Life of FA
Book launch of The Rolling House
On Thursday 18 November 2021 we launched a new book, The Rolling House – On the Way to John Hejduk, chronicling the creation of the sculpture standing in the courtyard outside the Faculty. It was designed and built by students based on sketches by the eminent American educator and architect of Czech origin John Hejduk. In addition to the buildings, he created special objects - Masks - balancing between architecture and sculpture.
When the architect Alena Šrámková designed the New building of the CTU, where the Faculty of Architecture is located, she wanted to place Hejduk's buildings of the House of the Suicide and the House of the Suicide Mother, which the author dedicated to the Czechoslovaks in 1991, on the area in front of the faculty. However, the objects later found their destination on Palach Square.
It was only in 2019, when we commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, that thanks to a design-build project by our students, the large and empty space in front of the faculty finally got a similar object, our lovely Rolling House, a house-sculpture by a house-sculptor, which helped to cultivate and enliven the courtyard.
At the book launch, not only Dean Ladislav Lábus, but also the co-authors of the New CTU Building, Lukáš Ehl and Tomáš Koumar, spoke about the history of the installation in front of the faculty. The students also shared their experience of designing and building the Rolling House. Online guests of the evening were John Hejduk's daughter Renata Hejduk and his collaborator Kim Shkapich. Architect Jiří Boudník reminisced about his Cooper Union mentor.
The book can be purchased in the school bookstore at the Faculty of Architecture of the CTU in the IKAN partner shop. We have also dedicated a double issue of the ALFA Newsletter 2-3/2020 to John Hejduk.
It was only in 2019, when we commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, that thanks to a design-build project by our students, the large and empty space in front of the faculty finally got a similar object, our lovely Rolling House, a house-sculpture by a house-sculptor, which helped to cultivate and enliven the courtyard.
At the book launch, not only Dean Ladislav Lábus, but also the co-authors of the New CTU Building, Lukáš Ehl and Tomáš Koumar, spoke about the history of the installation in front of the faculty. The students also shared their experience of designing and building the Rolling House. Online guests of the evening were John Hejduk's daughter Renata Hejduk and his collaborator Kim Shkapich. Architect Jiří Boudník reminisced about his Cooper Union mentor.
The book can be purchased in the school bookstore at the Faculty of Architecture of the CTU in the IKAN partner shop. We have also dedicated a double issue of the ALFA Newsletter 2-3/2020 to John Hejduk.