assistant professor
Our teaching methodology balances between the conceptual and technical, between fantasy and reality, between the rational and intuitive. The main objective is to teach students how to generate design strategies (concepts) based on an analysis between activity (programme, typology), context (physical, political, theoretical) and subsequent form to create a definable architectural/urban space. Sometimes the physical context dominates and the architectural concept will have to respond strongly to it, like our Flybox assignment in LS 2024 (contextualizing the concept), sometimes the program dominates especially when confronted with a more general context. In other words, we encourage students to be creative, imaginative and critical when asked to solve an architectural task. This creative exploration also extends to atypical technical solutions, especially structural or even mechanical strategies, can ultimately dictate the form of the building.
To reinforce these pedagogical methods, we have developed a series of thematic lectures that we present to students regularly during the semester. These lectures can consist of a specific topic (movement, composition, organizational charts) or focus on the work of a specific architect to demonstrate specific design themes (Rem Koolhaas on movement, Le Corbusier on facade composition, John Hejduk on abstract narratives). We also take students on at least one field trip per semester. These can be daily trips around Prague to show students our individual work, or longer trips (two to three days) to other geographical locations in order to visit a specific city or a specific important project.
