Mgr. Jan Zikmund, Ph.D.

2023-2027

2023-2027

2021-2022

Although the systematic interest in industrial heritage in the Czech Republic goes back to the mid-1980s (and it can be said that it has been growing ever since), this layer of culture remains more endangered than before. Nowadays the main danger for abandoned factories is not their irreversible decay and devastation, but rather the aims of unscrupulous developers and land speculators to exploit industrial areas. Furthermore, they are also frequently damaged by inappropriate interventions during reconstructions or conversions. Thus we often witness a paradoxical and unfortunate situation in which a building was destroyed by interventions conducted in good faith to preserve it. At the same time, we can see an increasing diversity of approaches, ingenious interventions and improvisations including ambitious long-term plans, which clearly show what extraordinary potential these buildings offer in search of their reuse. Of course, we will never find a universal guide to the right approaches. However, it can be assumed that we find higher sensitivity and more contextual thinking among those architects who had already dealt with this topic during their studies. The aim of the project is therefore to collect, classify and subsequently evaluate the annual and diploma projects of conversions of industrial buildings which have been completed in studios at the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the CTU since 2002, when the Research Centre for Industrial Heritage was established as part of the CTU. Besides mapping and documenting student works, the project aims to trace, verify and formulate more general principles: arguments for the reuse of abandoned buildings in terms of sustainable development and monument conservation as well as a space for contemporary architectural creation and as searching for current topics and tendencies of urbanism and architecture, not only in the pedagogical environment.

Detail

2018-2022

Czech post-war architecture has in recent years been the subject of substantial attention from the professional community and the general public. Dozens of publications, exhibitions, and research projects have emerged that focus on the optimistic sixties and the echoes of that era in the seventies. However, the architecture of the very next decade has thus far been ignored. Despite the system of socio-political normalisation in effect at the time, the eighties are deserving of detailed research. It was a decade that produced many new ideas. Despite the political restrictions, contemporary theories made it into Czechoslovakia from abroad, and this included theories on the postmodern humanisation of modern and industrialised construction and the first signs of a more responsible approach in relation to the living environment. Many activities and discussions in the professional architectural community took on the character of a search for a parallel, humanised reality (e.g. Urbanity, Painted Architecture), and in the second half of the decade this social ferment also certainly mirrored the gradual thaw in the regime that was under way. Together with the after-effects of building projects from the sixties and seventies and alongside the highly centralised and politicised stream of standard production, the eighties saw the gradual rise of parallel alternative trends and high ambitions in architectural practice that reached well beyond the closed atmosphere of the era and the border of the socialist state. This NAKI project seeks to map the architecture of that period, its background in theory, and specific projects, buildings, interiors, and structures, and also aims to make a record of the current condition of the building stock from that period.

Detail

2016-2020

The project focuses on the state of architecture during transformation periods, examining the Czech architecture in 1945-1948 and 1989-1992. Realized (initiated) buildings and contemporary professional debate will be analyzed using the methodology of art history and sociological and transitological knowledge. The core of the project will be the juxtaposition of long-term utopian ideological concepts of Czech architecture of the 20th century and of the immediate rhetoric of transition. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of individual actors - architects, theorists and investors - in the unsteady institutional environment of the transition period.

Detail

2016-2020

Detail

2015-2017

The Industrial Revolution brought an entirely new population structure, which is virtually unchanged to this day and more or less fulfills its role. Current efforts to redevelop industrial wastelands and abandoned buildings raises broader views than just architectural and construction issues. How will these changes and construction activities affect the intricate network of physical imprints of historical development in the surrounding area? How will they affect the living memory of the population and the local communities? Will intervention bring positive or negative impact on the socio-economic development and status of the areas? Is it possible to prevent failure and rejection of the project through including participation of the local population, the gradual phasing of the project or choosing an appropriate scale? Industrial heritage and the issue of new uses for industrial sites are now often viewed from very different perspectives, from the scale of individual buildings or the scale of large areas of brownfields. As yet little explored but increasingly discussed as an absolutely key theme in recent years, however, is the mid-level scale of the cultural landscape. This change of perspective raises new questions about how to preserve and protect industrial heritage in an active, living area. Is modernization of these areas always necessary? What is hiding in our industrial past? Is it really the engine for economic growth, new innovative future and link between socio-cultural factors? These issues are familiar to all countries with an industrial past, regardless of their level of industrialization. There are many untapped opportunities and internal capacities waiting to become smart solutions. The aim of the project is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the processes influencing further development in areas with an industrial past, as well as finding new uses for such areas: - Historical imprints of the industrial past and new potential of postindustr

Detail

2012-2014

Post-industrial era has brought new appeals in fields of culture and society, economy and environment. The industrial restructuring is proceeding from the sixties in countries of developed world. Yet, many questions still remains unanswered and majority of the society has not accepted the complex change with its consequences. The potential of industrial heritage is gaining special urgency in the context of economical crisis, favored principles of sustainable development and search for cultural identity. The aim of the project is to fill the gaps in the knowledge of industrial heritage, difficulties and possiblities of its new utilization. - Space, structure and technological flow / new uses possibilities of industrial heritage - Industrial architecture of 20th century / history, context and issues of new uses - Initial and low-cost conversions of industrial buildings - Natural processes and verdure as a way how rehabilitate territories / brownfields These individual perspectives build

Detail

2011-2014

Regional analysis and evaluation methodology from the perspective of the cultural, economic, and social potential of industrial heritage.

Detail