Last year, the development company Horizon Holding celebrated 20 years of operation in the Czech residential market and this year, they plan to hand over 500 apartments to new owners.

However, they do not only focus on the construction of individual housing blocks, but they also participate in the local infrastructure and landscaping of the surrounding area of the projects. Yishay Furman, CEO at Horizon, spoke to us about their current projects and plans for the future.

In the previous interviews, you presented some of your projects, including AURA Statenice, Zahálka, Modřanka Residence and Kay River Lofts. How do they proceed?

We now successfully continue with the sales of the last phase of Zahálka located next to the Hodkovičky golf course. We just sold out all 355 apartments in nearby Rezidence Modřanka, where are only two retail units left. We recently handed over all 55 units to the clients of Kay River lofts in Karlín and 148 flats to clients at Rezidence Čámovka in Čimice, where we plan to start the next phase soon. Recently, we started sales of our project AURA Statenice with 79 family houses. This project is located near Prague 6 with parking and plots up to 1,500 sq m. Infrastructure works are already ongoing for the last year. We are about to donate more than 100 milion CZK to the village for infrastructure and other facilities as water treatment system, school, etc., up to 3,000 sq m will be designated for retail and will serve current and future residents.

You have started some other projects. What makes them interesting? And what makes your projects different from others?

As I mentioned before, we plan to start the 3^rd phase of Čámovka with 400 flats. We also plan to start projects in the city center – Rezidence Blízká in Karlín with 230 apartments and URBANIKA in Smíchov with 160 ones, with beautiful views of Vyšehrad and Prague Castle. For our projects – we always think of them in all complexity – we apply sense and sensibility for housing. We integrate parks, playgrounds for children and even pets or communal gardens. We want to contribute to the locality where we built, we consult what is best with experts. For example, this year in our project Zahálka, we finished the revitalization of Zátiší brook (Zátišský potok), where we restored its basin which was lost underground for a long time. Our projects also receive BREEAM certifications for its sustainability. We apply green roofs, drainage water systems for re-use, recuperation, etc.

Which one would you like to live in?

As I said once before, our projects are like our children. You love them all. But in this case, I would say that after living for the last 17 years in Statenice and Horoměřice, AURA to me is a great project which will welcome families and will renew and refresh the village. As there are big units with huge gardens, it will be a great neighborhood.

There is a constant demand for apartments in Prague. More mobile people buy them as an investment and rent them out to those less mobile who can’t afford a mortgage. How is this reflected in your business?

The fact that flats became expensive is a fact! But people must live somewhere so there will be buyers and if not the final buyers, so it will be investors who will lease the flats. The rents have increased dramatically in the last year. We also believe in that trend and aim two or three projects of ours to keep as flats for rent.

The end of the year is slowly approaching, when the balancing period begins. How will you evaluate this year, if everything goes according to the previous assumptions?

This year we will handover around 500 apartments in total, which is the biggest amount in the history of the company. As we celebrated 20 years on the market as a developer last year, I think it is a very nice milestone for us.

Do you have any predictions for next year? How will the situation develop?

I believe that the market can’t and will not stop. The fact that construction costs increased, plus the expensive interest rate will slow for a while the sales and the increase of the prices, but as there will be small amounts of flats in the market – they will be sold. Prague can’t stay with 2,000–3,000 flats a year and must have at least 6,000–7,000 new ones to meet the demand. Today the situation worldwide is problematic with high inflation and worries, but I guess that during 2023 and 2024 things will come back to the stage as was 2021.

A unique project Oaks Prague is being built in a picturesque landscape near Prague, in the village of Nebřenice. Its developer is Arendon Development Company, a. s., with the support of the London investment group Kew Capital.

There is currently an 18-hole golf course licensed by the PGA National. Although we fell behind schedule during the pandemic, the whole project is expected to be completed by 2028. The winner of the tender for gastronomy operator, which is the proven concept by the well-known Italian culinary guru Riccardo Lucque of La Collezione, has also been announced to the public. In addition to a premium bistro, La Bottega Oaks Deli Bistro will also offer a shop with quality Italian ingredients and products in the residential area of the village common. The Club House will be placed in the reconstructed Chateau, which was originally built by the von Schuttelsberg family and will become the dominant feature of the golf course. Golfers can look forward to quality facilities and the La Finestra Oaks Golf Club there.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Arendon, Ing. Jan Zemánek, MBA, spoke to us about the entire Oaks Prague project.

