New approaches, new opportunities. FA launches winter semester with expanded range of studios
28/8/2025
The faculty responds to developments in the field and current social challenges and systematically incorporates them into teaching. Expanding the range of studios allows students to encounter a broader spectrum of approaches to architectural design and opens up space for working with topics that shape the field today – from sustainability to caring for cultural heritage and the existing built environment to digital technologies. The aim is to create an environment where tradition is combined with innovation and where students can develop their own creative abilities and a responsible approach to the world around them.
Ondřej Hofmeister, who has been a partner and architect at Projektil architekti since 2003, will lead a studio focusing on sustainable architecture at the Department of Architectural Design II together with his assistant Michal Liska. The new studio seeks meaningful architecture that is aesthetic, technically and socially sensitive, and durable over time. It focuses on the broader context of place, relationships in the landscape and neighborhood, and is based on the principles of low-tech and economical construction with an emphasis on the careful use of resources. It supports interdisciplinary collaboration with landscape architects, engineers, and social scientists, as well as a balanced combination of physical and virtual design processes.
Saman Saffarian is joining the Department of Architectural Modelling as head of the studio. He worked as a lead designer for Zaha Hadid Architects in London and founded his own architectural studio in Prague in 2019. In his teaching, he wants to focus on finding new design possibilities through digital tools, advanced modeling, and new manufacturing technologies. He emphasizes systematic work processes, understanding complex geometry, and the interconnection of software and hardware in the creative process.
Professor Václav Girsy's studio at the Department of Architectural Heritage Preservation will be replaced by Martin Čtverák and Tomáš Tomsa starting in the winter semester. Together, they will focus on working with architectural heritage and guiding students toward a sensitive, contextual approach to the historical environment. Teaching will combine consultations, workshops, excursions, and practical demonstrations with an emphasis on the importance of traditional construction, details, and crafts. The studio aims to prioritize sustainability and a clearly structured process from research through analysis to presentation, with an important role for active participation and open discussion.
The landscape architecture studio will be led by Zuzana Štemberová, a landscape architect and educator who has headed the Department of Landscape Architecture since 2023, and Eva Jeníková, co-founder of the IN-SITE landscape architecture studio. Together with students, they want to explore the continuum of landscape between urban and natural environments, between different scales of design, and between disciplines. They will seek inspiration in ecology, urbanism, sociology, and art. The studio will also be shaped by the work and visions of those who join it. The essence is cooperation, open communication, and overlapping topics that often remain outside the mainstream, even though they resonate in the Czech and European context.
Jan Tůma, currently an assistant, has been appointed to lead the studio at the Department of Interior Design after Professor Vladimír Soukenka for the 2025/26 academic year, with Patrik Tichý as his assistant. Together, they want to build on the focus and concept of the original studio and further develop its main pillars, which are people, creativity, and concept.
The visiting studio of the Vienna-based querkraft studio will continue at the faculty in the next academic year. Its presence at the FA CTU represents an extraordinary opportunity for students to collaborate with one of the most prominent Central European architectural teams and confirms the growing international prestige of the faculty.
After fourteen years at the faculty, Ondřej Císler is taking a sabbatical for the winter semester. The studio will be led by current assistant Miroslav Pazdera together with David Budil, a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University and the Academy of Fine Arts. The studio will maintain continuity and should continue with its traditional lineup in the summer semester. A similar break awaits the Hlaváček–Čeněk–Tichá studio, which will also return in its original lineup in the summer semester.
Online registration for studios begins on Monday, September 1. It takes place online on the faculty website and applies to all studio courses, including diploma seminars and final theses (bachelor's and master's theses). A detailed schedule, procedure, and manual are available. A separate schedule is available for registering for final theses.