Josef Pleskot is celebrating an anniversary

Prague - One of the most recognized Czech architects is Josef Pleskot, a co-creator of the renovations of Prague Castle under Václav Havel and also the author of several interesting houses, born on December 3, 1952, in Písek. Pleskot was also involved in the revitalization of the industrial area of the Vítkovice Ironworks, which earned him the Architect of the Year award, in addition to having received several other awards in the Czech Republic and abroad, including a nomination for the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Award.

Pleskot originally aspired to be a painter, but ultimately graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague, where he briefly worked as a teaching assistant. He began his architectural career at the Regional Design Institute in Prague, with his first independent project being a vocational training center in Benešov. In 1991, he founded his own architectural studio AP, with which he realized several award-winning projects, including the town hall in Benešov and a villa for financier Petr Kellner in Vrané nad Vltavou, as well as projects at Prague Castle.

Among other projects by the architect, whom the historian Zdeněk Lukeš characterized as a person with a clear opinion who dislikes making compromises even at the cost of losing an interesting commission, are the residential building in Horažďovice, the office building of BDO in Prague's Pankrác, and the apartment buildings and waterfront modifications in Litomyšl. Most of them have been awarded various levels of recognition at the Grand Prix exhibition of the Association of Architects.

Pleskot, who is a member of the Mánes Association of Fine Artists, has participated in numerous group exhibitions and had a comprehensive exhibition in 1998 at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery in Prague. In recent years, he has left perhaps the most significant mark in the Ostrava Vítkovice area, most recently due to the project of a new footbridge over the Ostravice River intended for pedestrians and cyclists, which will connect the right bank of the river with the area of the national cultural monument of Lower Vítkovice.