Architecture 1958—89: Žižkov Television Tower

Václav Aulický Prague-City television transmitter in Prague-Žižkov, 1985-1992 

Mahlerovy sady 1, Praha 3 – Žižkov

The design of the Prague-City transmitter was assigned to Václav Aulický. Although intended to be built during the eighth five-year plan (1986-1990), he began working on it in the late 1970s, when several potential locations were under consideration. Through a series of compromises among the involved parties, the number of potential sites gradually narrowed to the inner city, with Mahlerovy sady finally chosen as the most suitable place for the new transmitter. 

The architect initially conceived the transmitter, its project developed between 1981—1985, as a structure with a single load-bearing pillar of various profiles, with or without observation cabins. Yet each of the two dozen possible designs, also differing in their approach to the operational building, would have had a significant impact on the city’s skyline. Naturally, Aulický was determined not to allow this, so he revised the design. This resulted in the characteristic “tripod” composition (three supporting tubes and the same number of three-sided cabins), initially reinforced by steel struts. Only later did the architect embark on refining the forms, a process which all parts of the tower eventually underwent. It was particularly important to shift the centre of gravity by moving the restaurant cabin about halfway up the tower. Compared to previous versions, the overall composition was also revised, with Aulický ultimately basing it on the contrast between asymmetrical (uneven heights and diameters of the supporting tubes) and symmetrical elements (equally shaped cabins and the elongated operational building). Both the cabins and the operational building lost their complicated shapes, including sharp edges, which were replaced by streamlined, rounded lines. This seemingly minor detail was actually the result of ideal cooperation between the architect and the structural engineer, whose final 1:100 scale model successfully passed aerodynamic wind tunnel tests. 

The construction of the Žižkov television transmitter, for which Jiří Kozák designed a steel-concrete composite structure, started on 24 October 1985 with the laying of a foundation stone in Mahlerovy sady, but the tower only started rising a year later, after completion of the earthworks. The structure, which was given a final silver polyurethane coating, was completed in 1990, and the tower was officially opened in May 1991. From the outset, an integral part of the Prague-City transmitter was the general reconstruction of its predecessor, the Petřín Lookout Tower, but this was only carried out between 2000 and 2002 according to Aulický’s plans.