Architectural Hybridization: Věslav Michalik

Dolní Břežany, which can be traced back to the 14th century, lies south of Prague, in close proximity to the territory of the capital city. Currently, it is among the fastest-growing municipalities on the edge of the Prague agglomeration. While in 1991 about 1,000 people lived in the area, last year the population reached nearly 4,000. The rapid development of the municipality, which became part of a strong suburbanization "movement" of the metropolis, was also aided by the recent construction of two top-notch scientific research centers focused on laser technology: ELI Beamlines and HiLASE.
Věslav Michalik, who has been serving as mayor since 2004, focuses in his contribution on the initiatives that contributed to transforming the municipality into an attractive place to live even earlier – particularly the new center of Dolní Břežany surrounded by apartment buildings and retail spaces (2009) – or in other ways – such as the building of a basic artistic school (2015), a new cemetery with an adjacent park area (2016), or a new sports hall with a gym (2017). This was designed by the studio sporadical, led by, among others, the Plzeň architect Aleš Kubalík.
All the mentioned realizations demonstrate the effort of the municipality's leadership, led by the mayor, to cultivate public space and create quality contemporary architecture. It is encouraging that Dolní Břežany is not unique in this regard among the municipalities in the spatial background of Prague – several outstanding architectural realizations from recent times can also be found in Líbeznice, led by Martin Kupka since 2010.
The entrance fee for the event is 50 CZK. The next part of the series "Drivers of Architecture" will take place on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, at 6:00 PM in the small hall of Moving Station. The lecture titled "On Exhibiting Contemporary Art and Architecture" will be presented by the artist and curator Michal Škoda, who has led the Gallery of Contemporary Art and Architecture at the House of Art in České Budějovice for twenty years.
The series is organized by the association Pěstuj prostor with the support of the city of Plzeň, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, and the Czech Architecture Foundation. It aims to support and develop interest among local professionals and the broader public in architecture and the constructed and landscape environment of the city.

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