What activities does the development company Arendon engage in?

Arendon is specific for dealing with the development of a single project, and that is Oaks Prague. It may sound a little strange, but we have to realize that Oaks Prague is not a simple and standard development project. With a bit of exaggeration, it is actually a development of a new settlement, which is planned and implemented as a whole complex, which is something that has not happened in the Czech Republic for several decades. It is such a large complex that we do not consider it a project, but a development programme. It comes in several parts and is divided into several phases, which will be implemented gradually. The plan is currently set for 2028.

What specific parts is the programme divided into?

It is divided according to the location of the individual parts, their location as well as their function. The primary purpose is a residential function – housing, which will come in several forms. We plan to build a total of 480 housing units on the golf course, from small housing blocks to luxury residences. In the meantime, there are a number of other products, such as detached houses, smaller residences, semi-detached houses, terraced houses, etc.

What is the main residential function and its distribution?

We have a total of five product lines, which are distributed in two main locations. One of them is a luxury golf residence, which is situated virtually in the middle of the golf course, near the current Chateau, which has already been there for 250 years. We are converting it into a golf club and a boutique hotel will be built nearby. The second part of the residential development is located in the village, where there are housing blocks and various types of family houses.

What other functions are anticipated in the project?

The second group of functions should provide the residents with a good quality of life and enable them to engage in a variety of activities. The overall character of the development, the urban concept, contributes to this quality of life. The first completed part of the whole project is a golf course. It holds a PGA National license, which represents the hallmark of the best quality you can get in the world of golf. There can be only one course with this license in each country – except for the USA where it originated. It should be noted that the golf course is operated by Troon Privée, which is one of the world’s leading golf course operators. This is evidenced by the fact that our golf course has twice been awarded the best golf course in the Czech Republic and the best golf course in Europe. This is granted every two years, i.e., in 2020. I hope that we will retain the title again this year.

Golf plays a very important role in the project.

The golf complex also comes with a clubhouse in the Nebřenice Chateau, which we are reconstructing. We plan to open in April this year. Apart from the aforementioned restaurant, which will of course be open to the general public, it will provide facilities for golf tournaments. Whilst we have already started talking about the area of hospitality, then one of the essential parts of the first stage around the square, which is currently being completed, is Deli Bistro. A restaurant with the same operator as the Chateau, La Collezione, which belongs to the top restaurants. You may know the concept of La Bottega restaurants. It will also include a small shop. Another important part of the project will be the hotel near the Chateau. It will be interesting for new residents of Oaks Prague as it will offer a number of attractive functions, especially, for the Czech Republic, unique and large spa and wellness, fitness, several restaurant and social facilities and other associated services. It will provide exclusive facilities for business meetings and social events as well as family celebrations. The hotel will be operated by the world leader in the ‘sustainable luxury’ segment.

What other infrastructure will the Oaks Prague project include?

A very important part of the whole community will be a nursery school, whose construction is planned for the second quarter of this year near the village centre. Each of the housing blocks that we build will include commercial rental premises for shops, restaurants, cafes, patisseries, etc. But we want to leave it to organic growth. We do not want to manage it a priori, except for Deli Bistro, which will open in April.

What other sports activities besides golf will you offer to the residents?

Together with the surrounding municipalities, we create, reconstruct and complement a network of cycleways, which will cover tens of kilometres on the Popovičky – Křížkový Újezdec – Petříkov route. The project should include a tennis academy and also a horse-riding centre. These are the four main sports pillars: golf, cycling, tennis, horse riding. We are also considering building a biotope – recreational water areas with ecological water treatment that does not use chemicals. And a lot of other things that are related to physical condition and will be part of the associated operations at the hotel.

You also mentioned that there is a plan for a commercial part. What is your vision in this regard? 

We certainly do not forget commercial or business matters. Once the 480 housing units are completed, and we account with an average of three residents per housing unit, we reach a number of about 1,500 residents. Not everyone will live there all the time, so if we reduce it to two-thirds, we get to a number of thousand residents. The average size of Czech municipalities outside large cities is 500 inhabitants. That makes it a kind of a small town and people need to buy basic things. The first smaller store will commence operation from the beginning and another one is planned near the centre, depending on how the village will develop. We anticipate that this will need to be complemented by additional retail premises.

