The work of Martin Roubík will be presented at an exhibition in Egypt

Prague - A retrospective exhibition of architect Martin Roubík (1949 to 2008) will begin on Wednesday at the Nubian Museum in Aswan, Egypt. Regina Loukotová from the Gem architects studio, where Roubík collaborated, told ČTK. Roubík was connected to Egypt through several projects. The first was the new Alexandria Library, which gained fame through the Norwegian studio Snohetta. At the beginning of the millennium, he worked on the successful competition project of the Grand Egyptian Museum and the proposal for the building of the Egyptian Chamber of Commerce.
Roubík's last project in the North African country was the architectural solution for the exhibition "Rescue of Nubian Monuments," installed at the Nubian Museum since November 2007, where the architect collaborated with the Czech Institute of Egyptology at Charles University.
Roubík's exhibition premiered last year at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery in Prague, and its reprise is supported by the Egyptian Institute of Egyptology and the Czech Embassy in Egypt. Among others, the opening will be attended by Czech Minister of Education Miroslava Kopicová.
The exhibition not only presents Roubík's architectural work but also his personality and the entire story of his life, which was partly spent abroad. Architectural projects intertwine with personal matters, with memories of the architect himself, as well as those of his colleagues and loved ones. Roubík was known for his distinctive and uncompromising public appearances; the exhibition also features a selection of his thoughts and opinions. Shortly before his death, for example, he strongly criticized the competition for the design of a new National Library building.
Martin Roubík was born in Prague, where he studied at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design from 1968. After several years, he was arrested for political reasons, expelled from school, and tried. He then emigrated to Norway, studied at the School of Architecture in Oslo, and also at the Yokohama Design Research Institute.
After graduating, he joined the studio Lund + Slaatto Arkitekter in Oslo, co-founded the ROM Foundation for Architecture in 1987, which promotes architecture and which he also led for several years. The same group is behind the formation of the studio Snohetta, where the Czech architect worked as a partner for ten years.
Surprisingly, in fierce competition with Snohetta, Roubík won the competition for the Alexandria Library. "Over 600 proposals were submitted for the competition, our team was very young at the time, the leader was 28 years old, I was seven years older. Working on the library was a breakthrough for our office into the world," Roubík told ČTK at the opening of the library in 2002.
In 1999, he permanently returned to Prague, where he operated an architectural practice with Regina Loukotová. The team under their leadership received an honorary mention in the final of an international competition for the construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum in 2003. He also served as an educator - he led a studio at the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague. The realization of Roubík's intention to establish a private university of architecture in Prague is still ongoing.