Mail ČKA 2006: Miroslav Masák

```html The Czech Chamber of Architects annually awards Honors to prominent personalities in the field - architects, theorists or educators, who have marked modern Czech architecture not only through their work but also their moral approach.

HISTORY OF AWARDING HONORS BY ČKA
The board of ČKA decided in 2000 to establish the tradition of honoring significant personalities in the field of architecture. Given the large number of distinguished architects who did not receive any significant recognition for their work and life attitudes during the previous regime, this award was primarily given posthumously in previous years. However, in 2005, the board of ČKA slightly modified the statute of the Honor and expressed the interest to also award living personalities. Nominations can be submitted by all members of ČKA, educators, theorists, and historians of architecture, associations of architects, schools, and faculties of architecture in the Czech Republic.

NOMINATIONS FOR THE ČKA HONOR 2006
For the awarding of the ČKA Honor 2006, 18 personalities were nominated by the professional public: Václav Aulický, Emil Hlaváček, Eva Jiřičná, Jan Liška, Ivo Loos, Jiří Löw, Miroslav Masák, Viktor Rudiš, Endre Steiner (living architects); František Cubr, Ferdinand Fencl, Jindřich Freiwald, Bohuslav Fuchs, František Lydie Gahura, Ladislav Konopka, Miloš Reichert, Pavel Švanda, Josef Zasche (in memoriam).

SPECIAL JURY OF THE ČKA HONOR 2006
The board of ČKA annually recommends a special jury composed of distinguished Czech project architects and architecture theorists, who evaluates the nominated personalities and selects one to be awarded the Honor by the Czech Chamber of Architects.
In this year's sixth edition, the commission consisted of: PhDr. Petr Kratochvíl, CSc. - chairman; Prof. Ing. arch. Martin Rajniš, Prof. Ing. arch. Miroslav Baše, Ing. arch. John Eisler.
After a lengthy discussion, the commission decided to follow the recommendation of the board of ČKA that the Honor should be awarded to a living creator. However, among the in memoriam personalities, there were several outstanding authors. Therefore, the Czech Chamber of Architects will try to find a way to commemorate their memory.

PERSONALITIES CONSIDERED BY THE COMMISSION IN THE FINAL ROUND
Of the eighteen proposed architects, four personalities advanced to the next round: Prof. Ing. arch. Eva Jiřičná, Ing. arch. Ivo Loos, Prof. Ing. arch. Miroslav Masák, and Ing. arch. Viktor Rudiš. In the final round, the jury unanimously decided to recommend awarding the ČKA Honor 2006 to Miroslav Masák - the author of the Máj department store project (in collaboration with J. Eisler, M. Rajniš) and the renovation of the Trade Fair Palace (co-authors John Eisler, Emil Přikryl), a significant Czech architect, architecture theorist, and educator.

FORMAL CEREMONY
The ČKA Honor 2006 will be presented to Miroslav Masák at a ceremonial meeting on February 23, 2007, at 5 PM at the Atelier café in Liberec, the city where Professor Masák co-founded the SIAL association in the 1960s - the most significant association of architects with a distinctive approach to creation. The honorary certificate and sculpture by sculptor Richard Kočí will be presented by the vice-chairman of the Czech Chamber of Architects, Ing. arch. Dalibor Borák, and the introductory speech will be delivered by Petr Kratochvíl.

SIAL SYMPOSIUM
The presentation of the ČKA Honor will conclude a day-long symposium dedicated to the history and people of the "SIAL Nursery," attended by significant experts from the current architectural scene.

MINI CATALOG
On this occasion, the Czech Chamber of Architects will publish a catalog on Miroslav Masák, and the Honor will also be presented in the ČKA Yearbook, the ČKA Bulletin, and at www.cka.cc.

History of Awarding the ČKA Honor
2000 - Petr Vaďura, Bedřich Rozehnal, Ladislav Žák (in memoriam)
2001 - Vít Obrtel, Otto Rothmayer, Oldřich Stefan, Zdeněk Vávra (in memoriam)
2002 - Josef Havlíček (in memoriam)
2003 - Josef Polášek (in memoriam)
2004 - Honor was not awarded
2005 - Karel Hubáček

Department Store Máj, Prague, 1975, co-authors John Eisler, Martin Rajniš, model, photo Pavel Štecha
Renovation of the Trade Fair Palace, Prague, 1978-95, co-authors John Eisler, Emil Přikryl
Naples Art Gallery, Florida, USA, 1999, model

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ČKA HONOR 2006

PROF. ING. ARCH. MIROSLAV MASÁK

Professor Miroslav Masák (born May 23, 1932, in Úvaly) is among the few living Czech architects who have not compromised on high moral and professional values even during a long period of political oppression. The jury of the Czech Chamber of Architects Honor, which places equal emphasis on the architectural work of the awardee as well as their moral attributes, unanimously concluded that the personality and work of architect Masák meet these criteria to the highest degree.
