, whose turnover in the last few years has exceeded one billion CZK. Trigema is a development group with its own construction company and its own company for building management and facility management. It also deals, for example, with the construction and operation of science and technology centers, sports and leisure facilities and startup projects.

The company also supports a number of other projects. Examples include the new pedestrian zone at the Nové Butovice metro station, the multi-genre art Czech Photo Center, which focuses on modern photography, the statue of David ?erný Trifot and the Cyberdog science and technology information center.

At the same time, it has been helping the Paraple Center for a long time, for which Trigema reconstructed and completed its headquarters in Malešice. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Paraple Center.

Soural is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Association for the Development of the Real Estate Market and a member of the Czech Chamber of Authorized Engineers and Technicians in Construction.

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