Czech Technical University Graduate Wins 2020 Kaplicky Internship at…

Prague, 29 September 2020

The winner of the sixth annual Kaplicky Internship for young architects is Vojtěch Rudorfer, a recent graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague. Rudorfer’s winning entry was his design of a hangar for a research airship in Svalbard, Norway, and he now has the opportunity to complete a three-month, paid internship at David Chipperfield Architects in London. The competition, named in honor of the architect Jan Kaplický, is organized by the Bakala Foundation in cooperation with the Design Museum in London and the Kaplicky Centre Foundation.

This year, 47 students and recent graduates of architectural disciplines at Czech universities applied for the foundation’s Kaplicky Internship. The seven best projects moved on to the second round in late-September, when an international expert jury evaluated the short-listed designs. The jury included Ines Gavelli and Matt Ball, both from David Chipperfield Architects; Deyan Sudjic, former long-time director of the Design Museum in London; Michal Kohout, architect and university professor; Regina Loukotová, rector of the Architectural Institute in Prague; and Petra Ross, winner of the 2016 Kaplicky Internship. In addition, Eliška Kaplický Fuchsová is an honorary member of the jury. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the presentation of this year’s projects took place online.

The design for the hangar was Rudorfer’s thesis project, which he prepared at the studio headed by Mirko Baum and Vojtěch Hybler. He designed the airship hangar, including scientific and technical facilities, for the Norwegian town of Ny-Ålesund in Svalbard, which is home to one of the northernmost and most important polar research stations. For his project, he had to take into account extreme Arctic conditions, and the jury valued how well-thought out and detailed the design is.

“It was a pleasure to listen to Vojtěch present his project for an airship hangar in Ny-Ålesund, Norway. Vojtěch undertook his project with a spirit of research and collaboration befitting a very specific program, which seeks to help harness a sustainable future,” said Matt Ball, Associate Director at David Chipperfield Architects, in his evaluation of the winning project. “The project was thorough, precisely executed and presented in a very simple and elegant way, making it altogether a very sophisticated proposal.”

During his studies at the CTU Faculty of Architecture, Rudorfer led the Association of Architecture Students. Earlier this year, his project for the Lannovo Embankment won the “Unique Constructions for Complicated Locations” student competition. As a result, he was granted an internship with Czech architect Josef Pleskot. Rudorfer’s success continues with the chance to intern at David Chipperfield Architects.

“It’s wonderful to see this program, now six years old, grow in stature every year. It has involved so many of London’s most interesting architectural practices, working with the Czech Republic’s most gifted architecture graduates,” says Deyan Sudjic, a permanent member of the expert jury. Regarding this year’s competition, he adds, “This has been a particularly interesting range of contenders. Jan Kaplický would have been proud of them.”

Five winners of the Kaplicky Internship competition have completed internships at prestigious London studios to-date, including Eva Jiricna Architects, Zaha Hadid Architects, Allies and Morrison, Adjaye Associates, and Heatherwick Studio. The previous two winners stayed on as staff after completing their internships – Petr Kousal at Adjaye Associates and Ondřej Pokoj at Heatherwick Studio.

CTU Students and Graduates Excel in This Year’s Competition
Six of the seven finalists in the 2020 Kaplicky Internship competition were students or graduates of the CTU Faculty of Architecture. Ludmila Haluzíková submitted her project for “Vague Prague”, in which she explores the phenomenon of vague terrain in the Czech capital. Šimon Kos prepared a design for a new, volunteer firefighting station in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Matěj Kováčik presented his design for a public spa and swimming pool on the Smíchov bank of the Vltava. Kristýna Pokojová submitted her design for the revitalization of a river island in Beroun, which she transformed into an oasis of culture and sports. Anna Vopařilová created a design for a new residential complex next to Prague’s Grébovka Park. Only one finalist was from a different school – Marek Svoboda, graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Brno University of Technology, submitted his design for the transformation of a late nineteenth-century building in Brno into a public spa.

The third annual competition for young architects, the Kaplicky…

Prague, 6 October 2017

According to the jury, this year’s winner of the third year of the Kaplicky Internship is Miroslav Strnad from the Brno University of Technology. In the following months, he will gain valuable work experience in London during a three-month internship in the prestigious architectural studio Allies and Morrison. The unique programme for promising young architects is organised by the Bakala Foundation in collaboration with the London Design Museum and the Kaplicky Centre Endowment Fund.

The winner has been chosen by the jury of experts, including architect Bob Allies, director of the London Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic, architect and architectural historian Zdeněk Lukeš, architect and university professor Michal Kohout, and a honorary member of the jury, Eliška Kaplický Fuchsová.

