The Kaplicky Internship competition has been organised by the Bakala Foundation in collaboration with the Design Museum in London and the Kaplicky Centre since 2015. This year’s eighth edition was won by Eva Kvaššayová, a graduate of the Prague UMPRUM (Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague).
The winner is now looking forward to a three-month paid internship at the Madrid office of the world-renowned architecture studio Foster+Partners under the guidance of Taba Rasti. “What impressed me about Eva’s project was her in-depth research using modern technology, which she thoroughly applied to her creative process. The project brings new life to an existing building and creates an organic structure on top of it that reminds me of some of Kaplicky’s work,” commented Taba Rasti on the winning project.
Eva impressed the jury with her diploma project Cloud-scape. With an emphasis on the interplay between the virtual and the tangible, her work sought to validate 3D computer design methods in the context of the connection with nature, climate and architecture. Eva set her project in the High Tatras, and wanted to show the possibilities of development scenarios the rocky mountain environment offers.
The jury of the Kaplicky Internship Prize chose from six finalists who presented their work in person. In addition to the aforementioned Taba Rasti, the jury consisted of prominent personalities from the world and Czech architecture, including Deyan Sudjic, Director Emeritus of the London Design Museum, Michal Kohout, architect and university proffessor at the Czech Technical University, Regina Loukotová, Rector of the private international architecture college ARCHIP, architect and historian Zdeněk Lukeš, and the winner of the Kaplicky Internship 2016, Petra Ross, currently working in the Belgian studio CONIX RDBM Architects.
This year, for the first time, the Kaplicky Internship has been connected with the renowned Czech Chamber of Architects Diploma Competition. Interested applicants who filled out the application form on diplom.ky website could thus apply for the Kaplicky Internship award as well as other awards within the Competition.
Taba Rasti opened the award ceremony at the CAMP (Centre for Architecture and Urban Planning) with a presentation on Breathing Life into Historic Buildings about sustainability in architecture and presented selected projects by Foster+Partners. Taba also paid tribute to Prague, which she was visiting for the first time, and admired the efforts to preserve Czech monuments and maintain our cultural heritage.
