PRAGUE 5, STRAKONICKA

DIPLOMA THESIS

Set in Prague’s Smíchov district, this project proposes a dense, layered urban block where living, working, and public life intertwine. The design envisions a complex of timber-structured buildings — adaptable, low-energy, and rich in spatial diversity. The buildings offer a calm counterpoint to their urban surroundings, shaping a coherent architectural language that responds to climate, scale, and contemporary needs.

Beneath the surface, however, lies a deeper investigation. The project treats timber not only as a material, but as a principle — a way of building that unites sustainability with structure, tradition with innovation. Through a detailed study of modern wooden construction systems, it examines both technical and environmental potentials, as well as the legal frameworks that guide their implementation.

Special attention is given to the Czech context, placing it in conversation with international standards and exposing the complexities of building higher with wood. In this way, the project becomes both architecture and argument — a quiet call for a future in which cities grow not in defiance of nature, but in partnership with it: material, measured, and meaningful.