Architect Karel Hubáček is celebrating his 86th birthday

photo Petr Jedinák

Prague - The Czech Republic has given one of the most original architectural works - a mountain hotel with a television transmitter on Ještěd. Visionary architect Karel Hubáček, who celebrates his 86th birthday on February 23, is one of the key figures in Czech architecture of the second half of the 20th century. His work still has much to say to contemporary architecture. The elegant conical shape of Ještěd earned Hubáček the August Perret Prize in 1969.
    The 94-meter-high hyperboloid uniquely combines the functions of a transmitter, hotel, and restaurant. The jury stated at the time that the work stands out for its clarity and happy harmony with which it connects to the surrounding landscape. Experts and laypeople alike are still captivated by the way the building enhances the silhouette of the 1012-meter-high mountain.
    "We all came up with two buildings then," said architect Otakar Binar from the Sial studio, a long-time collaborator of Hubáček and the interior designer of Ještěd. "He thought of combining it into one entity in the shape of a rotational hyperboloid, essentially completing the shape of the mountain. That was unique." The transmitter was declared the Czech Building of the 20th Century by the magazine Architekt, a national technical monument, and in the future may also become a site of world cultural heritage.
    Hubáček was born on February 23, 1924. In 1969, he founded the SIAL studio with his colleague Masák, also known as SIAL Nursery. The studio gained worldwide renown, and from this school emerged several generations of widely recognized Czech architects. Other built works by Hubáček include the already demolished Ještěd shopping center in Liberec, the Water Utility Balancing Tower in Prague - Dívčí hrady, and meteorological towers in Prague - Libuš.