To the exhibition of Alena Šrámková at Museum Kampa

In the middle of last year, Professor Alena Šrámková celebrated a significant anniversary, which her home faculty commemorated at the end of the year by unveiling Hejduk's mobile statue in the entrance piazzetta. The Kant publishing house dedicated a brick-colored publication to her, and the National Gallery, in cooperation with the Kampa Museum, prepared an exhibition in three halls of the former stables of the Sovovy mlýny exhibition, where the architect's seventeen favorite works are presented. It’s a pity that some projects remained on paper. Republic Square, Charles Square, or Fruit Market could look different today—and perhaps even better. Pavel Kolíbal took care of arranging pastel sketches, pencil drawings, and models on a white pedestal.

With her own distinct decisiveness, Alena Šrámková, titled the first lady of Czech architecture, would immediately direct you to the appropriate places. Nevertheless, she enjoys a unique status on the Czech architectural scene not only due to decades-tested buildings but also for her firm moral stance and, above all, her long-standing pedagogical work, having raised an entire generation of post-revolutionary architects. While browsing through the catalog or visiting the exhibition, one might think that the consistent creation of Alena Šrámková has only raised mere copies. That would merely skim the surface and fail to delve deeper behind the facade. The diametrically different paths of two former students of Alena Šrámková can illustrate this, yet they are united by a dedication to the profession, no matter the environment in which they build. I apologize to long-time collaborators and dozens of other graduates from Alena Šrámková's studio, but Vladimír Balda immediately came to mind, who designs family homes for his circle of friends in a small Jizera village with fewer than a thousand inhabitants in a regional spirit. At the opposite end of the same profession stands the internationally active Pavel Nasadil, leading the British FAM office branch in Prague.

Although Emerita Professor Šrámková has not taught at FA ČVUT for several years, her building continues to influence those who attend the school and thus indirectly impact the upcoming generations of architects. The true positives or negatives of the building can only be assessed with greater time distance, but it can already be said that it has taken a proven path, similar to when young Alena Šrámková studied with Jaroslav Fragner in the 1950s in a small AVU house, from whose walls the spirit of previous masters Kotěra and Gočár is still felt today. Later, as a fresh associate professor in the early 1990s, she guided her students to maintain perspective and not be lured by the boundless possibilities that freedom offered. She herself has retained an almost banal language that nonetheless possesses strong artistic values, against which Šrámková so often positions herself in interviews. Similar to Mies, she is sparing with the written word. She prefers to embody her thoughts directly into buildings. When Rostislav Švácha came out in 2004 with a book on severity documenting the Czech Republic fifteen years after the Velvet Revolution, his one-word description fit the work of Alena Šrámková perfectly, who applies strictness most to herself and then demands it from her surroundings. Among those who have withstand the directly communicated truth are Ladislav Lábus (education) and Josef Pleskot (practice), shaping today's architectural scene.

Although Alena Šrámková’s office was renamed Ehl & Koumar architects in 2015, its two main leaders ensure that we can always expect an honest Šrámkovský "house with windows" from them in the future.