The initial vision was to build a historic village with modern elements. Where have the current thoughts gone? 

We deviated from the original designation of the village. The original concept of the whole project was a bit negatively affected by the fact that it was created by foreigners. They have a somewhat naive approach to these things. They are very enthusiastic about Czech historical buildings and have the feeling that we want to live in some replicas of historical sights. Such people certainly exist, but there are more of those who want to buy a modern property, not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of architectural expression. The project has long been based on the opposite approach – to create reminiscence of a traditional Czech village, including architectural forms that were created 250 years ago for farmers – including barns, cowsheds, etc. We did not consider it the right concept, so we changed it. We are building a ‘housing estate’ for people of the 21^st century, who do not want to live in the city, but within its vicinity, with nature within their reach, but still want to have the comfort as if they did live in the city, plus that ‘little something’ they cannot find in the city. It takes 20 minutes to get to the centre of Prague, so if someone wants to go to the theatre or somewhere else in the evening, they get in the car and fulfil their wishes within half an hour.

How will the project be further presented then?

Our inspiration is in the ‘garden districts’ of Hanspaulka, Ořechovka, Starý Spořilov and others. They have several common denominators. The first one is that they originated at the same time – 100 years ago – on the periphery. Maybe the periphery won’t even be there in 100 years. The second one is that all the settlements were created with an urban concept and used architectural morphology that connected them and integrated the individual houses. When you look at old Spořilov, you see that the houses are actually typical and repetitive, which we perceive positively. Because if you have 300 houses and each of them is different, each has a different fence and colour and uses different materials, the whole concept will not be ideal from an architectural point of view or from the point of view of maintaining the quality of the environment, which is a very important issue for us. The ‘folk creativity’ in the effort to customize each house is really very colourful.

How do you want the new residents of Oaks Prague to respect these intentions?

We are trying to create a framework so that these issues are maintained and work in the long term. There will be Homeowners’ Associations – the law actually does not allow otherwise. And at the same time also a kind of ‘interest organization’ of all the residents, which will, to a certain extent, take care of the emerging settlement as a whole. We would also like certain rules to apply to individual house modifications. It should be in the interest of all the residents to take care of the environment that will be created, to maintain it and to preserve the shape that creates the character of the environment and its value as far as possible. If everyone modified their houses as they wished, the environment would lose its uniqueness and character.

The assignment was processed by several architectural studios. Each architect has his own style. To what extent did you manage to conceptually harmonize the individual proposals?

The original concept was somewhat naive, also from the point of view that it would be designed by dozens of architects, because such a thing could not be controlled. Imagine that you have to manage, for example, 50 architectural teams and each of them creates a unique design. You need to check if it fits your specifications and ideas. Plus, you’re building on a speculative basis, so, you don’t know who is going to use that particular house. That can’t be done!

But the construction began with this original concept…

Yes, in that spirit, but not extremely. The first part is now being completed. There are housing blocks designed by various world-famous architects and a similar concept was intended for the rest. We have abandoned this concept because we really would not be able to achieve the goal we want with this approach. We have reduced the number of architectural teams to approximately four studios. We are now finalizing their selection. In fact, we spent the whole of last year modifying our plan in order to give the architects meaningful assignments in terms of house size, land size, number of rooms, etc., to make it compatible with market requirements. We now have a pre-selection of several architectural teams with which we want to start designing the rest of Oaks Prague.

Does this represent another fundamental change in the concept?

We have a part with 70 housing units ready for construction, which we plan to start implementing in the third quarter of this year. The design was participated on by the same architects as in the first part, which allows for a certain character to be preserved there. What changed in the concept was that we want to use quality architectural studios and we want fewer of them. The individual parts of the project, which are logically separated by roads, parks and other public areas, will have a different character, but there will be a uniform morphology within the framework of certain smaller complexes. There will be different types of houses – detached and terraced – but from one architect who will follow certain design rules. Around the plaza in the central part of Oaks Prague, we will implement denser and higher development with housing blocks. The height of the houses comes down towards the outskirts of the village, and the development is distributed more loosely. That means that it has the character of a typical town, though without a church.

