Josef Pleskot
Encyclopedia
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
. He is known mainly as the designer of the pedestrian tunnel in the Deer Moat at the Prague Castle
Prague Castle
Prague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had their offices. The Czech Crown Jewels are kept here...
, and administrative building of the ČSOB
Ceskoslovenská obchodní banka
Československá obchodní banka, a.s. is a commercial bank which operates in Czech Republic. It is one of the largest bank domiciled in the Czech Republic. As a universal bank, it offers a full range of banking services to individuals and companies...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. In 2009, he was voted the most significant Czech architect of the 1989-2009 period.
Biography and career
From 1973 to 1979 he studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in PragueCzech Technical University in Prague
Czech Technical University in Prague is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic, and the oldest institute of technology in Central Europe....
. Already as a student he attended several architectonic competitions, and in 1975 he won the first prize in the Young Architects Competition. Following his studies he worked as a teacher at the same school (Department of the Architectural Theory and Development). The 1980s he spent at the Krajský projektový ústav in Prague, in the atelier G-16. In 1991 he briefly came back to teach at the Czech Technical University. However, the same year he co-founded his own studio - the AP Atelier. The first success came in 1993, when the AP Atelier was awarded the honorable mention in the Grand Prix competition of the Czech Chamber of Architects. Pleskot won his first Grand Prix in 1995, for the reconstruction and completion of the town hall in Benešov
Benešov
Benešov is a town in the Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic, about southeast of Prague. The Konopiště castle and the Czech national mountain Blaník are near the town.-History:...
. In 1997 he became a member of the Mánes Union of Fine Arts
Mánes Union of Fine Arts
The Manes Association of Fine Artists was an artists' association and exhibition society founded in 1887 in Prague and named after the painter Josef Mánes....
.
He works together with 12 colleagues in his team - the AP Atelier.
Style
Pleskot focuses on architectural designs of various functions, he creates family houses (villas), big projects (his design of the ČSOB bank building was intended for more than 2500 employees), but he also deals with the projects close to land artLand art
Land art, Earthworks , or Earth art is an art movement which emerged in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked...
. His works encompass the wide spectrum of architecture.
In his designs, Pleskot was inspired by the Czech modern architecture. In 1980s he also studied the possibilities of the postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture began as an international style the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s, but did not become a movement until the late 1970s and continues to influence present-day architecture...
and architectural neofunctionalism.
In 2009, the Czech magazine Reflex
Reflex (magazine)
Reflex is a Czech weekly magazine focusing on political, social and cultural topics. It was founded in 1990 and is currently owned by the Swiss media corporation Ringier. It is one of the Czech Republic's most controversial and widely read social-political magazines; its print circulation of 60,000...
conducted a survey, in which 70 architects, theorists of architecture and art historians were asked to name the most significant personality of the Czech architecture in the period from 1989 (the fall of the communist régime
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
) to 2009. Pleskot convincingly won.
Awards
- 1993 Grand Prix - honorable mention (the factory Megafyt in Vrané nad VltavouVrané nad VltavouVrané nad Vltavou is a village and municipality in Prague-West District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. -References:*This article was initially translated from the Czech Wikipedia....
) - 1995 Grand Prix - 1st prize (completion of the town hall in Benešov)
- 1995 Grand Prix - honorable mention (villa of the businessman Petr KellnerPetr KellnerPetr Kellner is a Czech businessman. He is estimated to have a net worth of US$ 9.2 billion according to Forbes' latest annual list of billionaires, making him the wealthiest man in the Czech Republic. However, Czech economic media estimates are considerably lower, CZK 60 – 75 billion...
in Vrané nad Vltavou) - 1995 Grand Prix - honorable mention (Lion Courtyard at the Prague castle)
- 2004 Brick Award (Award for the best Brick building in EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the pedestrian tunnel in the Deer Moat at the Prague Castle) - 2004 Piranesi Award (Czech Consulate in MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
) - 2008 Grand Prix - 1st prize (the headquarters of the ČSOB, Prague - Radlice)
- 2008 LEEDLeadership in Energy and Environmental DesignLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
- the gold certificate of the LEED Rating Systems (Leadership in Energy and Environmental DesignLeadership in Energy and Environmental DesignLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
), the headquarters of the ČSOB - the only building in Europe with that certificate (as of 2008)