Jaroslav Drápal
*23. 8. 1934 – Moravská Huzová, Czech Republic
†4. 12. 2023 – Brno, Czech Republic
Biography
Jaroslav Drápal was born on August 23, 1934, in Moravská Hůzová. As a boy, he experienced the expulsion from Sudetenland and then grew up in Olomouc, where he graduated from a real gymnasium. From 1953 to 1959, he studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Brno University of Technology, during the final phase of the pedagogical activity of the great professors Bohuslav Fuchs, Bedřich Rozehnal, and Miloslav Kopřiva, which ended with their disgraceful dismissal and eventually a process and two and a half years of imprisonment for Bedřich Rozehnal in Pankrác prison.
Architect Jaroslav Drápal went to work at the Olomouc Stavoprojekt. Even as a student, either independently or in collaboration with his wife and architect Lubomír Páleník, he successfully participated in numerous architectural competitions.
In 1958, he received awards in a competition for the Ostrava Opera and a competition for the ČSAV complex in Prague; he also won prizes in highly contested competitions for prototype cinemas in 1961 and, a year later, for a model club.
In 1961, based on a competition, he returned to the already established Faculty of Civil Engineering at Brno University of Technology and subsequently worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Architectural Development and the Reconstruction of Monuments, later in the Department of Architectural Development and Art Education under Professor Antonín Kurial. Shortly before, in 1960, Professor Curt Siegel (1911-2004) from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Stuttgart published his book "Strukturformen der modernen Architektur," which was translated into 11 languages and initiated a change in the teaching method of load-bearing construction principles for architects. Jaroslav Drápal undoubtedly belonged to those who were inspired by Siegel's method, and thus began to develop his own teaching method for load-bearing construction principles using models made of paper or sometimes fabric or textile fibers. His method soon became well-known not only in Brno but also in all architecture schools in our country, and in 1967, the results of his work with students were published in the then-prominent review L'architecture d'aujourd'hui in Paris. At that time, during the Prague Spring, the Prague school could only envy this pedagogical success of Brno. Thanks to these activities, Jaroslav Drápal became the most popular educator at the then greatly weakened Brno faculty for many generations of Brno architects, and among his students were gradually Petr Uhlíř, Aleš Burian, and many others. Exhibitions of architectural structure models based on Drápal's method, which continue to this day, still bring a very positive response to the Brno Faculty, most recently last year in Marseille and Ghent and this year in Gliwice.
His academic advancement in his career was halted for a long time after the Soviet invasion on August 21, 1968, due to his political stance - only in 1982 could he defend his candidate dissertation on the subject of "Structural form of the gable" and only in 1988 was he appointed associate professor.
Throughout his career, however, Jaroslav Drápal also dedicated himself to the profession of a creative architect, mostly in collaboration with his wife Olga. He participated in 16 architectural competitions and was awarded prizes 7 times and distinctions 5 times.
Among his many realizations, let us mention at least the shopping center in Tišnov, which integrates well into the complex terrain and architectural configuration of the historical city center, or the residential building on Pellicova Street, consciously continuing the functionalist context of the surrounding buildings, or the complex of postal and customs offices in Královo Pole, a family house for a glassmaker in Žďár nad Sázavou, or a series of interventions in historical and sacred spaces (in Pohořelice, Bošovice, Rakvice, Kobylí, etc.) as well as exhibition installations, including the exhibition for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Brno House of Art.
Jaroslav Drápal was born on August 23, 1934, in Moravská Hůzová. As a boy, he experienced the expulsion from Sudetenland and then grew up in Olomouc, where he graduated from a real gymnasium. From 1953 to 1959, he studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Brno University of Technology, during the final phase of the pedagogical activity of the great professors Bohuslav Fuchs, Bedřich Rozehnal, and Miloslav Kopřiva, which ended with their disgraceful dismissal and eventually a process and two and a half years of imprisonment for Bedřich Rozehnal in Pankrác prison.
Architect Jaroslav Drápal went to work at the Olomouc Stavoprojekt. Even as a student, either independently or in collaboration with his wife and architect Lubomír Páleník, he successfully participated in numerous architectural competitions.
In 1958, he received awards in a competition for the Ostrava Opera and a competition for the ČSAV complex in Prague; he also won prizes in highly contested competitions for prototype cinemas in 1961 and, a year later, for a model club.
In 1961, based on a competition, he returned to the already established Faculty of Civil Engineering at Brno University of Technology and subsequently worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Architectural Development and the Reconstruction of Monuments, later in the Department of Architectural Development and Art Education under Professor Antonín Kurial. Shortly before, in 1960, Professor Curt Siegel (1911-2004) from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Stuttgart published his book "Strukturformen der modernen Architektur," which was translated into 11 languages and initiated a change in the teaching method of load-bearing construction principles for architects. Jaroslav Drápal undoubtedly belonged to those who were inspired by Siegel's method, and thus began to develop his own teaching method for load-bearing construction principles using models made of paper or sometimes fabric or textile fibers. His method soon became well-known not only in Brno but also in all architecture schools in our country, and in 1967, the results of his work with students were published in the then-prominent review L'architecture d'aujourd'hui in Paris. At that time, during the Prague Spring, the Prague school could only envy this pedagogical success of Brno. Thanks to these activities, Jaroslav Drápal became the most popular educator at the then greatly weakened Brno faculty for many generations of Brno architects, and among his students were gradually Petr Uhlíř, Aleš Burian, and many others. Exhibitions of architectural structure models based on Drápal's method, which continue to this day, still bring a very positive response to the Brno Faculty, most recently last year in Marseille and Ghent and this year in Gliwice.
His academic advancement in his career was halted for a long time after the Soviet invasion on August 21, 1968, due to his political stance - only in 1982 could he defend his candidate dissertation on the subject of "Structural form of the gable" and only in 1988 was he appointed associate professor.
Throughout his career, however, Jaroslav Drápal also dedicated himself to the profession of a creative architect, mostly in collaboration with his wife Olga. He participated in 16 architectural competitions and was awarded prizes 7 times and distinctions 5 times.
Among his many realizations, let us mention at least the shopping center in Tišnov, which integrates well into the complex terrain and architectural configuration of the historical city center, or the residential building on Pellicova Street, consciously continuing the functionalist context of the surrounding buildings, or the complex of postal and customs offices in Královo Pole, a family house for a glassmaker in Žďár nad Sázavou, or a series of interventions in historical and sacred spaces (in Pohořelice, Bošovice, Rakvice, Kobylí, etc.) as well as exhibition installations, including the exhibition for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Brno House of Art.
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