Ještěd in a cage 18 - jury evaluation

The diversity and freedom of the Liberec faculty venture into various directions, scales, and programs, with few common denominators, yet enough to foster inter-studio discussions and comparisons from an internal perspective. From an external viewpoint, such a wide range is harder to compare.

The jury selected 5+1 projects that it considers representative of the various qualities of the seven Liberec studios.

5/ Kristina Horváthová, Long/Wide/Quick-sighted
studio Suchánek/Janoš, assignment Landscape
The jury appreciates the confident and meaningful entry into the landscape, which transforms its inaccessibility into its main quality and experience. The project is a good example of "sensitive" objects in the landscape, which the Liberec faculty of architecture systematically addresses. The simple idea is supported by a beautiful model and a convincing, artistically erudite presentation.

4/ Antonín Hůla, diploma thesis Renewal of the Place in Stoky near Žlutice
studio Stolín/Mičeková
How to bring life back to a place that has lost even its memory? The troubled history of the Czech borderlands is both covered and uncovered by a new layer. The project addresses the addition of the village with a set of individual buildings that, however, form a community; the certain harshness of their setting in the terrain evokes a sense of estrangement, as if it leaves the landscape untouched.

3/ Pavel Uličný, Neobrane – climatic membrane for heat-paralyzed areas
studio Fránek/Raková, assignment Levitating House
A generous project for desert areas boldly references the utopian projects of the 60s and 70s. Science fiction that has its place in the context of climate change, yet the house is reduced to its basic function: Shelter. Shelter from the sun. The project utilizes contemporary technologies in nature, evoking the poetic engineering of the Sial school, which is embedded in the DNA of the Liberec School of Architecture.

2/ studio Prvoků, Vladimír Balda and Jiří Žid
assignment Požah, Doupě, Summer Stage
The jury appreciates the creativity with which the duo Balda Žid approached the workshop assignment, as well as the group and individual work of the students; the diverse range of scenarios for the Doupě house and their expressions in models deserve to be highlighted. The playful collection speaks of a vibrant semester that emerged from the underground into the public space of Liberec. The studio addresses problems and questions that, in our opinion, have a place at the source of the architect's thinking.

X/ special award / Dita Petráňová, Martina Bauerová, Martin Kunc, Place for a Window!
During a walkthrough of studio F, the jury discovered a competition project, of whose existence even the authors themselves may not have known. The window bringing air into the tropical climate of the studio is still just drawn, but it shows how students critically perceive their everyday world. The drawing could be the start of an intelligent debate about urgent solutions.

X/ special award / studio Klokočka, Slatiny

1/ Jakub Trčka, bachelor thesis Library in the Tower
studio Jiří Suchomel, Martin Šaml, assignment Small Library in Manhattan
The library is a beautiful building in the full meaning of the word; it is melancholic and restrained. An unpretentious spiritual institution. It successfully engages with public space not only through the outdoor staircase. The house sits on the border of different districts, cultures, and heights, all of which intricately transform into a surprisingly calm form. The façade reveals the history of the predominantly Hispanic community while also concealing a spatially interesting scheme, which is a sovereign addition to the Manhattan grid. The project is presented in a visually refreshing way with pastel collages, offering a breath of fresh air in architectural drawings.