How does the current market price development affect the Oaks Prague project?

We are affected by this just like any other developer. The sale price of the property reflects the entire cost spectrum. It includes the acquisition price of land, implementation costs, costs for processing project documentation, project management and other consulting matters. Another important component is the cost of financing, because almost no one implements real estate projects from their own resources, they always borrow some financial resources. And then you also have to make some profit… Building costs basically represent about half of the total development costs. And if they increase by 20% or 40%, you get into a situation where you need to aliquot the sale price if you want to keep at least some profit. And it is not, unfortunately, just a question of construction costs, but also of rising interest rates over the last three months. And we can go on: higher energy costs, higher costs for people who want more money, because everything is more expensive. The inflationary spiral is spinning. So, we can’t sell at prices that worked a year or two ago.

At what stage is the project now?

We are currently completing the first stage, which has 60 apartments in the eastern part of the project. We have sold 60% because there was some delay. We have started the final building approval process – we have three family houses from the Irish architects McGarry-Moon approved. Other buildings will undergo final building approval in the first months of this year and we anticipate that the first residents could move in in the second quarter. Upon completion, we expect a large increase in interest in buying properties. Because this is a unique project, a lot of people can’t really imagine what it entails and how it will work. What is important to us in this context is the fact that we will not only open and put into operation apartments (mainly the housing blocks in the centre are completed), but there will also be the already mentioned civic amenities. Oaks Prague will simply come to life. It will not only be housing, but there will be commercial premises on the ground floor. We are also moving part of our company there, and the sales centre, which is still in an impromptu building on a golf course, will start operating there in March.

Last of all, outline the further construction schedule.

We would like to complete the entire program by 2028, which means we still have a long way to go. We have significantly intensified our activities by creating larger units that we want to design and, if possible, to implement as fast as possible, though in a good quality. We are completing the first phase, which will be followed smoothly by the second phase, which comprises two buildings that look like six. They have shared underground garages and will have around 70 apartments. In the near future, we will start the construction of a nursery school. We have started the construction of the first luxury residences at the southern part of the golf course near the square. This phase should be completed within two years. This will then be followed smoothly by the construction of larger units. We also plan to start building the hotel complex within two years’ time and complete the first group of golf residences in parallel with this.

Arnošt Wagner / Photo: Jan Mihaliček

The Czech-Singapore Chamber of Commerce unites over 90 Czech companies with business interests in Singapore and south-east Asia. At the same time, it is a platform for the meeting of important personalities from the highest business circles in the Czech Republic and Singapore.

The city-state of Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is located on the island of the same name and has 63 adjacent isles near the southern section of the Malay Peninsula. It has a total area of 729 sq km and a population of almost 5.7 million, which represents the third highest population density in the world. The official languages are English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. The name Singapore comes from Sanskrit and means Lion City. This predisposes it to a certain extent to the position of leader in the introduction of modern technologies, dynamic construction and smart city.

We asked the President of the Czech-Singapore Chamber of Commerce, Marcel Bednář, about current relations and trade activities between the two countries.

To begin with, I must ask about the post-covid situation. How did its effects show up in Singapore?

This is a rather difficult question to begin with. Following the spread of the virus in China, many foreign companies, including German, British and Dutch, vacated the playing field. Other countries in south-east Asia have also left Singapore. The Singaporeans imposed a hard lockdown that lasted many long months.

And how did this unusual situation affect the inhabitants?

The Singaporeans are very happy to meet, either after work or for lunch. They live a much richer social life, which is more connected with work and business life, than we are used to in the Czech Republic. So, the Singaporeans were far more affected with regards to this personal level. But given the proliferation of digital and mobile technologies, as many companies in Singapore operate on this basis, this was not such a big problem for them. If they have a personal or friendly relationship with a foreign business partner from the past, distance communication works fine.

What lifestyle do Singaporeans actually promote?

