Gallery VŠUP: Invitation to the "small" house of A1Architects

Size is not destiny, size is choice.

In the gallery of the AAAD (University of Arts, Architecture and Design) there is currently an exhibition Small House from the studio A1Architects, mostly recent graduates of their alma mater (2008). Lenka Křemenová, David Maštálka, Jakub Filip Novák, and Marta Maštálková present the result of their “internal workshop”, during which they dedicated nearly a year to the theme of “unlimited living in limited space”. Similar discussions about size and disputes about the essence of minimum and maximum habitable space have been affecting architecture with varying intensity for almost a century – from the socially oriented debates of leftist architects gathered during the interwar period around the CIAM movement to texts from the contemporary scene's guru Rem Koolhaas.
A1 projects were created as theoretical assignments – thus intentionally without ties to context and specific inhabitants. Nevertheless, they offer realizable solutions. The architects themselves add: “The main driving force behind this work is the desire to find and design a house that, although small by conventional standards, hides a specific form of size within it.”
In the gallery, visitors will find 13 beautiful large models in the scale of 1:25 and one even 1:1, which were selected for the exhibition from approximately thirty small working space concepts. Although at first you might have the impression that you are entering some kind of garden meant for play, upon closer examination of its mysteries, you will find that the houses are also connected by a thoroughly thought-out concept. And undoubtedly, there is a certain poetry underscored by accompanying texts that, by their composition, seem to refer to Japanese haiku. I believe that many visitors will begin to ponder while reading them whether their own – perhaps larger house – offers similar values.

four gardens above the lily pond I listen to the tones of my four gardens (david)

hill under an umbrella of grass I fall asleep with the scent of the meadow within reach (lenka)

Small House is an original authors' exhibition that deserves a longer duration and reminds several galleries in our country that focus on architecture, humbly that the path does not lead through mere presentations of portfolios of realized buildings.
The exhibition is accompanied, or rather complemented, by a graphically exceptionally cleanly designed catalog with an introductory text by Vendula Hnídková. It too, however, has within it, besides clearly presented information, a certain playfulness, or rather their interconnection: If you flip through the publication from the front, you see only photographs; if you flip it backward, you see only plans. Don’t believe it? Go and see for yourself, you will be surprised not only by the catalog. You have the chance until October 27.

VŠUP Gallery, nám. Jana Palacha 80, Prague 1
the exhibition will last until 27. 10. 2009
open Monday to Saturday 10 – 18 h.