O architecture more! No. 2: Architects in competition

We invite you to the second lecture in the series we are preparing in collaboration with the architectural magazine ERA21. This time, the subtitle of the discussion is The Glamour and Misery of Architectural Competitions.
The awarding of public contracts is a frequently discussed topic today. The most objective and transparent way to select quality architecture, not only in the public sector, is through an architectural competition. However, due to a crisis of trust, a lack of experience, and perhaps the immaturity of democracy, we face a number of problems in organizing competitions. Many of them ultimately end in significant faux pas, recalling the case regarding the new National Library, for example. How should we correctly initiate tenders for buildings and urban plans, what are the advantages and disadvantages of competitions, what models and strategies exist, and can we draw lessons from competition experiences elsewhere in Europe?

The meeting will be moderated by: Filip Landa
Guests: Svea Heinemann, Yvette Vašourková, Michal Fišer, Martin Svoboda
Venue: České centrum, Rytířská 31, Prague 1
Date: May 21, 2014, at 6:00 PM

Svea Heinemann studied architecture at TU Berlin and MIT. She collaborates with the platform [phase eins], which deals with the management of architectural competitions, and from 2011 to 2013, she worked with the firm C4C | competence for competitions. She was the manager of several international competitions in Germany, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Ukraine. For the German Ministry of Transport, Construction and Urban Development, she prepared a case study comparing competition strategies in Germany and Switzerland. Currently, she works at TU Berlin and runs her own architectural studio Kiosk.
Yvette Vašourková graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at ČVUT in Prague (2001) and completed her postgraduate studies at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam (2005–2007). She is a founding member of the Central European Architecture Center (CCEA), which has recently focused, among other things, on organizing architectural competitions. She co-founded the architectural studio MOBA with Igor Kovačević. She is a member of the editorial board of the magazine ERA21.
Michal Fišer graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at ČVUT in Prague (1997) and the School of Architecture at AVU under Emil Přikryl (2001). Since 2002, he has been a member of the association třiarchitekti and since 2010, a working group for competitions at ČKA.
Martin Svoboda is the director of the National Technical Library, which announced the competition for the new library building in 2000, and he was a jury member for library buildings in Hradec Králové and Ostrava. The NTK building received numerous prestigious awards in 2009: the award from the Club for Old Prague for the best new building in a historic environment, the Building of the Year award - the Mayor of Prague's award, and the award from the State Environmental Fund of the Czech Republic for infrastructure, the title "excellent concrete structure" in the ČBS competition, and a special jury award in the Best of Realty competition.

The magazine ERA21 is the only architectural magazine in the Czech Republic prepared by a team of architects. Each thematic issue is developed by renowned authors under the guidance of expert curators, both domestic and foreign. The magazine ERA21 has been systematically uncovering new themes for nearly 15 years and focuses on intersections with other fields.

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