Czech Architecture Now !

On the occasion of the opening of the exhibition: “Jan Kotera 1871-1923. The Founder of Modern Czech Architecture”

The architectural achievements of the Czech Modernists of the 1920s and 30s are irrefutable today. Less well known is that contemporary production links up directly with the international standards of its predecessors.

The Panel

Irena Fialova
Roman Koucky
Petr Dvorak
Ladislav Kuba
Tomas Pilar
Moderated by: Irena Fialova, Prague

Lecture Roman Koucky, Prague

“the margins and the city” / on architecture inside cities
Roman Koucky, born in 1959/ is one of the young Czech architects, who took immediate advantage of the 1989 revolution and fresh from school founded their own architectural offices. He designs striking concepts and projects on very different scales – from urban plans through bridges and large buildings, to family houses, interior, furniture and exhibition design. He is the laureate of the Grand Prix in 1994 and 2000, the highest award for the best Czech realization of the year, has won several first prizes in architectural competitions and exhibited at fifteen Czech and foreign exhibitions. His projects have been nominated twice for the European Union Prize of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion and the realization of his Marianne Bridge has been awarded the European Steel Association Prize in 1999. Common to all projects, that his Prague office works on, is a manner of searching for not evident solutions – discovering the margins.

Lecture Petr Dvorak, Prague

“designing architecture – executing architecture” / on working with foreign architects
Petr Dvorak, born in1964/ is one of the four partners of the A.D.N.S. architectural office, which was founded in 1991 in Prague. Right from the start the office has been aiming towards a very high quality of architectural design, technical knowledge and process management. The partners – Vaclav Alda, Petr Dvorak, Martin Nemec and Jan Stempel – met each other in the second half of the 80s in Stavoprojekt Liberec, the so called SIAL. Petr Dvorak came to Liberec in 1987 after receiving his diploma from the Technical University Weimar in former East Germany, after 1989 he returned for a year to gain experience in the Architekturburo Franzmair. A.D.N.S. architects design projects together in a team: their different personal abilities create successful intelligent buildings, which grow out of the best of the Czech functionalist tradition. Recently, after achieving excellence on the local scale as independent design architects, they have been tackling global clients as executive architects.

Lecture Ladislav Kuba, Tomas Pilar

“architectural competitions yes or no” / on competitions and realizations
Ladislav Kuba, born in 1964, and Tomas Pilar, born in 1963, have been working together since 1996. Both have graduated from the Technical University of Brno, Pilar continued his studies at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna and later Prague, while Kuba went for his post-graduate studies directly to Prague. Most of their commissions and realizations come from architectural competitions, in which they belong to the most active and successful participants. They have successfully completed both small scale and medium scale buildings, which all show a very sensitive approach to the use of materials, but work on urban planning as well. Their last realization – the Library of the Philosophical Faculty of Brno University received among other awards four of the Grand Prix of last year and was nominated for the European Union Prize of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion.