[anastomosis] - connected city

The exhibition [anastomosis] will present the results of research that took place over the past two years in the studio of Petr Hájek and Jaroslav Hulín at the Faculty of Architecture Czech Technical University in Prague, in collaboration with the Laboratory of Experimental Architecture (LEA).
The research aimed to find new, innovative approaches in the field of urbanism. The result is a method of connecting the city with architecture, which helps to activate its regeneration process without expensive renovations and changes. This architecture was named [anastomosis] after a term used in medicine and biology to denote the connection of organ systems in the body.
The ideas of the research were tested on specific designs for four urban locations: 3 in the city of Prague and 1 in the city of Karlovy Vary.
The two-year work of the students from the studio of Petr Hájek and Jaroslav Hulín is summarized in a curatorially prepared exhibition project that presents the results of the research in a form understandable to the audience.
The exhibition will present more than 16 different designs for each location. Thus, viewers will be able to see 65 three-dimensional models. Each design is accompanied by visualizations and technical drawings in a special installation with large-scale projections. All this will be displayed in an exhibition space of 900 m².

The head of the studio, Assoc. Prof. Petr Hájek, comments on the project's starting point: “The contemporary European city is evolutionarily frozen. From the perspective of urbanism and infrastructure, it is firmly defined. It painfully receives new challenges and needs. Based on two years of research in the field of urbanism, the project [anastomosis] was created.”
“We don't want to reconstruct, supplement, or regulate the city. We only want to kickstart its regeneration process. We want to create connections in its fabric that will activate and nourish its parts. To name our work, we borrowed the term ‘anastomosis’ from medicine, generally referring to systemic connections in the body. If the connections dissolve, tissues and organs will die. The goal of our work is to revive the necessary parts of the city through architecture [anastomosis] without the assistance of costly renovations and changes.”

One of the important findings that emerged during the research is pointed out by the project advisor, Cyril Říha: “It turns out that what matters is not primarily the houses themselves, but how they fulfill the function of establishing new connections between urban areas, and ultimately, that it is not about buildings at all, but only about those connections (regardless of how they are realized). This will sound outrageous only during a period of growth (economic or population), when the primary task of architecture is to build houses; less so, perhaps, in a period of stagnation or decline that we are currently experiencing in the so-called developed world, which poses new questions for architecture. The architecture [anastomosis] does not primarily add new buildings to the urban fabric (because no one needs them), but rather new refreshing connections. Its purpose is not to enlarge the city, but to increase its connectivity, to nourish it with new connections. These do not have to be heavily trafficked routes; rather, the greater strength lies in subtle weak ties that activate and allow energy to circulate (let's ask ourselves, what can all this be?) closed and hidden only in certain parts of the city.”

Dates of accompanying programs:
February 29 from 7:00 PM
March 7 from 7:00 PM
March 14 from 7:00 PM

Exhibition partners:
FA ČVUT; Bulb, spol. s r.o.; Copy General s.r.o.; Etna, spol. s r.o.; Kodak; Häfele Czech & Slovakia s.r.o.; Acer; MY DVA group, a.s.; Tenzona s.r.o.

The exhibition is supported by:
Art-Now Foundation; Easytalk s.r.o.; BScom s.r.o.; Nevšímal, a.s.; Cinema Svět Cheb; Riganti s.r.o.; KOSYKA, s.r.o.; Cigler Marani Architects; ALTERNATIVA; faama cz s.r.o.

Partners of the DOX Center: 

Zdeněk Bakala; City of Prague; TECHO, a.s.; Premiant City Tour s.r.o.; Poster Infinity s.r.o.
The DOX Center's program is carried out with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.

Media partners of the DOX Center:

Hospodářské noviny; RESPEKT; Prague Events Calendar