Alena Šrámková was among the top of the Czech architectural scene
Praha, March 10 (ČTK) - In the minimalist buildings of the top Czech architect Alena Šrámková, who passed away today at the age of 92, moderation, truthfulness, and humility mainly speak. Since the 1970s, she has realized a number of interesting projects, among the most famous of which are the famous postmodern building of ČKD in Prague on Můstek and the terminal hall of the Main Train Station. Šrámková's work and her extraordinary personality influenced many followers in architecture.
The list of her works is extensive and the character of the designs is very diverse, ranging from a chemical plant to a hotel interior, locally from Wenceslas Square in Prague to an empty hill above Cheb (meteorological station) and a forest solitude. However, her handwriting always remained legible. Šrámková claimed that a house has obligations to humanity in general - it must not frighten, shock, or dazzle, it must be honest and strong enough to influence people. The architect was among the representatives of the so-called Czech strictness, as architectural historian Rostislav Švácha characterized a group of creators who are inclined towards minimalist tendencies.
The ČKD building on Wenceslas Square (1983), which Šrámková designed together with her husband Jan, responded to the then-current events in foreign architecture. In the stagnant normalization space, the building then became a kind of symbol of the thaw. The postmodern "revelation" with large clocks lightly embedded in the center sparked discussions long after its completion. The ČKD building served until the late 1990s, and Šrámková later participated in the reconstruction of the protected object.
Among her other works (realized or projects) besides the Prague train hall (1977), designed with three colleagues, are the cultural center Lužiny (with Ladislav Lábusem), a small tower for a researcher in Košík, the Šerák meteorological station, Hypobank on Náměstí Republiky, a footbridge in Holešovice, or a nursing care facility in Horažďovice. Recently, the new Tyrš Bridge in Přerov (2012), a malt house in Olomouc (2007), the Faculty of Architecture of ČVUT building in Dejvice (2011), and the residential complex Corso Pod Lipami in the Central Bohemian village of Řevnice (2019; together with Lukáš Ehl and Tomáš Koumar). The complex won the Building of the Year award and the National Prize for Architecture 2019.
Šrámková was born on June 20, 1929, in Prague. She studied at the Technical University in Bratislava and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in the studio of Jaroslav Fragner. She later went through several design offices, and in the late 1980s, she worked in the SIAL studio, which under the leadership of Karel Hubáček represented one of the few significant and distinctive currents of the then Czech architecture since the 1960s.
In 1992, she founded her own studio (Šrámková architects), where she worked with two colleagues Tomáš Koumar and Lukáš Ehl. The studio, which was later renamed Ehl & Koumar architects, participated in numerous competitions, often winning or receiving awards, although some of its buildings remained only on paper. Šrámková never felt the need to measure herself against the trend that was currently "in vogue".
A certain "unconventionality" or radicality of her thinking was always appealing, even to her younger colleagues, to whom she dedicated herself pedagogically at the Czech Technical University in Prague from 1991 (as a professor since 1999). Šrámková was the first chairwoman of the Council of the Architects' Chamber after 1989. The organization awarded her the Personality of Czech Architecture Award in 1994. In 2008, she received the Medal of Honor for Services to the State in the field of Culture and Art from President Václav Klaus, and the Honor from the Czech Chamber of Architects for 2007 for her contribution to modern Czech architecture.
When she received the Honor from the Czech Chamber of Architects in 2008, she stated that among the projects that did not materialize, she regretted the buildings for which she participated in the competition for the bank on Náměstí Republiky and for the shopping center on Karlovo Náměstí. "What is on Náměstí Republiky belongs in a housing estate," she said. The corner building on Karlovo Náměstí, according to her, lacked generosity.
The list of her works is extensive and the character of the designs is very diverse, ranging from a chemical plant to a hotel interior, locally from Wenceslas Square in Prague to an empty hill above Cheb (meteorological station) and a forest solitude. However, her handwriting always remained legible. Šrámková claimed that a house has obligations to humanity in general - it must not frighten, shock, or dazzle, it must be honest and strong enough to influence people. The architect was among the representatives of the so-called Czech strictness, as architectural historian Rostislav Švácha characterized a group of creators who are inclined towards minimalist tendencies.
The ČKD building on Wenceslas Square (1983), which Šrámková designed together with her husband Jan, responded to the then-current events in foreign architecture. In the stagnant normalization space, the building then became a kind of symbol of the thaw. The postmodern "revelation" with large clocks lightly embedded in the center sparked discussions long after its completion. The ČKD building served until the late 1990s, and Šrámková later participated in the reconstruction of the protected object.
Among her other works (realized or projects) besides the Prague train hall (1977), designed with three colleagues, are the cultural center Lužiny (with Ladislav Lábusem), a small tower for a researcher in Košík, the Šerák meteorological station, Hypobank on Náměstí Republiky, a footbridge in Holešovice, or a nursing care facility in Horažďovice. Recently, the new Tyrš Bridge in Přerov (2012), a malt house in Olomouc (2007), the Faculty of Architecture of ČVUT building in Dejvice (2011), and the residential complex Corso Pod Lipami in the Central Bohemian village of Řevnice (2019; together with Lukáš Ehl and Tomáš Koumar). The complex won the Building of the Year award and the National Prize for Architecture 2019.
Šrámková was born on June 20, 1929, in Prague. She studied at the Technical University in Bratislava and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in the studio of Jaroslav Fragner. She later went through several design offices, and in the late 1980s, she worked in the SIAL studio, which under the leadership of Karel Hubáček represented one of the few significant and distinctive currents of the then Czech architecture since the 1960s.
In 1992, she founded her own studio (Šrámková architects), where she worked with two colleagues Tomáš Koumar and Lukáš Ehl. The studio, which was later renamed Ehl & Koumar architects, participated in numerous competitions, often winning or receiving awards, although some of its buildings remained only on paper. Šrámková never felt the need to measure herself against the trend that was currently "in vogue".
A certain "unconventionality" or radicality of her thinking was always appealing, even to her younger colleagues, to whom she dedicated herself pedagogically at the Czech Technical University in Prague from 1991 (as a professor since 1999). Šrámková was the first chairwoman of the Council of the Architects' Chamber after 1989. The organization awarded her the Personality of Czech Architecture Award in 1994. In 2008, she received the Medal of Honor for Services to the State in the field of Culture and Art from President Václav Klaus, and the Honor from the Czech Chamber of Architects for 2007 for her contribution to modern Czech architecture.
When she received the Honor from the Czech Chamber of Architects in 2008, she stated that among the projects that did not materialize, she regretted the buildings for which she participated in the competition for the bank on Náměstí Republiky and for the shopping center on Karlovo Náměstí. "What is on Náměstí Republiky belongs in a housing estate," she said. The corner building on Karlovo Náměstí, according to her, lacked generosity.
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