The main aim of the EFAP Conference, organised by the Czech Chamber of Architects (CCA) in cooperation with the Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic within the official events related to the Czech EU presidency, was to highlight the importance of quality architecture for life in a society to public and state administration and to emphasize thereby the position of architects and their influence on creation of the built environment.

According to surveys, any citizens spend in buildings up to 90% of their time and, so, it is important for them to comply with high requirements for functionality, aesthetic appearance and sustainability alongside with relation to the environment and its cultural values. Public spaces, which shall be regenerated as sensitively as possible, are directly linked to every building. The built environment standard gives at first sight evidence of the society standard, influences opinions and attitudes of individuals. We shall look for the best solution for the environment, in which we live, to show the highest qualities. At public procurement, it is therefore necessary to cooperate with professionals trained in holistic view and, simultaneously, to systematically educate the public, which is a potential client.

The first of the three sections on the conference agenda dealt with education in the field of architecture. Just at the beginning of the agenda, Mr. Ondřej Liška, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, and Mr. Dalibor Borák, President of the Czech Chamber of Architects, signed the key document “Joint Memorandum on Continuous and Holistic Education in the Field of Architecture”. The objective of the Memorandum is, besides others, to emphasize importance of architectural education in all types of schools, from kindergartens to universities of the third age, and to generate a joint platform for quality involvement of experts into the educational system in the Czech Republic. Both parties are fully aware of strong relation between the quality of a built environment and the level of general education. “The barrier to incapability to treat properly and wisely public spaces and the environment surrounding us can be built only with the help of educated persons, who will be aware of connections and who will be informed and educated,” pointed Ondřej Liška in his speech. “The prerequisite for efficient and positive interaction influencing the quality of our space for living is continuous and holistic education in the field of architecture, architectural aesthetics and ethics”, said architect Tomáš Jiránek, author of the concept of this section and member of the EFAP Board of Directors. The fact that it is necessary to educate not only pupils and students but also their teachers as well as architects proper emerged from the discussion. “It is not only about training of teachers by architects and, on the contrary, training of architects in teaching but also about architecture textbooks, support of creativity and free thinking, support of an individual to positively influence their living environment. In the Czech Republic, we are just at the beginning,” Mr. Jiránek adds. When forming the educational system, it is possible to seek inspiration abroad. Similar programmes exist in many European countries and the Irish and French models were presented at the conference. An example of establishment of the educational centre of architects and, besides others, mediators of architecture towards public was explained on the concept of the University for Built Environment in Hamburg. Czech architects were represented in the discussion by Ladislav Lábus, Professor of Architecture.

Implementation of Architectural Policies was not only the conference subtitle but also the topic of the second section. Different types of architectural policies always existed in the society but they were named differently. They represent a certain type of regulation, setting of certain rules of conduct of citizens towards their environment; they bring an order and avoid possible chaos at unregulated development. Majority of historical town, which urban planning and architectural heritage is appreciated today, had been developing on the basis of strict regulation. Certain type of restriction is needed. However, it is not an easy task to formulate regulations in a way that opens space for free creativity but also sets a clear barrier to possible damages. The design of Hamburg harbour, which is composed of several hundreds of different buildings, demonstrated concretely efficient use of architectural policies in practice. A great number of architectural competitions, which were organised for the whole area, was particularly pointed out. Czech professional public and architects themselves consider commissioning of a public contract through an architectural or town planning competition as the most suitable solution, however number of negative experiences with selection procedures and commissioning of contracts in completely different way is unfortunately rather increasing. “Public contracts influence a space, which is used by all citizens, in a high degree and, therefore, they should be commissioned with emphasis on balance of quality (particularly in cultural meaning), design innovativeness and sustainability. The main criterion should not be just the lowest design price,” says to commission of public contracts Mr. Dalibor Borák, President of the Czech Chamber of Architects and author of the concept of the section on policies implementation. The contracting authorities often avoid architectural competitions or let buck passingly reappraise their results. Administrators of public spaces are frequently unwilling to take over responsibility for their decisions. However, according to Petr Hejma, Mayor of Prague 1 City District, to have responsibility is not enough. “If we should manage towns, we need to have principles in a form of a document such as the architectural policy adopted by the government. We need to have quality legal environment and tools that will facilitate enforcement of this policy,” said Petr Hejma in his contribution. He also promised to support organisation of similar workshops intended for representatives of towns, regions and legislators.

The third section of the conference dealing with architecture and public focused particularly on the question of public interest in architecture. Interest of the majority is usually considered as the public interest. That’s why discussion with citizens and professionals as well as communication with media is important. The good example for inspiration is the non-governmental network of tens of local Architecture Centres in the Netherlands, which systematically care for and inform about architecture. Generally, the role of an architect in the society is considered important and demanding with regard of necessity to persuade a neighbourhood about suitability of the designed solution. According to Oldřich Ševčík, architecture in its substance is a consensual matter – agreement is necessary at its creation, during its implementation as well as long after. Petr Velička, Vice-President of the Supervisory Board of the Czech Chamber of Architects and author of the concept of the third section, summarises this topic as follows: “The level and quality of our cultural environment is reflected in daily life of the society and this fact results in indisputable and necessary personal responsibility of an architect towards the society. An architect should be a coordinator at creation of our built living environment, should always have holistic approach to a problem, and should be a creator of imaginary bridges among people. However, the society should not trust him blindly but on the basis of honest approach of single architects". However, an architect does not hold full responsibility. As Václav Cílek stated within the discussion: “In the process which has been under way for approximately last 15 years, corporate responsibility of companies, associations, professional and autonomous organisations, which includes the CCA, has been stepping gradually forward concurrently with the weakening role of a state.”

The document called the Architectural Policy has been approved in many European countries and education and upbringing in the field of architecture are always its main part. Another important topic of the Architectural Policies is usually the sphere of public contracts and the third circuit is the sphere of general support of architectural quality in urban and countryside environment. The informal EFAP network, which was established in the year 2000, includes majority of European states and aims to support the architectural policies i.e. the above-mentioned documents focused on strengthening of urban and countryside living environment quality both on the national and European level.

The Czech Chamber of Architects has drawn up the declarative document of the Architectural Policy of the Czech Republic for the Ministry for Regional Development and strives for its adoption by the government. Cyril Svoboda, Minister for Regional Development, emphasized in his speech that “after its adoption, the Architectural Policy shall become the primary vision for promotion of the principle of sustainable development and for the society to reach the idea concerning quality of urban, countryside, landscape and cultural space. Even today, on the background of the current economic crisis, it is the declaration of principles leading towards educated, cultural and sustainable society.” The Architectural Policy may create a space for easier discussion and alliance of society and create conditions for responsible free creation of particular architects under the condition that it will be officially adopted as the document and required by the society.