They are not used to spending a lot of time at home. Most of them live in apartments, whether public or private – often in condominiums, which are complexes of luxury apartment buildings. Their housing and/or homes are not designed for them to spend time in from morning to evening, nor are they used to preparing food at home. Whether it’s lunch or dinner – they don’t cook at home. They solve this by eating in bistros, restaurants or shopping centres. There are food courts, which are covered spaces with one bistro next to another – under very strict hygienic control, so everything is fine in this respect. Therefore, they have the opportunity to eat in this way within the immediate vicinity of their homes. It is very cheap and they can choose from an inexhaustible number of stands – where quality and hygiene are guaranteed. This is their usual lifestyle. With the arrival of covid, they had to lock themselves in their homes and their lives changed dramatically.

The issue of housing and its availability has recently been dramatized in the Czech Republic. What is the situation in Singapore?

The housing situation in Singapore is divided into about 80% of state-owned apartments and 20% of private apartments. The Singaporean government invests huge sums of money in the construction of state housing and housing support. This is actually a historical matter because, in times of the ‘founding father’ Lee Kuan Yew, who was the head of the People’s Action Party (PAP), it was decided in the past that Singapore’s perspective lies in the middle class with guaranteed quality housing, which is the basis for future economic success and prosperity. They have invested heavily through the statutory board, the Housing & Development Board (HDB), in the construction of state-owned housing for which Singaporeans may qualify under certain conditions. The 20% of private apartments is another matter, which is often dealt with in the form of condominiums.

What is life in a Singapore condominium like?

This variant of housing is of a very high level, where you have several high-rise buildings, such as twelve-storey ones, and there are several residential units on each floor. Five such high-rise buildings, for instance, form an enclosed complex with security service and building management, which takes very good care of the area. Each time you enter the building, you need to identify yourself with a chip card. Inhabitants are provided with a full service there, in fact they are taken care as in a five-star hotel. The basic principle is that everyone who lives in these apartments feels like being in a hotel or on holiday. You do not only have an apartment there but it also includes a shared swimming pool, a terrace with barbecue facilities and spaces where social events are regularly held with programmes for both adults and children. Sports activities are provided by tennis and squash courts, table tennis tables, a gym – all this is part of the housing and a matter of course. Condominiums also deal with parking. There are large garages in the underground so that cars do not park on the street.

A recently released information states that there are new apartments to be built in the Tengah district of Singapore.

But this is a slightly different type of housing than the aforementioned condominiums. The Tengah project is being implemented by the state agency HDB through which the Singapore government supports construction of state housing. And as for the Tengah district, it is a prime example of a smart city, or let’s say a smart district in Singapore, of which there are currently several. For instance, it is the Punggol District and the campus of the National Technology University of Singapore. These are actually three smart cities in the middle of Singapore. In fact, two smart cities and one smart university campus, which also ranks among smart cities.

What will make the Tengah district unique?

Tengah is to be a model smart city with the construction of 42,000 apartments, where not only waste collection will be integrated with new digital technologies with the Internet of Things, such as smart bins, which will respond not only to waste filling, but also in case of fire, will be automatically extinguished. At the same time, sensors in the smart district will also respond to odours that irritate the neighbourhood. Information is passed through the application to the appropriate employees who are closest, so that they can resolve the situation immediately. However, Tengah is not just about waste management, but about a number of digital elements that are implemented in residents’ lives.

What is actually the vision of a smart city in Singapore?

The vision is that the surface will be pure green. That means buildings, greenery and pedestrian zones. In other words, only people will move on the earth’s surface. Car traffic will be one floor below the surface, including buses, and the underground below all that. All traffic will be underground only, which is also demonstrated on the visualization of Tengah. This vision is promoted not only by HDB, but many Singaporean companies that are also involved in the project, such as ST Engineering, which participate in the smart transport system.

Is it possible to compare the duration of the project realization in our country and in Singapore?

I can’t compare it totally but Singapore is experiencing a huge construction boom. Something is always being built there and everything is moving forward very quickly. What is common is that a skyscraper is functionally and energetically obsolete and outdated after 30–35 years, so, they tear it down and then build a new one in its place. That shows that, compared to us, they are not afraid to take radical steps. Of course, it also has a darker side. That is why Singapore is a city of skyscrapers and, with few exceptions, beautiful historic buildings, which you can find in abundance in the Czech Republic, are missing here. So, as we Czechs like to go for what we don’t have at home, i.e., somewhere under a palm tree to the seaside, the Singaporeans like to come and see castles, chateaus and historic buildings. So, state-of-the-art skyscrapers cannot be considered an unconditional advantage.

