Mail ČKA 2019: Zdeněk Zavřel

The Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA) will announce the laureate of the ČKA Honor Award for the year 2019. This will take place at the nomination evening of the Czech Architecture Award at Kotelně in Libčice nad Vltavou on Wednesday, June 24, 2020. The ČKA Honor Award for the year 2019 will be awarded to Professor Zdeněk Zavřel. Since 2000, the Chamber has been honoring significant personalities in the field of architecture with this award.

Nominations for the Honor Award are submitted annually by the professional public, including members of individual bodies of the Czech Chamber of Architects. The laureates are then selected by a professional jury. Among those who proposed awarding the ČKA Honor Award for 2019 to Professor Zdeněk Zavřel were architects Jakub Chvojka, Zdeněk Jiran, Miroslav Masák, Petr Stolín, and architecture theorist and critic Jana Tichá. The Czech Chamber of Architects grants this award to personalities in the field who have significantly contributed to the modern history of Czech architecture through their work and moral credit.

ČKA Honor Award for 2019 – Professor Zdeněk Zavřel
Professor Zdeněk Zavřel (* August 13, 1943, Prague) is a Czech architect and university educator, former dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague. Shortly after graduating from the Faculty of Architecture at ČVUT in Prague (1966), he had the opportunity for an internship at the Rotterdam studio of Van den Broek and Bakema, which he completed between 1968 and 1969. After returning to Czechoslovakia, he became a member of the legendary SIAL group in Liberec in 1970. He demonstrated a high level of professional work already in the early stages of his independent creation, among others with the design of the Czech hut on Sněžka (1975). In 1978, he emigrated to the Netherlands, where he began working in the office of Van den Broek and Bakema (where he had already worked during his internship); in 1985, he became a partner in the studio with E. Bakema and in 1989 he founded his own office in Rotterdam. He realized a number of residential and civic buildings, among his most notable works are the Czech Center in Paris (1997) and the Dutch Embassy in Ghana (2001). He taught at the Technical University in Delft from 1980 to 1997.

Alongside his practice, Zdeněk Zavřel has long been actively involved in the development of the architectural community. In 1990, he founded the Czechoslovak Architectural Foundation – the Foundation of Czech Architects Living Abroad. His role at the Prague Faculty of Architecture has been fundamentally significant. In 2005, he was invited to run for the office of dean. He won, was appointed, and remained in office for two electoral terms. His contributions include, among other things, the initiative to establish the field of study of Industrial Design, the introduction of ecology teaching, and the support of environmental aspects in design education. By organizing the Dutch Ladies workshop, led by prominent Dutch female architects, he supported shortly after taking office as dean in 2009 the idea of equal opportunities for women in the architectural profession.

The jury of the ČKA Honor Award proposed awarding Zdeněk Zavřel for “his architectural work, for his consistent civic stance, and for his service to the architectural community, which he demonstrated as dean of the Faculty of Architecture at ČVUT during two electoral terms.”

Overview of ČKA Honor Award Laureates
2019 – Zdeněk Zavřel
2018 – Ivar Otruba
2017 – Jiří Suchomel
2016 – Martin Rajniš
2015 – Bohuslav Fuchs (in memoriam)
2014 – Věra Machoninová
2013 - Rostislav Švácha
2012 - David Kopecký (in memoriam)
2011 – Karel Prager (in memoriam)
2010 – Viktor Rudiš
2009 – Emil Přikryl
2008 – Miroslav Baše (in memoriam)
2007 – Alena Šrámková
2006 – Miroslav Masák
2005 – Karel Hubáček
2004 – No award was given
2003 – Josef Polášek (in memoriam)
2002 – Josef Havlíček (in memoriam)
2001 – Vít Obrtel, Otto Rothmayer, Oldřich Stefan, Zdeněk Vávra (in memoriam)
2000 – Petr Vaďura, Bedřich Rozehnal, Ladislav Žák (in memoriam)

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