The most famous Czech architect will celebrate her seventy-fifth birthday on Monday

Prague - Simple lines, steel, glass, and sober modernity. And spiral staircases, as if floating in space. The projects of architect Eva Jiřičná bear a mark of originality, and her brightly lit interiors fill luxury stores, apartments, and offices around the world. On Monday, March 3, probably the best-known Czech architect of today will celebrate her seventy-fifth birthday.
    Glass and steel, seemingly cold materials at first glance, Jiřičná tunes to perfect harmony in her interiors. Her signature also includes tension cables for her renowned glass staircases, which she has refined to perfection over the years like festive jewelry: "I am fascinated by light within objects and the work with it. I seek ways to bring it into space. Lightness, transparency, and materials in their pure form," she says.
    Her designer stores have transformed the face of prestigious streets in London and New York. Hugo Boss, Kenzo, Joseph, Vidal Sasoon, many significant cafes and restaurants. She designs luxury hotels, private apartments, and bridges. Her clients include nobility, businesspeople, and major brand companies. Among others, also in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Florence.
    In her homeland, people were completely unfamiliar with her work. The Moravian woman with a British passport became an involuntary emigrant in 1968 and only returned to Czechoslovakia for the first time in 1990.
    Her work in the Czech Republic includes the modern Orangerie (a greenhouse with a steel skeleton) near Jeleni Prikop at Prague Castle, the interiors of the Dancing House on Rašínovo nábřeží, the Black Swan café above the Bílá labuť department store, and the footbridge in Brno. Also the Prague hotels Josef and Maxmilian. She is currently designing a building in a gap at the end of Prague's Revoluční street.
    She entered the world of architecture with a quality education. She was born on March 3, 1939, in Zlín; her father was an architect and worked for Tomáš Baťa. She studied this field herself at the Czech Technical University in Prague and further with Jaroslav Fragner at the Prague AVU.
    After her studies, she was offered an internship in England; she left for there on August 1, 1968. And then came a letter from the embassy stating: "Your visa has been revoked, and return to your homeland is undesirable for reasons of public interest."
    At the studio of Louise de Soisson, which designed a new port in Brighton, she learned to use industrial design materials, later collaborating with architect Richard Rogers, before receiving commissions for several stores in central London and the United States.
    Thus, she became self-sufficient and established her studio in 1976. She worked for Lloyd's insurance, Lord Rothschild, and others. She designed the Canada Water bus station in London and the expansion of the library in Leicester. The British Queen awarded this lady of architecture the Order of the British Empire.
    The legendary kindness and approachability of Eva Jiřičná are balanced by her less apparent stubbornness and tenacity. Her favorite book is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. And the men in her life have always been architects, including Jan Kaplický.
    Still elegant, Jiřičná has today architectural studios in Prague (AI Design Prague) and in London (Eva Jiricna Architects), and she taught at VŠUP in Prague for over a dozen years since the political changes. Recently published book interviews by Karel Hvížďala with her titled Spaces and Dialogues of Eva Jiřičná present her as a philosopher of space and a creator who emphasizes the dialogue with the client.
    In addition to the Order of the British Empire, she has several international awards, is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and the American Institute of Architects, and holds honorary doctorates from several universities. She speaks English, Russian, French, and Italian.
    The renowned architect claims to herself that she lacks a strong sense of business and feels stronger in creation: "Creation is a constant search, a lot of work and a sea of sweat. It rarely happens that one reaches the goal. But it doesn't matter if one doesn't get there. The meaning is precisely in the process and the journey."