The Architecture 2022 will focus on renovations

Architecture Day - the largest festival about architecture in our country, from September 30 to October 6, will again offer hundreds of free accessible events in a hundred cities and towns across the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The motto of the twelfth edition of the festival is “Don't demolish, transform!” and the program will largely focus on the ecological, economic, and ethical dimensions of architecture and construction and will present successful solutions for renovations and revitalizations in various scales. “Not only during Architecture Day do we consistently follow the theme of sustainability in architecture, which is connected to this year's main festival section and another festival line dedicated to green architecture. One of the paths to sustainability for us includes the renovation of buildings and a move away from demolishing the legacy of the 20th century. Across the republic, we are witnessing the erasure of the memory of this period, whose replacement does not bring greater value. We are convinced that quality reconstruction or revitalization can be of greater benefit not only to the investor but also to the public,” explains the founder and director of Architecture Day, Marcela Steinbachová.

Architecture Day will also commemorate the personality of Josip Plečnik, whose birth was 150 years ago this year, and will follow his successors and colleagues from the Vienna School of Otto Wagner. On this occasion, among other things, a composition by Emil Viklický, Tribute to Josip Plečnik, will be performed in the Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord in Prague. The festival will also pay tribute to Czech architect Alena Šrámková across the regions.

Those interested in known and unknown architecture can set off on foot, by running or cycling, but also perhaps on a skateboard, always accompanied by professional commentary. Under the traditional name Hurá dovnitř! (Hooray Inside!), dozens of normally inaccessible buildings will be opened to the public. The festival showcases both interesting contemporary buildings and 20th-century architecture, and in some places, it will delve even deeper into history. The main venue for the free-accessible festival will be Prague, where a rich program will traditionally take place in the very center, but also in the areas of Prague 7 or Prague 10 or around Prague Castle. Extensive programs are also being prepared by Brno, Ostrava, and other dozens of cities.

Running parallel to Architecture Day, this year for the tenth time, is its sister festival Film and Architecture. Both festivals are organized by the Kruh association, which draws on more than two decades of experience in the field and long-term collaboration with architects, associations, and institutions across all regions. This has created a network involving about 180 cities in the territory of the Czech Republic and Slovakia over the course of ten years. Architecture Day traditionally takes place on the occasion of World Architecture Day, which falls on the first Monday of October.

The main theme of this year's festival Architecture Day is renovations and recoveries, stemming from the long-term interest of the organizers in raising awareness of sustainability in architecture. The program will offer examples of successful solutions for renovations or recoveries from small buildings to urban complexes and landscape compositions. As part of the festival, the Palác Langhans, which received the Building of the Year 2003 award with reconstruction authored by Ladislav Lábus, will open to the public, as well as the social halls and salons of the Secessionist Representation House designed by architects Antonín Balšánek and Osvald Polívka, which underwent extensive renovation by the ADNS studio. In Brno, visitors can explore the Open Garden, a low-energy administrative building that has its own photovoltaic power plant after extensive renovation. The program also invites visitors to a tour of the animal crematorium Věčná Loviště in Žižice designed by architect Petr Hájek or of the cultural center Telegraph in Olomouc, which was renovated by the Ječmen studio.

The themes of this year's World Architecture Day build on the European initiative European Year of Greener Cities 2022, which aims to highlight the importance of green infrastructure and the untapped potential of enhancing the quality of life in cities and to encourage citizens to engage in local agendas. Architecture Day will also present successful revitalizations of public spaces, new parks, new landscape solutions considering blue-green infrastructure, and ecological buildings. For example, it will offer a tour of the new regional headquarters of ČSOB in Hradec Králové by the Projektil architects studio or unique wooden constructions for the Kloboucké lesy headquarters by the Mjölk studio. In Prague, it will particularly focus on the transformations of Štvanice Island, the gardens at Emauzy, the emergency colonies on the outskirts of Prague, and the transformations and visions for public spaces at Vyšehrad. In Brno, interested visitors can look forward to a guided walk through the various phases of adjustments to public and private green areas from Lužánky Park to Černá Pole.

