ERA21. O 20 let architektury víc!

In this year, ERA21 will celebrate twenty years of its existence. During this time, it has transformed from an unknown magazine with the subtitle ecology – realization – architecture into a respected industry medium with nationwide reach. What topics has ERA21 opened up? What has changed in architecture or urban planning over the past twenty years, and how has the magazine contributed to that? How has the role of the architect in society changed? How has the situation in architectural media and the architectural field itself evolved? What were the circumstances leading to the founding of ERA21, and how has it developed over time? We will attempt to answer these and other questions in a debate titled ERA21. 20 Years of Architecture More!, which will take place on Thursday, January 30, 2020, from 6 PM to 8 PM in the congress hall of the Husa na provázku theater in Brno. All past and present editors of the magazine will participate in the discussion: Helena Šnajdarová, Rostislav Koryčánek, Osamu Okamura, Zuzana Morávková, and Filip Landa, moderated by Karolína Vránková. After the debate, there will be an informal gathering in the theater bar.

Editors:
Helena Šnajdarová (*1971, Rychnov nad Kněžnou) is an architect and civil engineer. She studied at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at VUT in Brno (1989–1994) and the Faculty of Architecture at VUT in Brno (1991–1999). During her studies, she collaborated with Brno studios of Dalibor Borák and Petr Pelčák and later worked at Ateliér Brno. From 2000 to 2006, she served as a specialist editor at ERA publishing and was involved in the founding of the magazine ERA21. Since 2004, she has been working as an independent designer, focusing on topics such as energy-efficient buildings or heritage-protected sites. She is a member of the Association of Friends of Historical Buildings of the Orlické Mountains.

Rostislav Koryčánek (*1972, Uh. Hradiště) is an architectural and art historian. He studied art history at the Faculty of Arts at MU in Brno (2000) and sociology at the Faculty of Social Studies there (2001). His diploma thesis titled Czech Architecture in German Brno was published as a book (ERA Publishing, 2003). He was involved in the founding of the magazine ERA21 and was its editor-in-chief from 2002 to 2005. From 2007 to 2012, he served as the director of the House of Arts of the City of Brno and was involved in the creation of the exhibition Sculptures in the Streets and the Brno Architectural Manual (BAM). He is a member of the artistic council of the Faculty of Fine Arts at VUT in Brno. Currently, he is the curator of architecture and design and head of the Methodological Center CENS (Center for New Strategies in Museum Presentation) of the Moravian Gallery in Brno.

Osamu Okamura (*1973, Tokyo, JP) is an architect, dean of the Faculty of Art and Architecture at TU in Liberec, chairman of the Commission of the Council of the Capital City of Prague for Art in Public Spaces, curator of the project Shared Cities: Creative Momentum, member of the Board of the Czech Architecture Foundation, member of the Committee for the Development of Urbanism, Architecture, and Public Space of the Prague 7 City District Council, nominator for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award for the Czech Republic, and a member of the editorial board of ERA21 magazine. He studied at the Faculty of Architecture at CTU in Prague (2000) and the AVU in Prague, majoring in conceptual creation (2003). From 2005 to 2012, he served as editor-in-chief of ERA21 and is still a member of the editorial board; from 2013 to 2017, he was the program director of the international festival and conference for livable cities reSITE. In 2018, he worked at the Chicago Architectural Foundation with support from the J. William Fulbright Commission in the Czech Republic Fulbright-Masaryk Scholarship. He has lectured at universities and institutes in the USA, Japan, and Europe.

Zuzana Morávková (*1976, Ostrava) is an architect, editor, and yuyadesigner. She studied at the Faculty of Architecture at VUT in Brno (1996–2003) and completed a study internship at the UBO University in Brest, France, in 2000. She has been involved with the magazine ERA21, with a break, since 2004, and was its editor-in-chief from 2015 to 2016. In the meantime, she ran an independent architectural practice and collaborated with Brno studios DRNH architectural office, Ateliér Štěpán, and knesl kynčl architekti, where she still works.

Filip Landa (*1984, Litoměřice) is an architect, pilgrim, and father of two children. He graduated from the Faculty of Art and Architecture at TU in Liberec (2012) and completed a study internship in Ghent, Belgium (Sint-Lucas, 2010–2011). He gained practice in architectural offices in the USA (Page & Turnbull, San Francisco, 2009) and the Netherlands (MATH architecten, Delft, 2009). Since 2011, he has collaborated with the Prague studio Sféra architekti and has operated an independent architectural practice with his wife in České Budějovice since 2016 (FAKT architekti). In addition to authoring or editing a number of professional publications, he served as the editor of publications in the research of the methodology of drafting urban plans at the Faculty of Architecture at CTU in Prague (2013–2015). He is a co-founder and coordinator of professional regional platforms Liberec-Reichenberg.net and Litoměřice-Leitmeritz.net. He has collaborated with the magazine ERA21 since 2012, initially as an occasional curator, responsible editor of selected issues, later in the position of external editor and editorial board member, and since 2017 as editor-in-chief.