Pardubice will again have a chief architect's office

Pardubice - After a long hiatus, Pardubice will once again establish the office of the chief architect. The spontaneous development of the city requires a concept. The office will fundamentally influence land use planning, urbanism, and architecture. This was stated today by representatives of the city leadership.
    "We don’t want to politically interfere with their work too much, that has never been the case, and even less so in the future," said Mayor Jaroslav Deml.
    According to the mayor, it is never too late to invite architects back to collaborate. The city leadership expects that the urbanism and architecture office will be filled by a competent professional.
    "Our ambition in filling the position of chief architect will be to gain a prominently profile personality with the necessary expertise, ideally also with a reputation and respect from both the community of architects and politicians," said Secretary Martin Růžička.
    The office will begin work next May and will have about 12 employees, some of whom will come from the building authority. Approximately five people will be hired by the city hall. A significant task of the office will be to change the land use plan.
    Pardubice had an office of the chief architect in the early 1990s, which was disbanded in 1992. After a longer hiatus, the position was held by Pavla Pannová, who left in 2003. Its responsibilities were then taken over by the department of development and strategy. However, the city hall faced criticism from architects and experts. Three years later, the city hall established an "architectural triumvirate," an advisory body composed of architects from three generations, Miroslav Řepa, Milan Košař, and Aleš Klose. However, this also ended after about a year.
    "This should have been established a long time ago or it should have never been disbanded. Nevertheless, it is good that the city hall is willing to undertake this. It is important, however, that the office of the chief architect manages to maintain professional independence," said architect Košař, who led the city's first architectural body until 1992, to ČTK some time ago.