What future does the Czech-Singapore Chamber of Commerce plan? 

Our goal is to reach the level of trade and investment with Czech-Japanese or Czech-Korean relations, for example. We are not at that level yet, so there is room for improvement. These are our ambitions. And I hope that the reopening of the Czech Embassy in Singapore will help us to do just that. The embassy in Singapore will be opened during September by Ambassador Michaela Froňková, who, thanks to her experience in demanding territories, belongs to the top branch of the Czech diplomatic service. What we expect from the establishment of the embassy is a new era of Czech-Singaporean relations and we hope that this will, with regards to Singaporean companies and partners, also represent yet another positive signal, which will revive trade relations even more.

That is one of the goals. What are the others?

It would be nice if the Republic of Singapore opened an embassy in Prague. This can represent another big step that would be very helpful to Czech business.

Is it possible to specifically present the successes of Czech companies in Singapore?

There are things that are visible to Singaporeans. An example can be found at Singapore’s Changi Airport: beautiful design installations from Lasvit, which are passed daily by a large number of people. Another company works on the desalination of seawater and thus helps local water management – their activities are highly appreciated on the Singaporean side. Similarly prestigious are smart sensors from a Czech company, which are installed on the Singapore Formula 1 circuit. Another Czech company successfully supplies smart medical beds to Singapore hospitals and medical facilities. So, the range of fields is wide, not to mention traditional brands such as Baťa. And as the Singaporeans associate Bata with childhood or adolescence, every Singaporean who is now 50+ wore Baťa shoes. A bit of a problem is that they think it is an Indonesian or Indian brand and there is no longer a direct link to the Czech Republic. It is similar with Škoda cars, because in their opinion it is a German car. Unfortunately, they often have no idea that it is manufactured in our country. And that is actually work for Czech institutions and the Czech-Singapore Chamber of Commerce to make this connection in the minds of the Singaporeans. And to show that the Czech Republic can offer not only these traditional brands, but that there are also other companies that can offer interesting technologies or products to use or for trade.

In which fields do you see opportunities?

There are many of them. We mentioned, for instance, smart cities and the Internet of Things, which are industries in which Singaporeans invest a large amount of money and where the Singapore government very generously supports domestic companies and their further expansion. Then there is fintech. Singapore is an Asian financial centre that provides facilities for fintech companies and banks, so business with finance and the application of technology in finance is large. Then there are various health and medical technologies, biotechnologies, i.e., fields in which Czech companies have great opportunities. And also, IT and the digital industry including progressive segments such as robotics, artificial intelligence, etc. Singaporeans are looking for prime solutions in these fields and I am convinced that they can find them in many Czech companies.

The chamber was active in the field of education, seminars and conferences. Will you continue this trend? 

We certainly want to continue educational events for the benefit of Czech companies and to do so in the form of business and entrepreneurial conferences. Our aim is to pass on information about interesting business opportunities in Singapore to Czech companies, ideally with the participation of guests from the fields of politics and business. Furthermore, we want to organize networking events for the members of the chamber, because we perceive that social life has been subdued for several months, so, we want to make it up to them. The Czech-Singapore Chamber of Commerce is not only about a bilateral trade relationship, but we also try to be a management club in which participants can share not only their experiences, contacts and information, but also negotiate deals with each other. Such social forcefulness of the chamber is very important to us.

Arnošt Wagner / Photo: archive, depositphotos and pixabay

It is always interesting to watch real estate markets across continents. Each market has its own specifics given the climate, the economic situation of the country, modern local trends, culture and many other aspects. And, of course, the winning idea and design also play a role in the final implementation.

Schools and related buildings are a very specific sponsorship of the real estate market. And even here it is true that each country, and therefore the continent to an even greater extent, has its specific requirements. Development News magazine has been a regular media partner of the prestigious competition Building of the Year in the category of the Foreign Construction of the Year. One of this year’s nominated projects is Bogle Architects’ the Royal Grammar School Guildford in Dubai, UAE. The founder of the company, Ian Bogle, introduced this project to us.

