The architect Hubáček has died, the author of the hotel on Ještěd

Praha, November 25 (ČTK) - The prominent Czech architect Karel Hubáček, the author of the hotel with a transmitter on Ještěd, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 87. This was reported today by the Lidovky.cz website, citing Hubáček's colleague Miroslav Masák. The report was confirmed by the architect's wife, Jaroslava Hubáčková. The building on Ještěd received the prestigious Perret Prize from the International Union of Architects in 1969 for its elegance and practical use of modern technologies.
“Karel was one of the most significant personalities of Czech architecture. He was an architect of global significance and a very kind person,” said Hubáček's longtime friend and colleague Miroslav Masák to ČTK.
Hubáček was born on February 23, 1924. As an author, he is credited with numerous buildings, but his most successful and well-known work is the television transmitter and mountain hotel Ještěd.
The building, constructed between 1966 and 1973, is shaped like a rotating hyperboloid and naturally follows the shape of Mount Ještěd. In addition to the award from the International Union of Architects, it is also honored with the title of the most significant Czech building of the 20th century, awarded by domestic experts in a survey conducted in 2000. Hubáček himself placed fourth in the voting for the most significant personality of Czech architecture of the past century, being the only living architect to make the elite top ten.
The last farewell to the icon of Czech modern architecture will take place on Friday, December 2, at 14:00 at the Liberec crematorium.



Doc. Ing. arch. Karel Hubáček, Dr. h. c. was an extraordinary personality in 20th-century Czech architecture. He was born on February 23, 1924, in Prague. He also studied at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering at ČVUT in Prague (1945–49). His professional career is, however, linked to Liberec, where he started working at the then Stavoprojekt in 1951. After a series of early projects for manufacturing plants, schools, housing complexes, and other buildings, among which the cinema building in Doksy (1958–64, with V. Boháč and V. Kolář) stands out, he gained international fame with his design for the television transmitter on Ještěd (1963–71, with Z. Zachař and Z. Patrman). Even before its completion, he received the Perret Prize from the International Union of Architects (UIA) in 1969 for it. The building, which includes a hotel with a restaurant, features an original technical solution that responded to the extreme weather conditions of the site as well as to the specific requirements of the transmitting equipment. Its elegant aerodynamic shape, smoothly integrating into the silhouette of the mountain peak, was also a sensitive response to the character of the landscape. As a new landmark of the region, the building soon became its symbol.

Hubáček's close collaboration with outstanding constructors was crucial for the work of the SIAL studio, which he founded and led in 1969 along with other architects. (After being disbanded in the 1970s, it was revived in 1990, briefly again under his leadership.) Hubáček's other transmitters, built in Sudan and Yemen in the 1970s, as well as the equatorial water tower in Prague's Dívčí hrady (1972–77) and the meteorological tower in Prague-Libuš (1973–79, both with Z. Patrman), also exhibit structural inventiveness. Yet, the building with a concert hall in Teplice (1977–86, colonnade O. Binar) should be considered the second peak of Hubáček's work, a deliberately simply appearing structure that draws its inspirations primarily from the requirements for acoustics in its interior design. This realization also received international recognition: the Grand Prix at the Interarch Biennale in Sofia in 1989. His last realization, the completion and reconstruction of the DAMU building in Prague (1996–99, with J. Hakulín), served a cultural purpose.

In addition to these key works, he is the main author of numerous other realizations—such as the Small Scene of the F. X. Šalda Theatre (1986–89) and the Komerční banka (1992–94) in Liberec—or as a collaborator with his colleagues: on the project for the Ještěd shopping center in Liberec (1968–71, main author M. Masák) or in completing the Ganda Theatre in Brno (1985–93, main author V. Králíček).

Karel Hubáček, a man of sparkling spirit and broad cultural horizons, always excelled in the inventiveness of his designs and tenacity in advocating for true architecture even in times that were not at all favorable to it. Thanks to this, the work of the SIAL studio resonated beyond Czech borders and was often published in prestigious foreign magazines even in the 70s and 80s. His personal reputation and the example of Ještěd attracted many young architects to Liberec, to whom he provided an extraordinarily free and inspiring environment in his studio.

In the so-called SIAL Kindergarten, founded in 1969 with M. Masák, he trained several generations of architects who later made significant contributions to the development of Czech architecture or established themselves abroad. He continued his educational activities after 1989 at the newly established Faculty of Architecture in Liberec. For his work, Karel Hubáček received—besides the already mentioned awards—the Architects' Association Prize for lifetime achievement, the Herder Prize, and an honorary doctorate from ČVUT. It is certainly also a recognition that the building on Ještěd has been declared the Czech building of the 20th century in several surveys.