Jan Bočan

Architect Jan Bočan began his professional career in 1962 when he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University. He initially worked in the design studio Konstruktiva. In the 1960s, he co-founded, together with architect Jan Šrámek, the architectural studio Beta within the progressive Association of Design Studios, aiming to create high-quality team architectural studios and disrupt the hegemony of state design institutes. The leading figures of other studios in this association were like-minded top architects of the time: Karel Filsak, the Machonin couple, Karel Prager with Jiří Kadeřábek, and others. Among Jan Bočan's closest collaborators were, in addition to the mentioned Jan Šrámek, also Alena Šrámková, Zdeněk Rothbauer, and Oldřich Novotný, who are also often co-authors of Bočan's works.
In the 1990s, Jan Bočan established his own architectural studio Bočan & Partners, which he still runs today. In the last decade, he has been intensely involved in teaching at the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University, where he is the head of the Institute of Design. The results of his teaching work are evidenced, among other things, by the excellent successes of his students, who regularly occupy top spots in the diploma thesis exhibition organized by the Czech Chamber of Architects.
In 2004, Jan Bočan was appointed honorary professor at the university in Tbilisi, and in 2005 he became a professor at the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague. Within his own studio Bočan & Partners, he collaborates with architects Jan Hladík, Jakub Koňata, and David Braum.