Architect Masák is associated with the history of the Liberec SIAL studio (or Stavoprojekt Liberec), which, under the leadership of architect Karel Hubáček, represented one of the few distinctive and original currents of Czech architecture since the 1960s. Miroslav Masák created a number of buildings that cannot be overlooked in any account of modern Czech architecture: After several works for the Liberec Exhibition Grounds (Pavilion F, 1965; General Plan for the area, with O. Binar, 1966), the renovation of the Glass Museum in Kamenický Šenov (with O. Binar, 1967), his peaks became the Ještěd shopping center in Liberec (with K. Hubáček, 1977) and the Máj department store in Prague (with J. Eisler and M. Rajniš, 1975), as well as the reconstruction of the Trade Fair Palace in Prague (by SIAL studio, 1978-1995). Despite the diversity of architectural approaches - from the earlier inclination towards the British version of Brutalism, experiments with organic architecture, through the significant phase of "machinism" to the current return to a more restrained minimalist aesthetic - the originality of the architectural concept and stubborn insistence on the quality of execution always unites his works.
However, Miroslav Masák also made his mark in the history of Czech architecture as an initiator (together with Karel Hubáček) and head of the SIAL Nursery (since 1969), where an unusual creative freedom and inspirational atmosphere attracted the most promising graduates of architecture schools. The ability to stimulate the development of young architects' talents through expert advice and personal example was later applied by Miroslav Masák as a professor at the Faculty of Architecture in Brno (since 1994). He has also been an active participant in public affairs. His civil courage was demonstrated both during the period around 1968 as a member of the committee of the Union of Czech Architects and during normalization by collaborating with unofficial platforms of resistance, as well as his immediate involvement in the coordinating center of the Civic Forum in November 1989, which led to his later role as advisor to President Václav Havel at Prague Castle.

In the picture, Miroslav Masák and Václav Havel visiting the architectural studio
of Richard Meier in New York, 1990, photo by Tomki Němec

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Motto:
Visions may seem ridiculous only to those who do not understand their essence.
(M. Planck - Theory of Values)

MIROSLAV MASÁK

"A Few Sentences" by arch. Martin Rajniš on the awarding of the Honor by the Czech Chamber of Architects

In his memoir book "This Is How It Was," M. Masák writes about the assistant to Professor Stefan Václav Hnízdo, who, during an excursion in the depths of the 1950s, “somehow casually introduced them to the functionalist works of Fuks and Krejcar (...) and it was an unpretentious act of resistance. The small and sickly assistant with purplish lips inspired following. For me, he embodied a quality that disappeared after the war, which was referred to as manliness.”

The slim and ever-tanned Masák spread the feeling that courage must not disappear, that it is impossible to make miserable compromises, that it is worthwhile to design amazing houses, that building an oasis of freedom, where a temporary world can be created “for decent people, even if they are architects” (as V. Alda noted), is significant.

Yes, M. Masák stood at the inception of many things, his ability to freely and successfully combine design, politics, education, publishing, and persuasion is unique. Without him, the future return of Czech architecture to the premier league would certainly have been longer and harder. My optimism in this respect is one of many things he has inspired in me.

At a time when the overwhelming majority of society “(...) began to consider clever hypocrisy as the norm of existence” (as Masák writes), the role of people determined to base their profession on the vision of decency, quality, perspective, and generosity for further development was irreplaceable (as I dare to add).

The Liberec SIAL and Nursery were places where freedom and the desire to create good houses met. “It was neither a tree nor a flower (...); it was a 'pot' from which a clump of like-minded, similarly creative, yet distinct personalities grew.” (M. Masák).

I am very pleased that I can, as one of the offshoots from this pot, thank the brave gardener from Úvaly. I am also satisfied that the Czech Chamber of Architects awarded the prize to one of its "founding fathers," and I believe that the basin in which I live was fortunate when on May 12, 1945, a Russian T34 tank did not kill Mirka Masáka while it reversed, but merely knocked him down between the tracks into the dust and indescribable noise (as he writes).

It's good when Murphy's laws about the inevitability of the worst case have exceptions (... which unfortunately confirm them).


Quotations, including the motto, are taken from the book Miroslav Masák: This Is How It Was, published by Kant 2006. ```