06/09/2026
In 2020, Penta Real Estate launched an international competition to transform a former industrial site in Prague’s Vysočany district into a new residential development.
Our proposal began with a conviction: collaboration between young practices could itself become a concept to making architecture. We brought together six emerging European studios, making their different experiences and sensibilities the foundation of the project.
This was the starting point for “Blok šesti”: a single development comprising six buildings, each entrusted to a different studio within a shared urban framework. Joining us at TARI Architects were Irgen Salianji Architecture, Srdan Nad LOCAL and __sarasimoska Arhitektura.
Each studio would respond to a different condition of the site: the corner, the street frontage, the relationship with the park or with the existing buildings. A set of common principles would bring different architectural languages and approaches together, seeking in the diversity of the six buildings the richness that gives urban places their distinctive character.
“− Ego + Synergy” captured the intention behind the proposal: six practices choosing a shared direction while retaining their individual voices. The variety of the buildings and the courtyard connecting them gave this intention a physical form.
The competition did not turn out as we had hoped. Six years later, however, we still believe in that way of working: sharing our ideas with others, being willing to rethink them, and discovering how far they can develop through dialogue. Looking back at this project today, we still believe it was worth trying. And that we need to do it more often.
