Pavla Melková and Miroslav Cikán publish the book Architecture of Reciprocity

22/6/2020

Today, we are faced with a number of societal issues, the solution of which requires broad cooperation based on a sense of belonging. The new book and the exhibition of the same name in the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery show the importance of mutual relations not only in the relations of architecture towards people and the environment, but also in the life of society in general. They thus become a current contribution to the search for answers to the questions that our society will face.

Let's not ask what the architecture is but above all what it causes.

Every new architecture entering the existing environment brings something and takes it at the same time. It is never innocent. Usually something decreases, something disappears, it changes. Free space, passage, memory, sunlight, nature, air, view, silence will be reduced or lost. However, the same or more values may also increase.

The book Architecture of Reciprocity follows reality primarily through relationships instead of focusing on objects, and thus points to the importance of relationships in general. It is based on the assumption that the types of connections in which architecture participates and which it creates are based on the same or similar principles as relations between people or within nature.

The various types of reciprocity relationships - respect, belonging, communication, inspiration, empathy, responsibility, joy, memory, love, economy, generosity, truth, support, openness, poetics, connection, balance and education - are presented through examples in people's lives and society, in various scientific or artistic fields and in architecture itself. These associations recall that our world is inextricably linked, that human behavior is determined by principles similar to those in nature, and that the thinking of any specialized field of human activity today must refer to both consciousness of the whole and maximum connection with other disciplines.

Architecture of reciprocity

It does not only solve what it is but above all what it causes.
It observes the world through the relationships it enters into and which it influences and creates itself..
It consciously integrates into the community and seeks its role in the complex ties of the world, from local to global.
It is interested in the impact of its own existence on how people live, how they treat each other and how they deal with the environment.
It creates space for reciprocal relationships between individuals, in society, and between people and nature, and it connects them itself.
It participates in beneficial reciprocity in all spheres of human action and field specializations.
It opens up people's perception of the environment, helps them to understand it and thus influences dependent actions.
It is an architecture of respect, belonging, communication, inspiration, empathy, responsibility, joy, memory, love, economy, generosity, truth, support, openness, poetics, connection, balance, and education.

The book is published in Czech and English.

The exhibition of the same name can be seen in the Jaroslav Foglar Gallery until July 25, 2020