FA ČVUT opens three new guest studios

The Faculty of Architecture of CTU is expanding its teaching team with personalities from European academic and professional environments. In the winter semester of 2026/27, the studios will be led by Belgian architect Dirk Somers, landscape architects Maike van Stiphout and Zuzana Jančovičová from the Netherlands, and the Berlin duo Giulia Biondi and Nicolas Fajt. They will bring themes and approaches derived from practice, research, and experience from leading European universities.
Their role will not be limited to leading studios. They will also engage in critiques, discussions, and other activities of the academic life of the faculty. They will be presented to the public in a new series called Visiting, which will kick off with a lecture by Dirk Somers on October 5.
“Our goal is for FA CTU to be among the quality European schools of architecture with a significant international reach. The extraordinary interest in the open recruitment process, and especially the quality of the applicants, shows that we are succeeding. We want to further develop the program for visiting professors and associate professors along with other steps that open the faculty to the world, including the upcoming bachelor’s program in English. Foreign educators and students should not be something exceptional but an integral part of the school,” says the Dean of FA CTU, Dalibor Hlaváček.
This initiative is significantly supported by the CTU leadership. The financial support from the rector enables the faculty to create conditions for the long-term involvement of foreign educators.
“The international presence of prominent figures from various fields is essential for a modern technical university if it wants to enhance the quality of teaching and research. Visiting professors with their developed practices bring new perspectives to students at CTU, open current topics, and strengthen the cultural diversity of the school. These activities support the openness of CTU and prepare graduates for a global professional environment,” says CTU Rector Prof. Michal Pěchouček.
The current concept builds on previous experiences with visiting professors, including Winy Maas, the Vienna studio querkraft, and landscape architect Valerio Morabito. On this basis, the faculty is now building a broader framework for international cooperation. In the upcoming semester, it will open three foreign studios, and in the summer semester, two more.
Belgian architect and professor Dirk Somers, founder of the Antwerp office Bovenbouw Architectuur, will bring experiences from his teaching practice at TU Delft and the University of Ghent to FA. In his architectural and academic activities, he focuses on adaptive reuse of buildings and perceiving historical layers of architecture as a continuous process and source for new interventions. Among other things, he was responsible for the concept of the Belgian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021. At FA, he will focus on the cultural and architectural appreciation of post-war architecture in the Czech Republic and its potential for sustainable transformations.
At the Department of Landscape Architecture, Maike van Stiphout from DS Landschapsarchitecten and Zuzana Jančovičová, a landscape architect based in Amsterdam, will lead a joint studio. Their interdisciplinary STUDIO RE-WILD aims to explore the role of landscape architects in creating a regenerative city for all. Students will address how to design urban landscapes that support biodiversity and the emergence of new life in urban environments, as well as how to seek management forms focused on bringing nature back to the cities.
The Berlin studio biondifajt led by Giulia Biondi and Nicolas Fajt connects architectural practice with research and teaching activities. Giulia Biondi has worked at HafenCity University in Hamburg and at the Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisiu, and Nicolas Fajt teaches at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Together, they are members of the international platform RRR Architecture Association focused on the renewal and transformation of the built environment. In their teaching work, they emphasize careful treatment of existing buildings, which they perceive as databases of material and cultural knowledge. Instead of demolition, they seek paths to their sensitive transformation.