Slovenian architect Josip Plečnik is a leading representative of modern and classical architecture, who succeeded in imparting a unique character to Prague Castle and many other places, and influenced the thinking of an entire generation of architects. The festival will offer several events dedicated to Prague Castle or the Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord and will address the broader implications of his legacy in the history of architecture, to which the theme of statehood and the role of representative architecture is inextricably linked. The program will also focus on the works of his students and successors such as Josef Fuchs, Ludvík Hilgert, Karel Řepa, and Otto Rothmayer. The program does not overlook the works of his contemporaries and will highlight the stylistic variety of the Vienna School of Otto Wagner, of which Plečnik was a graduate. A special performance of the composition by jazz musician Emil Viklický, Tribute to Josip Plečnik, will take place on October 4 at Plečnik's church in Prague's Vinohrady. This extraordinary piece was composed by Viklický based on the correspondence of TGM's daughter, Alice Masaryková, and architect Plečnik himself.

Architecture Day dedicates a separate program section to the tribute of Alena Šrámková, the first lady of Czech post-war architecture, who passed away in March of this year. Alena Šrámková is among the most prominent figures in Czech architecture over the past several decades, and her distinctive handwriting can be found in many significant buildings. In Prague, the festival will present an architectural walk through her realizations in the city center and in the Lužiny housing estate, as well as highlight the New Building of the Faculty of Architecture at CTU or the reconstruction of the atelier of Věra and Vladimír Janoušek, and will also offer a tour of the Villa in Černošice, the meteorological station in Maškov near Cheb, or a walk around Tyrš Bridge in Přerov.

At the same time as Architecture Day, there is also the film festival Film and Architecture. From September 29 to October 4, it will present for the eleventh time in over twenty Czech and Slovak cities international and domestic films on architecture and urbanism. Visitors will find an expanded offering of screenings in a variety of well-known cinemas and in lesser-known, unconventional venues. Discussions with creators and other special accompanying programs will not be missing. The festival sections will thematically focus on the works of so-called invisible architects, meaning authors of significant buildings with less familiar names to the general public or significant figures from the Czech architectural scene such as Alena Šrámková. The program will be gradually published on the website.

List of confirmed event locations
Banská Bystrica, Bardejov, Bílovec, Blatná, Brandýs nad Labem, Bratislava, Brno, Broumov, Čáslav, Čelákovice, Česká Lípa, České Budějovice, Český Krumlov, Dobříš, Frýdlant, Helfštýn, Hlučín, Hodonín, Hradec Králové, Hrušovany u Brna, Humpolec, Cheb – Maškov, Jablonec nad Nisou, Jaroměř, Jihlava, Josefův Důl (in the Jizera Mountains), Kamenický Šenov, Karlovy Vary, Kladno, Kladruby, Klatovy, Klíše, Kolín, Krásné, Kutná Hora, Libčice nad Vltavou, Liberec, Lidice, Litoměřice, Lomnice nad Popelkou, Mariánské Lázně, Mělník, Mikulov, Mikulovice, Mnichovo Hradiště, Náchod, Nakléřov (Ore Mountains), Nitra, Nový Bor, Nymburk, Olomouc, Ondřejovice in Jeseníky, Opava, Ostrava, Pardubice, Partizánske, Pavlov, Piešťany, Písek, Plzeň, Praha, Prostějov, Přerov, Rajecké Teplice, Roudnice nad Labem, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Řevnice, Říčany, Slaný, Svit, Široký Brod, Šumperk, Tábor, Teplice, Tišnov, Turnov, Týn nad Vltavou, Ústí nad Labem, Ústí nad Orlicí, Valašské Meziříčí, Vamberk, Varnsdorf, Velké Pavlovice, Vimperk, Volyně, Vratislavice, Zlín, Zvolen, Žamberk, Žatec, Žďár nad Sázavou, Železný Brod, Žilina, Žižice