Eduard Schleger Passes Away

Starting in 1966, he worked at the Albrecht, Kadeřábek, Prager studio, contributing, for example, to the project for the National Assembly building, now the New Building of the National Museum in Prague. From the early 1970s, while at the ČSTV design office (Sportprojekt), he dedicated himself to the use of solar energy for sports facilities. From 1975, he was a member of the ČSTV team for non-traditional sources and their application in swimming facilities. He was behind the largest solar collector installation in Europe at the time, at the Nerasica swimming pool in Zvolen (1987).

In the 1980s and 1990s, in collaboration with Lukáš Liesler, he realized indoor pools utilizing solar energy in Hlinsko (1996), Břeclav (1993), Hustopeče (1989), and Tachov (1989). Together, they also authored two lock control towers in Prague-Podbaba (1998) and Smíchov (1997), as well as the Sazka operational building (1993).

"In a brief remembrance, one cannot forget his student years in the Architecture department in the old building on Zikova Street. The 1960s shook the rigid school under the influence of information from the world—not excluding the 'Včelka' group, to which Eduard belonged alongside Vlado Milunić, Přemek Hnát, and myself. Images from the Archigram group were a much stronger inspiration than what Czechoslovak architecture, waking up from a long period of Socialist Realism, had to offer. We carried this inspiration into our first years of practice in the then-emerging Association of Project Studios—in Eduard's case, at Karel Prager’s studio. After several years, he moved to the so-called Sportprojekt, where, together with Lukáš Liesler, he designed a series of sports pools across various corners of the country. Eduard’s love for nature and his deep understanding of natural processes led him to become one of the first Czech architects to understand what SUSTAINABILITY means in architecture. The use of the passive solar effect became a given, not only in his projects but also in his teaching at the Faculty of Architecture from the very beginning in 1989. A long line of students passed through his studio, infected by his consideration for nature and respect for the basic principles of sustainable design. Eduard’s small book, How to Teach Architecture, is a sincere treasure summarizing his core principles. Eduard's largest project—the SAZKA building in Vysočany, where mature trees wave at you from the roof from afar—will remain a lasting memory of an honest architect, Eduard Schleger," recalls Zdeněk Zavřel, Dean Emeritus of the FA CTU.

Eduard Schleger passed away on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. He was 84 years old.