“Thanks to the Kaplicky Internship, emerging architects have a unique opportunity to work on important projects together with renowned architects. This experience and interesting contacts they acquire during the internship are a great advantage when they start their career,” said the director of the Bakala Foundation, Václav Pecha.

Last year’s winner Petra Ross, who completed her internship in the world-famous studio Zaha Hadid Architects this summer, agrees: “The work in the studio was very inspiring for me. I had a chance to see the creative process of various projects – from designs of future offices and skyscrapers to public atria. I have also worked on a project that won a competition and will be executed – a plan to revitalize the old port of Tallinn,” says Petra Ross.

Miroslav Strnad will also gain experience with a diverse range of projects in the coming months: “In three months, the internship winner will have the opportunity to participate in several projects of different scales, whether it is a development plan or detailed interior solutions,” explains Bob Allies, one of the founders of the British studio.

The recent graduate from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Brno University of Technology has won with his design of a spiritual centre for the housing estate in Líšeň, Brno, which includes a church, multi-purpose hall, classroom, parish office, café and underground garages. “I have decided to design a church because it is one of most interesting topics from an architectural point of view and a challenge in terms of light and space. Last year, I researched what a contemporary church should look like. The resulting solution offers both meeting spaces and a place where you can stop and calm down,” says the winner of the third Kaplicky Internship.

“We liked the way the student thought about the building on many levels. Whether it was the relationship with the surrounding landscape and the housing estate, the functionality, or the play with the rectangular horizontal line of the community centre on the ground floor in contrast to the organic vertical curve of the church building,” commented the members of the jury on the winning project.

Ms. Petra Ross has become the second recipient of…

Prague on 21st October 2016

The Bakala Foundation, in cooperation with the London Design Museum and the Kaplicky Centre, announced the winner of the 2nd Annual Kaplicky Internship for recent graduates of architectural subjects. The winner of this year’s award is Petra Ross.

In addition to the award, Petra Ross has also been offered a three-month internship at Zaha Hadid Architects in London. The announcement of the winner of the competition was preceded by a debate on the works of Zaha Hadid called “Zaha Hadid: Work and Legacy”, which took place on Thursday at 6 p.m. in DOX Centre for Contemporary Art.

The winner was chosen by an independent jury of experts, including M. Arch, Melodie Leung, Zaha Hadid’s long-time collaborator from her London studio, Mr Deyan Sudjic OBE, director of the Design Museum in London, and doc. Ing. Arch. Vladimir Krátký from the Faculty of Architecture, Czech Technical University (ČVUT), guarantor of the project. Foreign guests as members of the jury of experts accepted the invitation of the Bakala Foundation and the Kaplicky Centre.

“The Kaplicky Internship provides young architects with the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the work of some of the world’s most influential architectural studios based in London and to help them to make interesting contacts when starting their career,” added the Director of the Foundation, Mr Václav Pecha.

Petra Ross is a recent graduate from the Faculty of Arts and Architecture of the Technical University in Liberec (Prof. Ing. arch. Akad. Arch. Jiří Suchomel). It was her design of the London Public Library located in the prominent plot of land on the banks of the River Thames in the vicinity of Tower Bridge which impressed the judges.

“The challenge of the project was to replace the existing part of the Park by a library and preserve the majority of the green space as a public resource at the same time. The main substance of the new building is lost under the park which is lifted above and also serves as a monumental umbrella for the general public, under which extends a through-passage with additional features including a library. By lifting the public-access area on the roof, the park gains more sunny hours and the building meets better environmental standards,” says Petra Ross about her design.

The prize-winning design of Petra Ross is available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1tqqNh59FDWQ01WRjRrQ1NJRUU?usp=sharing

The winner of the Kaplicky Internship is selected through a two-round competition of free-topic architectural works.  Students in the final years of architectural and civil engineering faculties of the given universities (ČVUT, VUT, TUL, VŠUP, VŠB TU, AVU) can participate.  At first, their work must pass the pre-selection process completed by responsible teachers from the above universities. Six new talented architects advanced to the finals – Anna Koukolová from the Faculty of Architecture, ČVUT, Prague, Tadeáš Klaban from VŠUP in Prague, Kateřina Mišáková from the Faculty of Civil Engineering, ČVUT, Prague, František Novák from the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Civil Engineering, VUT in Brno, Norbert Obršál from the Faculty of Architecture, VUT in Brno and Petra Ross from the Faculty of Arts and Architecture, Technical University in Liberec.

