The committee recommended Sedláček as the head of the architectural office in Brno

doc. Ing. arch. Michal Sedláček (*1963)

Brno - The expert committee today unanimously agreed that architect Michal Sedláček should be the director of the Office of the Architect of the City of Brno. They recommended him for this newly created position to the City Council of Brno. The proposal will be discussed by the councilors at their next meeting. Zuzana Taušová from the press department of the Brno City Hall told ČTK. Sedláček does not want to comment on the committee's recommendation for now; he is waiting for the councilors' decision. Initially, there were nine candidates for the new position, and four of them advanced to the second round.

It will now be up to the councilors to confirm Sedláček in the position of director. "The committee especially appreciated that this candidate has numerous international professional experiences," said Taušová. Among other roles, Sedláček has been the head of the architectural office Aedas LA in Los Angeles since 2007, which he co-founded and which has become the fifth largest architectural firm in the world.

The newly established city institution, funded by the city budget, aims to better shape urban space and participate in the creation of a new zoning plan or coordinate public buildings. At the same time, it should alleviate the Department of Urban Planning and Development, which is to focus more on bureaucratic matters.

The city leadership would like the office to start functioning as early as May or June. The selection of staff, which will be 12 to 15 people, will depend entirely on the new director. "I expect that he will already engage in work on the new zoning plan. At the beginning, we will focus on the spatial arrangement of the city, as we agreed in the council," said Deputy Mayor Martin Ander (SZ) earlier.

In addition to Sedláček, architects Jiří Klokočka, Osamu Okamura, and Michal Gabriel Sedlák also advanced to the second round of the selection process.

The Office of the Chief Architect in Brno previously existed but was dissolved in 2003 when the city was governed by a coalition led by the ODS. Its reinstatement responds to criticism that there has not been a clear concept for urban planning regarding how the city should look.