Students of FA CTU improved the campus in Dejvice over the summer

On Tuesday, July 18, students and educators from the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague presented an installation in the Indira Gandhi Park in Dejvice, which they decided to use to enhance their campus. The wooden passage, built in place of the originally spontaneously worn path from the National Technical Library to the faculty, was first walked through by the rector of the CTU, Petr Konvalinka, the mayor of the Prague 6 district, Ondřej Kolář, and the dean of the FA CTU, Ladislav Lábus.

The installation was created as part of a summer handicraft workshop that took place at the Faculty of Architecture from July 10 to July 14. It was organized by educators from Atelier MáMA, Josef Mádr and Šárka Malošíková, who in previous years worked with students to create wooden structures on the waterfront in Plzeň and on the beach in Mnichovo Hradiště. "We organize these workshops regularly. We want students to encounter a real assignment that they carry through to realization on their own, and to try out different roles in a team," explains the head of the atelier, architect Josef Mádr.

This year, Josef Mádr and Šárka Malošíková decided to focus on the Dejvice campus. Initially, they considered applying for a participatory project of Prague 6 called I Have an Idea for Six. However, as they could not align the academic year schedule with the challenge deadlines, they approached the district directly and began negotiations for the installation in Indira Gandhi Park.

Naturally, the students wanted to engage with the campus where they spend the most time, know its potential, and are future users of their design. Architect Šárka Malošíková explains how the students were guided during the workshop: "The exact placement in the park and the function of the installation were already subjects of the design. We only direct the students; it is never clear how it will turn out. Gradually, there was agreement on the solution for the worn pathway, which naturally connected to the paths constructed in the park behind the National Technical Library."

A total of 17 architecture students participated in the workshop. Several solutions emerged from the initial meetings, from which the best design by Jan Karhánek was selected for realization. All the students contributed to the construction.

A bachelor’s program student came up with a solution that clearly delineates the path and indicates the direction for pedestrians while maintaining permeability from the park and not presenting an optical barrier. The result is 46 wooden frames anchored to the ground, reinforced with plywood panels, and connected with threaded rods, forming a tunnel, or bridge.

"The holidays are for me a time when I can truly study my field, improve my skills far more intensively than during the semester. This brings me great joy, and I make the most of it," explains his motivation, the author of the installation, Jan Karhánek.

The main partners of the project were the Prague 6 District and the City of Prague. These institutions signed a joint memorandum in 2015 with CTU and other educational institutions based in Dejvice, aimed at enhancing the attractiveness of the Dejvice campus area. To date, the implementation of the memorandum has unfolded in the realm of jointly organized events and the preparation of a project for public space modifications on the campus.

"In 2010, the Faculty of Architecture announced a competition for a comprehensive concept of the entrance space between the National Technical Library and the New CTU Building. The competition attracted excellent architectural studies, but the winning proposal was never realized. To this day, there is overgrown vegetation in front of the Faculty of Architecture, where we have been educating students for three years in the Landscape Architecture program. The Indira Gandhi Park is a space that deserves attention," comments on the project Dean of the Faculty of Architecture CTU, Prof. Ladislav Lábus.

The outcome of the student workshop is thus the first tangible achievement of the memorandum. For the Faculty of Architecture CTU, this is already the second project it presents on the Dejvice campus. The first is the AIR House, an energy self-sufficient house designed and built by a CTU team led by the Faculty of Architecture for the Solar Decathlon 2013 competition in California.