Architect Šrámková died. She designed the vestibule of the Central Station in Prague and the ČKD house
Architect Alena Šrámková, one of the most prominent and acclaimed figures in Czech architecture in recent decades, died on Thursday at the age of 92. Introduced by her daughter, architect Magdalena Hlaváčková. Šrámková is best known for the implementation of the projects of the new hall of the Prague Main Railway Station and the ČKD administrative building in Můstek.
With her work and originality, Šrámková influenced many followers in the architecture of personalities. The architect is included among the representatives of the so-called Czech strictness, as the historian of architecture Rostislav Švácha characterized a group of creators who are characterized by a tendency to minimalist tendencies. Šrámková is sometimes nicknamed the first lady of Czech architecture.
The vestibule of Prague’s Central Station. Photo: Lynx1211, CC BY-SA 4.0
Alena Šrámková was born in 1929, spent her youth in Slovakia and studied architecture and civil engineering at the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava. She also studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.
She first worked at Chemoprojekt, then with her husband Jan Šrámek, later she collaborated with other architects and since 2005 she has had her own studio Šrámková architects.
She also taught architecture, won a number of architectural competitions and won many awards. When she received the Honor of the Czech Chamber of Architects in 2008, she stated that she was sorry for the projects that did not take place, with which she participated in the competition for the bank on Republic Square and the shopping center on Charles Square. “What is in Republic Square belongs to the housing estate,” she said. According to her, the corner house on Charles Square lacks generosity.
CKD building in Můstek. Photo: ŠJů, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Her other works, whether realized or in the form of a design, include the Lužiny Cultural Center, where she collaborated with Ladislav Lábus, a small tower for a researcher in Košík, the Šerák meteorological station, a footbridge in Holešovice and a nursing home in Horažďovice.
Recently, her completed works include the new Tyrš Bridge in Přerov, a malting plant in Olomouc. Alena Šrámková is also the author of the building of the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Dejvice, Prague.
