<Czech>Česká komora architektů udělí svou poctu Evě Jiřičné</Czech><English>The Czech Chamber of Architects will pay tribute to Eva Jiřičná</English>

photo: www.utb.cz

Prague - Eva Jiřičná will receive the Honorary Award from the Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA) for the year 2021. The spokesperson for the chamber, Tereza Zemanová, announced this today to ČTK. The world-renowned Czech native, author of significant buildings and designs, will receive the award at the nomination evening of the Czech Architecture Award in the Valdštejn Garden in Prague on Thursday. Since the year 2000, the Chamber has paid tribute to outstanding figures in architecture with the lifetime achievement award.

The jury that decided on the awarding of the ČKA Honorary Award for 2021 included architect, university educator, and emeritus dean of the Faculty of Architecture CTU Ladislav Lábus, architect Hana Špalková, publicist Petr Volf, journalist Karolína Vránková, and architect, university educator, and emeritus dean of the Faculty of Architecture CTU Zdeněk Zavřel.

According to the jury, Jiřičná approaches architecture comprehensively, in its full breadth. She makes no distinctions between small and large tasks. "She can design chairs or tables; she gained international success with staircases that make revolutionary use of glass. She shapes galleries, shops, restaurants, and family houses, and designs public buildings of various focuses: a library, a hotel, a school, a spiritual center, or a congress center, a transport terminal, a greenhouse," said the jurors.

They emphasized that Eva Jiřičná has "an amazing sense for construction; thanks to her supreme knowledge of technologies, she comes up with the most effective solutions." "Openness and the ability to listen are rare qualities in an architect. In the case of Eva Jiřičná, this is complemented by humanity and kindness, with which she selflessly helps younger colleagues entering the professional scene. Eva Jiřičná loves architecture and serves her profession in the best way possible," agreed the experts and colleagues from the jury.

"The opportunity that I could experience those two worlds - to live in London and at the same time return to Zlín, I consider to be enormous luck. If I can share the award with someone, then the prize I receive is not for me, but for all those who would have received it if they had the opportunity," Jiřičná stated. She emphasized how much she values the open professional opportunities, experiences, and chances to learn that her emigration to Great Britain brought her, where she stayed in 1968 after a lawful internship.

Eva Jiřičná was born in 1939 in Zlín. For her architectural work, she has received numerous awards, including several Grand Prix awards from the Czech Architects Association and the Order of the British Empire for services in the field of design. From 1993 to 2006, she led the architecture studio at the Prague UMPRUM and holds several honorary doctorates from Czech and foreign universities.

Among Jiřičná's significant authorial realizations are the Canada Water transport terminal or the construction and interior modifications of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, interiors of commercial firms Joseph, Boodles, Joan & David, or Harrods, the staircase at Somerset House, and the Tiffany Gallery in New York. Her works in the Czech Republic include the Hotel Josef in the Old Town of Prague, the new greenhouse in the Royal Garden of Prague Castle, the Congress and University Center in Zlín, and the modification of the Church of St. Anne for the Vision 97 Foundation of Václav and Dagmar Havlová.