The city architect of Boskovice will be Zdeněk Fránek

Boskovice - Boskovice in the Blansko region will have its city architect. The well-known architect and native of Boskovice Zdeněk Fránek will take on this role. As the chief urban planner, he has been approved by the city council, the city announced today in a press release.

"The position of city architect has been a long-term focus for the city leadership. We have a new zoning plan, several development locations, and significant buildings ahead of us, such as the city library, as well as the construction of residential buildings behind the hospital and the reconstruction of the Sokolovna, and these are exactly the areas that, in our opinion, the urban planner should engage with," said the city mayor Hana Nedomová (ČSSD) to ČTK.

This is an external position. The city wants to conclude a contract with Fránek, which will specify all activities of the city architect. In the selection process, the city approached five architectural firms, but only Fránek submitted a bid. After signing the contract, the city leadership expects that the architect will introduce himself to the public at a discussion that should take place by the end of August.

"Boskovice is a city that has been heavily mistreated in its history. Perhaps most so in the last fifty years, which I have had the opportunity to experience in real-time. Yet Boskovice could be a charming little town, comparable to any gems of domestic and world architecture, a town that needs to be awakened. And we need to start working on it brick by brick, cobblestones one by one, refining and cultivating it into its deserved form," stated Fránek.

Zdeněk Fránek was born in 1961 in Boskovice. After studying at the Faculty of Architecture at the Brno University of Technology, he worked in the Office of the Chief Architect in Blansko, and in 1989 he founded Fránek Architects. He is currently engaged in project, publication, and educational activities both at home and abroad. He has been the dean at the Faculty of Art and Architecture in Liberec since 2012.

He has had several exhibitions, including the 2007 exhibition Perspectives at the Jaroslav Frágner Gallery in Prague. Among his most significant realizations are a house with a studio on Kamenná Street in Brno, a church of the Brethren Church in Litomyšl or Prague, and the multifunctional Eucon building in Prague. In recent months, his name has been mentioned in connection with a proposed building in Prague's Old Town, which is apparently nicknamed marshmallow due to the color of its façade that appeared in some visualizations.

Many cities in the Czech Republic have a city architect, such as Žatec, Chrudim, Kolín, or Strakonice. In the South Moravian Region, Brno has had its city architect since last July.