Jiří Novotný

Biography
Jiří Novotný was a Czech architect and urban planner. He graduated from Masaryk Real Gymnasium in Křemencova Street, where he passed his maturity exam in 1930. He undertook summer travels to France (1925) and Switzerland (1930). In his youth, he was influenced by the family atmosphere and the company of his parents' friends (Otto Gutfreund, Emil Filla, Ladislav Machoň, Karel Dvořák, Leopolda Dostalová). After graduating, he enrolled at the Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering. He studied his final year under Professor Antonín Mendel. In 1935, he passed the state exam. He then performed military service.
During his studies from 1933 to 1935, he worked with Miroslav Kouřil and Josef Raban as a scenographer and artist at the D34-36 E. F. Burian Theater. He created sets for a total of twelve performances. In the 1930s, he was a member of the Left Front and befriended other leftist architects (PAS group – Karel Janů, Jiří Štursa, Jiří Voženílek). In 1937, he underwent construction practice in Prague and in Vyšné Hágy. From 1939 to 1940, he worked in the Planning Commission for the Capital City of Prague and its surroundings. In 1941, he married Alena Gutfreundová. As it was a so-called mixed marriage, he was dismissed from the Planning Commission and established his own studio. In 1943, he was accepted into the Union of Fine Artists Mánes. He was investigated by the Gestapo for illegal activities. He participated in the Prague Uprising. In 1945, he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. In 1949, he moved his studio to the company Stavoprojekt. In 1951, he then transferred to the newly established Office for Urban Planning of Prague, where he worked as the chief architect of the office for urban planning of Prague (KÚP) and as the main designer of the Master Urban Plan of Prague.
He was a member of the leadership of the Union of Architects and from 1953 to 1959 also a delegate of the union in the International Union of Architects (UIA); he attended congresses in Lisbon (1953 and 1959), The Hague (1955), Warsaw and Vienna (1956), Berlin (1957), Paris (1957, 1965), Moscow (1957 and 1958), Stockholm and Gothenburg (1960). He also collaborated with his father, Otakarem Novotným, on a competition proposal for the completion of the area around the National Theatre. Furthermore, he was a member of many commissions and juries of architectural competitions.
From 1961 to 1970, he was the deputy chief architect of the city of Prague. In 1967, he played a significant role in the preparation and course of the IX. congress of the UIA in Prague. In 1970, as a signatory of the Two Thousand Words declaration, he was expelled from the Communist Party and stripped of his positions, continuing to work at ÚHA as a regular designer. From 1977 to 1981, he worked for ÚHA as an external collaborator. He was a candidate for professorship at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University and later at the School of Architecture of the AVU. Both candidacies were withdrawn for personnel reasons. At that time, he completed occasional small commissions, mostly for friends.
After the Velvet Revolution, he was a member of the committee of the Civic Forum of Architects. He was involved with the revived Union of Fine Artists Mánes. From 1990 to 1995, he was the chairman of the union and then an honorary mayor.