assistant professor
AK...
Karel Studio prepares designers who are able to navigate a rapidly changing technological, social, and environmental landscape. We understand design as an interdisciplinary field that combines creative and critical thinking, technology, research, and an understanding of people and the broader contexts of current and emerging challenges.
An important aspect of the studio’s approach is working at the intersection of physical and digital environments. Students engage with current and emerging technologies, digital media, human–technology interaction, data, artificial intelligence, and new methods of fabrication and prototyping. Digital technologies are understood not merely as tools for implementation, but as environments that enable new forms of products, services, systems, interfaces, and user experiences.
Glass remains a distinctive medium within the studio. Students explore its optical, mechanical, and material properties in relation to contemporary design, light, interaction, and digital technologies. Particular attention is given to the potential of transparent surfaces as interfaces for new forms of visualisation, interaction, and presentation of digital content, as well as for connecting physical and virtual environments. Glass is therefore approached not only as a traditional material, but also as a medium for experimenting with new forms of communication between people, objects, space, and digital information.
The studio has a long tradition of interdisciplinary collaboration across CTU. Projects developed in cooperation with KPGI FEL HCI, the Intermedia Institute at FEE, FBMI, and FNSPE CTU connect design with information technologies, human–computer interaction, biomedicine, light, multimedia, and applied research. These include projects such as Expo 15, Kanárek, Tangible Heat Map, multimedia navigation for the Intermedia Institute, Prague Spring, Stiletto, Breathing Friend, Linky, the variable cylindrical projection environment for the CTU HCI Usability Lab, and projects developed in collaboration with CAAS.
These collaborations allow students to confront their ideas with expertise from other disciplines, participate in real-world projects, and evaluate their proposals within broader technological and social contexts. The studio emphasises research, experimentation, critical thinking, teamwork and interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as the ability to translate knowledge and insights into concrete designs, prototypes, and testable solutions.
Our aim is not merely to prepare students for today’s professional design practice, but to develop their ability to respond to change, navigate emerging fields of practice, and actively shape them through design. Semester and graduation projects produced within the studio are regularly presented and recognised in professional media, design competitions, and festivals.
