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Adding spice to Prague architecture

A69 brings modern-age flair to building projects around the capital and countryside

By Brooke Edge
For The Prague Post
December 26th, 2007 issue

Jan Přerovský/THE PRAGUE POST
A69 partners Boris Redčenkov, Prokob Tomašek and Jaroslav Wertig all studied architecture at Czech Technical University in Prague.
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Images Courtesy of A69
A69's unique edge: Atleticka (left) and Klamovka show off the Prague architectural firm's signature personal style.
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A69 – Architekti s.r.o.
Nad Zámečnicí 34
Prague 5
Tel.: 257 214 451
Web: www.a69.cz
E-mail: a69@a69.cz

“Fighting arguing conversing and compromising” – it’s all part of the creative process at A69 a fast-growing architectural firm that’s been on the Prague market for nearly a decade now.
The studio which is the talent behind such big-name projects as Central Park Praha was originally launched in a West Bohemian spa town in the mid-90s by three longtime friends – Jaroslav Wertig Boris Redčenkov and Prokop Tomášek – who decided to go to work for themselves immediately after graduating from university.
“The last 13 years make me sure that my decision to be an architect and meeting Boris and Prokob was the biggest happiness of my life” Wertig says summing up the trio’s prosperous working relationship.
Despite the fact that they all studied architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague A69 – named after the shared birth year of its partners – was founded in Wertig and Redčenkov’s hometown of Františkovy Lázně.
“We made an agreement to come back to our town and start our careers outside of Prague” Wertig recalls. They wanted to get away from the booming construction scene that filled Prague with energy and investments in the ‘90s and “get back to our roots” Wertig explains. He also notes there weren’t too many architecture studios working in the Františkovy Lázně area at the time so competition was slim.
“From this view” Wertig notes “our decision to leave Prague was a little bit practical.”
Still “it was difficult” he admits of the early years when he Redčenkov and Tomašek learned everything the hard way about running an architecture business. None had worked for any other architect before so this venture was truly an experiment for all.
The gamble seems to have paid off.
A69’s early years in Františkovy Lázně proved fruitful. Much of the firm’s work included additions to and restorations of local historic buildings. Their reconstruction of Františkovy Lázně’s Anglická Street earned A69 a 1999 Grand Prix Obce Architektů award for reconstruction.
However as Wertig puts it “nobody is a prophet in their own town” and so in 2000 the friends decided it was time to check out the big city and relocated their booming business to Prague. A major impetus for the move was due in part to the trio’s big break the previous year when they won an invitation-only competition to design Villa Park Strahov in Prague 6.
“It was a big surprise because the biggest names were in [competition]” says Wertig still sounding slightly amazed that he and his partners were selected from a crop of more established architects. Their inspired concept using geometric combinations of concrete wood and glass helped establish A69 in Prague’s crowded architecture market.
Wertig says that he Redčenkov and Tomášek generally work together on all projects that come through their office each one bringing his own individual qualities to the table.
“Our projects are usually born in the clash of ideas of three completely different persons” says Redčenkov. “When you work alone you need a lot of self-discipline and [a] really strong personality to reflect your ideas and thoughts. ... that’s what you need for [the development] of your skills. When you work in [a] group of three persons self-reflection is much easier and more direct.”
These days Wertig Redčenkov and Tomašek mostly handle concepts for new projects leaving the technical aspects to their small fleet of dedicated employees.
“For us” Redčenkov says “every type of architecture is a special challenge we want to do as best we can.”
A message comes through in architecture he adds. “Architecture creates territory for feeling.”
Recent projects that exemplify this theory are A69’s EggO House a private residence in Žižkov and Central Park Praha a combination of green space and residential towers currently under construction in Prague 3.
Both projects while quite different in scope combine personal space with nature. In 2003 A69 won the international competition to be the architect for the Central Park Praha project. Their concept of combining the green space of a park into residential structures with glass facades terraces and rooftop gardens impressed the judges.
The EggO House on the other hand contains a garden within the boundaries of the home. The residence’s name explains owner Johana Růžičková comes from its egg-shaped center garden.
The home was in her husband’s family but was in need of a restoration and expansion to fit both their growing family and his engineering firm. An architect friend recommended A69 for the project and the match was an immediate success Růžičková says.
“It was incredible” she recalls of the working relationship. While the concept of an interior garden was difficult to conceive at the outset “it was planned really well.”
Now almost two years later “I’m really happy it worked the way we wanted it to work” she says. “It looks beautiful in every season.”
Such rave reviews have hardly slowed. In fact Wallpaper a hip interiors magazine recently called A69 the best emerging architecture firm in the Czech Republic.
Wertig says he and his partners are just having “a good time” noting that things could never be better on the Czech architectural scene.
“I think the atmosphere right now is optimal” he says.

Brooke Edge can be reached at specialsection@praguepost.com


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