The jury of experts selected the overall winner from these finalists based on interviews and presentations of their work. The prize winner is awarded the Kaplicky Internship which covers transportation costs and provides an allowance for the duration of the internship at the Zaha Hadid Architects Studio in London. Extracts from the finalists’ works can be viewed at:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1tqqNh59FDWcVJXcHpoaHZSakU/view.

Last year, the inaugural winner of the Kaplicky Internship was Ondřej Michálek from VŠUP in Prague who successfully completed a three-month internship at the prestigious Eva Jiřičná Architect Studio in London.

Michaela and Zdeněk Bakala have been long-time partners of DOX Centre for Contemporary Art and have been supporters of the Design Museum in London since 2014. The Design Museum was founded in 1989 by Sir Terence Conran, a British designer, with the intention to support young talented designers. The Design Museum will reopen to the public in new premises in Kensington on 24 November 2016. As well as brand new exhibition and learning spaces, the Museum will include the state of the art Bakala Auditorium with a capacity for 200 people. The new Museum building will be officially opened on 14th November by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

Ondřej Michálek became the first ever laureate of the…

Prague, 9th of October 2015

The Bakala Foundation in collaboration with the Kaplicky Centre Foundation and the Design Museum of London announces the first winner of the Kaplicky Internship in the architectural student competition. The winner is Ondřej Michálek from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague.

The prize winner also receives a three-month internship at one of the prestigious British architectural studios. In the coming months Ondřej Michálek will be welcomed by fellow architects at Eva Jiřičná’s London architectural studio. Eva Jiřičná was member of the jury, along with Deyan Sudjic, the Director of London Design Museum and Honorary jury member Eliška Kaplicky. During the announcement ceremony, a calendar named Top Design The Furniture was christened. The calendar displays photos and reproductions of sketches of furniture design by Jan Kaplicky.

Eva Jiřičná explained that she was looking forward to a new intern. Over the years that she has spent in London, she has had many interns in her studio. She reports that “There are many promising talented architects in the Czech Republic and I am glad that we can help open the doors to the world to one of them.”

Václav Pech, the Director of the Bakala Foundation added: “We organize the Kaplicky Internship because we want to provide young architects the opportunity to get to know better the work of world’s architectural studios and to help develop interesting contacts that may make the start of their careers easier”.

The winner of the Kaplicky Internship was selected through a three round selection process. The competition had a free topic and was open to final year students of architecture and civil engineering faculties of selected universities (CTU, BUT, TUL, AAAD, TUO, AFA). In the first round were works of the students pre-selected by their teachers at their respective universities. In the second round, the works were assessed by the expert commission composed of prof. Ing. arch. Zdeněk Fránek, prof. akad. arch. Jindřich Smetana, prof. Ing. arch. Alois Nový, CSc and prof. Ing. arch. and Ladislav Lábus, HON FAIA. This commission selected final four works. Subsequently, the Jury of Eva Jiřičná, Deyan Sudjic and Eliška Kaplicky announced, on the basis of interviews with the authors, the first-ever laureate of the Kaplicky Internship.

Ondřej Michálek in his winning work proposed a specific architectural approach that uses the phenomenon of variability and uncertainty as his basic working principles. He was inspired by the growth of mycelium and other living organisms – which he used in creating basic set of rules. Subsequently, he examined the territorial implications of applying these rules at a specific moment and in a certain location as the “Pavilion of Growth.”

The organizers will cover the transport costs and pocket money for the winner for the duration of his/her internship.

The Kaplicky Internship Program is one of the many activities through which Michaela and Zdeněk Bakala support the development of the modern art and architecture. Mr. and Mrs. Bakala are longstanding partners of the DOX Centre of Contemporary Art in Prague and since 2014 also of the one of the world’s most prestigious museums, Design Museum in London. They also cooperate with the leading Spanish and internationally acclaimed architect Ricardo Bofill, who is the author of the reconstruction of the former industrial building ČKD Boiler Factory into the modern administrative complex called Forum Karlín. Here in the unique newsroom found its new residence the publishing house Economia, as well as other multinational companies. An integral part of the Forum Karlín is a multifunctional hall which combines elements of the modern architecture with the original character of the building and meets the most demanding acoustic and technical requirements for holding cultural and social events. Forum Karlín was opened to the public by Mr. and Mrs. Bakala in 2014 and is considered by the experts as one of the top modern Czech buildings.

It was the cooperation with leading international designers and architects that led to the creation of the project of Kaplicky Internship. The Kaplicky Internship aims to provide opportunities for further development of young Czech architects and to promote Jan Kaplicky’s legacy.