This is not the first time you took  part in Building of the Year. How do you perceive this competition compared to other events you participate in around the world?

As an international firm, we like to showcase our projects in both local and international awards. We’ve taken part, and won, in the Building of the Year before, so we like to think we have a good chance of winning again in this prestigious competition. We have won several international awards over the last nine years, since we started the practice, but it’s always rewarding to be recognized locally for our international work.

You received the nomination for the school project in Dubai. In general, what are the current requirements of investors for this type of construction?

The international school market, while competitive, is still a growing market therefore the investors are looking for a point of differentiation. In this instance, we were tasked with not only applying the needs of a normal school
curriculum but also adding features/motifs from the 500-year-old parent school in Guildford but also designing a sustainable solution for this particular climate. The large diagonal roof harks back to the historical leaded windows of the chained library at the Guildford school. Another interesting feature of the building is the local (KHDA – Knowledge and Human Development Association) guidance that requires all children up to the age of six to have their main classroom located on the ground floor. Due to the capacity of the school (more  than 2,000 students) it dictated the overall length of the building which if it were turned on its end it would be three-storeys taller than the Gherkin in London which I worked on while at Foster many years back.

Are there any special systems or materials used on this construction site?

We designed the building to be ‘self-shading’ given the climate and as such a cantilevering concrete frame was used to provide this shading. This means that all the classrooms are not directly exposed to the Dubai sunshine allowing for a reduction in the building’s overall cooling loads which goes someway, when offset against the photovoltaic systems utilized on site, to create a net zero solution. The resulting internal atrium creates a more contained space for the younger children at the ground floor opening up to the oldest, 6^th form young adults, on the top floor. The atrium is 50% covered with an ETFE roof to allow for natural light to penetrate deep into the space below – a solution we also used on the Early Learning Village in Singapore which was lucky enough to win this award previously.

How does the assignment for an investor for such a project in the UAE differ from, for example, in Europe?

The main difference is the United Arab Emirates climate which is very different to the European climate where temperatures range from 22 °C in the winter to way over 40 °C in the height of summer. We knew we had to design an environmentally progressive solution so this had a major impact on the design as described above. There are other micro economic issues particular to the local market that also need to be considered in the school offering for Dubai, e.g., we had a very long debate about whether the swimming pools should be internal or external. We ultimately, collectively, decided on a covered external solution that was partially shaded by deep precast concrete panels, giving a dappled light effect, but also allowing for natural cross ventilation.

What did the investor place the main emphasis on in the school project? What was your main concern?

The investor is a global school provider hence the main emphasis on the school project – they have 85 school in 11 countries around the world but this was their first project in the Middle East so we had to make a statement with not only the building but also the educational offer which drove a number of the design decisions. Our challenge was to marry the principles of the 500-year old school at Guildford in the United Kingdom, alongside the requirements of the KHDA in Dubai in the UAE climate. The resultant development is a paragon in both the educational offer but also a step change in the design of K-12 educational environments. We also wanted to make the building like an ‘oasis in the desert’ hence why we have a great deal of green walls and living trees within the internal atriums which also help to the wellbeing of pupils and staff in the learning environment.

If you would have to find five words to characterize this project, which ones would you have chosen?

In terms of the design, we’d say it’s progressive, innovative, welcoming, intuitive and green.

You are working on a whole range of different projects. What prevails after a pandemic?

Yes, we’ve been approached to work on a number of new projects both locally and internationally throughout the pandemic but it has certainly been a challenging period. The interesting part is that we have looked at new projects in locations without actually physically visiting the site which goes against our golden rule of always visiting the location to understand the ‘feel’ of a place and not just the urban, rural or coastal context. This obviously couldn’t be helped because of the travel restrictions imposed by the various governments in response to the Pandemic but it does show that a more digital solution can work almost as well – but we will start visiting these locations again as it is so important to the quality of the resultant design.

What beautiful buildings can we look forward to from your studio in Prague?

We’ve recently completed the commercial office component of our Astrid project in P7 and the SOLID 21 laboratory project opened officially on 22^nd September in P8. We also have a number of projects on the go that will soon be being constructed in and around Prague in the commercial, residential, education and leisure sectors – watch this space!

Kristina Vacková / photo: Bogle Architects/Chris Goldstraw