Over the last century, Prague's music scene gave birth to several symphony orchestras. Ironically enough, the capital has not built any new concert halls over that same period. The Dvořák Hall at the Rudolfinum (from 1885) and the younger Smetana Hall at Municipal House (from 1912) may have been extensively modernised, but they are still historic halls lacking the space and technical standards required for 21st-century symphonic music. The new Vltava Philharmonic Hall, the design of which has been chosen by Prague in an international architectural competition, should provide exactly that.

The exhibition hosted by the Centre for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning to present the competition entries for Vltava Philharmonic Hall provided a detailed insight into the results of the international architectural competition, which attracted 120 teams from 25 countries. The finalists, selected by an expert jury, submitted 19 competition designs, with the winner announced in May 2022. Visitors could view all of the competition projects in the Black Hall – information about the designs was conveyed via a large-screen projection, physical models, a detailed comparative touch panel viewer, and a freely accessible catalogue complete with project cards. The exhibition also included the international jury’s detailed appraisal. The White Hall featured the work entered by the winning team – the Danish architectural studio Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), which, in addition to its home city of Copenhagen, also has offices in London, New York, Barcelona and Shenzhen. There, visitors could watch an interview with the studio's founder, Bjarke Ingels, and learn more about one of Prague’s future icons directly from one of its main architects.