Dear architects... the ethics of architecture in Pilsen

The Human Dimension of Architecture: What Social Responsibility Do Architects Have? And What Ethical Issues Do They Address?

In the final part of the lecture series, architect, urban planner, and curator Karolína Plášková will present the project Dear Architects..., which focuses on the ethical dimension and social and political implications of architecture. Karolína, who has long been interested in the relationship between architecture and urbanism with the field of social sciences and arts, attempts through a dialogue between experts in social sciences and project authors to show the ethical dilemmas that architects face in their practice.

During the event, which will take place on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, at 6 p.m. in the former apartment of Willy and Gertrude Kraus, one of the so-called Loos interiors, visitors will view recordings of two interviews out of a total of eight. One of them – a dialogue between sociologist Petr Matoušek and architect Jaroslav Dokoupil, co-author of the Plzeň Plaza shopping center project – directly addresses the Plzeň environment. In the interview, both protagonists attempt to come to answers about how the boundaries for architects are set in shopping center projects and whether architects should avoid designing buildings of this type.

In the second video recording, sociologist Kateřina Sidiropulu Janků discussed the design and realization of Hvězdička – the park of Eugena Horváth in Brno, which was created in a neglected courtyard of residential buildings, with garden and landscape architect Zdeněk Sendler. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the project author Dear Architects… Karolína Plášková.

Admission to the event is 70 CZK. The series is organized by the association Pěstuj prostor with the support of the city of Plzeň, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, and the Czech Architecture Foundation. Its goal is to support and develop interest among local professionals and the broader public in architecture and the built and landscape environment of the city.

Karolína Plášková, M. A., after completing her studies in architecture and urbanism at the FA VUT in Brno (Bc.), where she also actively participated in the Students' Community of the Faculty of Architecture (SOFA), continued her studies in Vienna in 2015. In 2017, she successfully finished her studies in the Social Design program at the Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien (M. A.), and is currently working on her diploma project at the Faculty of Architecture of the Technische Universität Wien. In addition to a year-long study stay at the Universität Liechtenstein in Vaduz, she has also completed several internships, for example, with the team dérive – Verein für Stadtforschung in Vienna, as well as in Plzeň 2015 and the association Pěstuj prostor, with which she still collaborates. She has a long-term interest in the overlaps of architecture and urbanism and their relationship with the fields of social sciences and arts. In interdisciplinary collaboration on various projects, she attempts to raise awareness of contemporary (hidden) issues at the intersection of urbanism, art, and social sciences and respond to them using artistic strategies. Her interest in the social dimension and ethical aspects of architects' work is reflected in the project Dear Architects… (2017, 2018).

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