Spring 2022: Liesbeth van der Pol and Viktória Mravčáková

At the March lecture, former government architect of the Netherlands, Liesbeth van der Pol, will speak alongside architect Viktória Mravčáková from the Slovak organization Spolka. They will discuss the direction of contemporary architecture towards sustainability.

Liesbeth van der Pol studied architecture at the Delft University of Technology. In 1995, she co-founded the studio Dok Architecten with Herman Zeinstra. Notable projects include the WKK power plant in Utrecht and the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam. From 2008 to 2011, she served as the state architect at the Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning. In the Netherlands, this position is taken very seriously, and it is expected that the architect will not only consult on architecture and social housing policies but will also independently support quality architecture. Liesbeth van der Pol, among other things, creates colored drawings of buildings that determine their character and expression. These drawings also serve as the signature for each project.

Spolka is a collective of architects and sociologists from Slovakia aimed at creating sustainable cities for all. They work on raising awareness about the city through discussions, their research, artistic and architectural interventions, as well as by educating stakeholders – organizations, officials, ordinary residents, and urban enthusiasts. Viktória Mravčáková focuses on public spaces, urban planning policy, and specific spatial phenomena of (post-socialist) cities. She studied architecture in Košice, at the Academy of Art, Architecture & Design in Prague, and environmental studies at Kyoto University of Arts and Design. She is an active member of Spolka.
Dutch architect Liesbeth van der Pol first spoke in Prague in 2016 as part of the Architects lecture series. According to her, architecture should speak for itself and act as a distinct personality – vital, fascinating, and leaving impressions on us. Such architecture creates an environment that supports communication, satisfaction, and motivates users to achieve better results. In the upcoming lecture, she will address the issue of sustainability in contemporary architecture, which should be developed not only green but, above all, meaningfully, reusing what already exists, with character, elegance, and humanity. In a joint dialogue, they will focus on contemporary architecture and whether it does or does not lead to a sustainable environment. What are the possibilities of influencing the direction of urban and architectural development from such different positions?