In an interview with a Lisbon based architect of Czech origins and a Prague based architect of Portuguese origins, we reveal a little bit of the beauty and mystery of Portuguese architecture. We remember certain natural and political events and discuss their effects, we visit the schools of Porto and Lisbon and their famous professors, and finally we contemplate architecture’s place in the world and the role of the architect in society today.

The new Church of Blessed Maria Restituta is located in the central part of the Brno Lesná housing estate, surrounded by the characteristically tall and predominantly slab shaped apartment buildings. It’s impossible for a church to compete with the size of these houses, so the choice was to make it visually simple, easy to read, elementary in its geometry. This is where it surpasses the surrounding housing blocks, standing out on a different level. The design is based on the urban context governed by straight lines and a firm logic, and shaped by its immediate neighbor, the existing religious center. The floorplan of the church has a shape of a circle, symbolizing Heaven and Eternity. Heaven is reflected back in the colorful horizontal window, making a ring around the top of the building, bringing in rainbow-colored natural light.

One of the reasons why I decided to stay in Lisbon was and still is Portuguese contemporary architecture. The proximity of the ocean, the sunlight reflecting off the water and on limestone-paved streets and then flooding every corner of every room – those were the other reasons. I’ve lived in Portugal for 11 years, I’ve started my own studio, I’ve joined the Portuguese chamber of architects and I’ve travelled from one end of the country to the other several times. My friends from university would visit me every summer, accompanied by my contemporary architecture professor Karel Doležel and a group of former students. Armed with a list of new buildings we needed to see and old buildings we needed to see again, and with a bottle of good Port wine, our friendly company would travel across the country to see local architecture.

In a village of Rudník at the foothills of the Krkonoše mountains a historical former brewery is coming back to life thanks to rather ambitious plans of architect Josef Smutný. His studio ilex design is the client, designer, and the property manager all at the same time. He is following the examples of other architects who decided to invest their money and energy into preserving industrial heritage, such as Pavel and Jana Prouza with Lobeč Brewery, or Patrik and Andrea Hoffman with a former screw factory in Libčice nad Vltavou. In our interview with Josef Smutný we not only asked about his motivations and future ideas, but also about negative experience with heritage institutions and related funding options for the continued restoration of the dilapidated brewery.

Visual pollution – especially the type caused by shop promotional signs on streets and squares – is typically a local problem. And as such, city halls and town halls should be able to deal with it. But are they provided with proper legislation? What does the war against visual pollution really look like? The following article documents a recent push to tame the advertising jungle, currently present in the Czech capital’s historical center.