A new magazine about Czech architecture is being released

Publisher
Tisková zpráva
12.09.2008 00:20
Status quo
One of the many definitions of modern architecture could be this: Unlike in the time of Vitruvius, when the architect primarily enhances the beauty of the natural environment with their buildings, the modern (contemporary) architect seeks historically verified civilizational and architectural axioms and designs a building based on their understanding.
The concept will strive for the same as this definition attributes to the modern (contemporary) architect. Every two months, we will actually prepare one group "semester" - ideally "diploma" - project with an approximate length of 100 pages in A4 format.
We aim for the relevance of the reflected topics. We try to present individual themes in a precise composition, thought through in all details. We strive for a thorough illumination of the plasticity of a given architectural story. But do we have the right to select just those few dozen from the entire construction production each year that deserve attention?
We offer you the answer in four points:
We attempted to define the basic characteristics of the magazine in the Manifesto of the Concept (see previous page). When combined with the structure and characteristics of the sections, we have one of the essential working tools for creating the magazine.
The magazine Concept was created as a result of a total of 50 years of experience of two individuals in the architectural scene and from working in related magazines (more at www.casopis-koncept.cz).
The main professional questions are continuously consulted with our Board of professional consultants composed of leading figures in the field. A joint working meeting is held once a month.
The magazine is prepared according to a detailed established and described concept and according to a prepared and described methodology.

Publisher and Owner
The magazine is published by Scanfore, Ltd., a company engaged in consulting services in the management of clean energy sources and water in the Central European region. Behind the company are Erika Pupišová (Czech Republic) and Juha Mustonen (Finland). The company Scanfore found the Concept project so interesting that it decided to incorporate it into its portfolio of activities.
The Concept brand was founded and co-owned by the publisher together with the magazine’s authors Jiří Schmidt (editor-in-chief) and Věra Konečná (editor).

For us, Concept is not merely a magazine; it is backed by people we trust. Our goal is to support their ideas and together - with you, the readers - create a significant professional forum for contemporary architecture.
Erika Pupišová and Juha Kalevi Mustonen,
Scanfore, Ltd.

Roots – Past
When I joined Architekt in the spring of 1991, I worked there intermittently as a professional editor until 1996. By coincidence, I designed and produced the first model of Architekt in A4 format. After a discussion with the then new editor-in-chief Jiří Horský, we concluded that the A3 newspaper format published biweekly did not have much hope for a long future.
Thus began my long-term relationship with professional media on architecture.
Věra Konečná gained journalistic experience and prominence in mass popular magazines about housing and lifestyle or through regular collaborations with newspapers.
When we met professionally a year ago, we quickly agreed on the idea of a professional printed periodical on architecture, which we have noticeably and for many years been missing and which has its place in the market.

Roots – Present
Today, we are at a stage where Concept, as a bi-monthly magazine, confirms the general and long-term trend in the development of professional architectural magazines, namely primarily the magazines ERA 21 and Stavby. For it to be possible to prepare current architectural themes into a publishable form with quality at all, no one in our conditions can get into a shorter than bi-monthly cycle. This is contributed to by the lack of good authors and the necessity to generate revenue.
I believe that the current relationship of the Czech public to architecture is at a germinal stage. The potential is enormous, and the utilization is negligible. After a period of half a century in which our society was dragged along by totalitarian regimes, we are somewhere in the middle of the path back to the position that architecture historically belongs to in our environment. This means another twenty to thirty years. I am practically 40, Věra is a little older. So we have a certain chance that we might still live to see that. It also depends on how Concept performs. If it lasts many years, we have a greater chance that we will also endure. Our motivation and reward will be that we will see Czech architecture from the same horizon as the horizon of the surrounding free and civilized world.

Concept of the Concept
For the first time, I thought about the concept of a printed professional architecture periodical under completely different conditions 17 years ago. After a few years of pause, I returned to it 14 months ago. Initially latently and more generally, on a broader scale and in broader contexts. A detailed debate was held with Věra and several other individuals this year from June to August.
The Concept of the Concept stands on the plastic story of an architectural event. In the basic chronology and from a series of positions meeting at the same point and the same time, or crossing each other. - The investor, user, designer, contractor, subcontractors, authorities, associations, prominent figures from the field, personal figures from public life...
In other words: we have attempted to reflect local architectural events through our own lens, the lens of Concept. We perceive our audience in a balanced manner in two groups. The first is a group of professionals. The second is enormous and naturally relates to and develops the first. - It consists of relatives, friends, colleagues, clients, acquaintances, teammates, neighbors, companies, associations, institutions...

Method of Work
We want to be a clearly profiled medium with a clear opinion. We reflect on current issues in a clearly defined structure of sections. We know what we are writing about because we have seen it with our own eyes. Through personal visits and studying all documents we have managed to gather. For a specific architectural event, we process detailed individual research. Using the research and dialogue with other experts, we prepare an analysis of the event. Based on the analyses of individual themes, we then prepare the composition of the particular issue of Concept.
We look at each presented architectural event through its own measure. Our closest and dearest collaborator is graphic designer Ondřej Klos, who also prepared the Concept website (www.casopis-koncept.cz).

Development
We will develop our own structure of authors. We will build on the structure of authors that Jiří Horský maintained and developed for 15 years at Architekt and incorporate it into the structure of authors at Concept. For each topic, we want to find the ideal author or ideal advisor.
We are preparing new sections in which we will describe current events from other areas significant for architecture (sociology, law, politics, psychology, media, energy, history...).

Silent Agreement
Without quality dialogue about architecture, there will be no quality architecture. Concept offers you a basis for a quality dialogue. The pages of Concept are open to every quality project and every quality opinion. Regardless of style, personal taste, brand, or name.
Six times a year, we will hold a mirror up to our current architectural scene. We offer you a silent agreement. Subscribe to Concept - nothing more, and you will become a direct catalyst for promising events.

Jiří Schmidt
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8 comments
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Subject
Author
Date
datum vydání ve stáncích
V.T.
15.09.08 09:12
odpověď
Věra Konečná
15.09.08 05:15
:)
Martin Rosa
15.09.08 07:29
Prodám
Jiří Schmidt
25.07.14 10:55
Kontakt
Jiří Schmidt
28.07.14 11:00
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