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Young architect has big dreams

David Beke hopes to run own firm one day

By Julie O'Shea
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 18th, 2007 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Czech Technical University student David Beke took first place in a design competition.
David Beke fumbles when asked if he has a muse.
Apparently, he has too many — the fan in the corner of a room, for instance, or the trees growing around the city.
“It can be anything, really,” Beke says with a shy smile.
COURTESY PHOTO
Beke's winning entry, an apartment building for the 21st century, was also a class assignment.
The 26-year-old seems like he is still getting used to being in the spotlight. He better get over it. Industry giants have began taking notice of this fresh-faced architect-in-training.
Beke, now in his fifth year at the Czech Technical University, will graduate next winter with a degree in architecture, but he has already started testing the waters in Europe’s competitive real estate market. A few months ago, he landed a steady contract gig with a private firm in Luxembourg and recently took first place — and a 100,000 Kč ($4,800) prize — in an annual design contest sponsored by Central Group.
Beke might not have years of experience backing him up, but it’s clear he is not lacking innovative ideas. The focus of this year’s competition was “apartment buildings for the 21st century.” Beke’s winning entry is a free-standing complex with indoor gardens and some unique design touches to the outside of the building.
“I was looking for that extra edge to stand out and to win,” Beke explains. “I call it a family house in the city.”
The contest is an effort to “support young talent,” Central Group spokeswoman Miluše Netolická says.
“It is appropriate and desirable to financially participate in matters and events aimed at public good that often couldn’t exist without sponsorship,” Netolická notes. “It’s part of corporate responsibility.”
More than three dozen entries were received, according to Netolická.
Beke says he wanted to build something that could be “technically recognized,” though he is quick to admit that “a project like this might not be very interesting for a developer to build — it’s a risk.”
On top of being “very expensive,” the building’s prototype has never really been constructed before, and Beke says he suspects investors wouldn’t want to take a gamble.      
Participants had loose guidelines. Their buildings had to be on a flat surface and have underground parking. They also couldn’t exceed four stories.
Beke says he came across the contest announcement last fall and decided to “kill two birds with one stone,” so to speak. The building he designed for the Central Group competition was also turned in as an assignment for one of the classes he is taking this year.
And did he get a good grade on that assignment?
“He got ‘Excellent,’ which is the best,” says Jan Sedlák, one of Beke’s teachers this semester.
Sedlák describes his pupil as “enthusiastic” and “immensely consumed by his profession.”
Beke “is a person who does not hesitate to pursue a lot of alternatives. It is his working ethic,” Sedlák says, adding, “He is for sure [going] to get employment” once he graduates.
“These young Czech architects can have pretty good expectations in comparison to Western Europe in terms of employment,” Sedlák says. “They seek prestigious studios, whatever the term ‘prestigious’ means to them.”
Beke, who grew up half way between Prague and Brno in a small town called Jihlava, says he decided on his career path as a young boy and has never once changed his mind.
His father was in the construction business, and Beke says he has always been intrigued by design.
“I’ve always felt that I’d be an architect,” he says.
While he can definitely see patterns starting to emerge in his work, Beke says he doesn’t have a preference when it comes to a specialization.  
Right now, “everything to me is a challenge,” he says.  
He does, however, find the idea of one day owning his own firm very exciting. But that day is a long way off, Beke notes with a laugh, pointing out that Czech law requires new architects to gain experience with an established firm before branching out on their own.
Living abroad is also a possibility.
Looking for a new challenge and perhaps some extra spending money, Beke applied and was hired by a firm in Luxembourg that was submitting design plans for the Czech Republic’s National Library and wanted a local expert on building codes and laws. The firm, Michel Petit Architecte, liked Beke’s work so much they continued to contract work out to him even after they lost the library bid.
For Beke, these are merely baby steps toward what he hopes will be a long-lasting postgraduate career.
— Naďa Černá contributed to this report.

Julie O'Shea can be reached at joshea@praguepost.com


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