Studio Cikán–Beneš–Ertl

The studio is based on group collaboration between students on both the Master’s and Bachelor’s programmes, with the aim of formulating a comprehensive perspective on a site, ranging from urban planning to the building itself and its details. The outcome consists of mutually coordinated proposals from individual students, who thus contribute to the design of the environment as a whole. The brief focuses on a site within a city, the countryside or a village. The proposal is presented on site during a discussion with representatives of the local authority and local residents.

The studio should prepare architects who are able to evaluate the intrinsic qualities and characteristics of an existing space, landscape, building, surface or work of art; to perceive and interpret the internal and external contexts and the underlying causes of the quality of what is observed; and to understand this within a broader framework across a comprehensive timeline spanning both the past and the future. The studio should explore historical and contemporary forms, materials and structures and, based on an understanding of both, seek a two-way context with the future, the result of which should be the enhancement and enrichment of the whole. An architect should be a creator who, with a measure of humility and environmental empathy, but also with a certain generosity, good taste and elegance, strikes a balance between conservation and contemporary architectural creation. An architect should be capable of global communication, providing a broader, informed space for gaining deeper insights and exchanging experiences, which should be fundamental to the necessary perspective and the ability to see what is essential.