Exhibition of Studio Projects
Aula Magna
Annotation
I imagine the Aula Magna for Charles University as a noble, mysterious building that represents and serves teaching. It is located on Old Town Square, the centre of gravity of Prague and the whole of Bohemia. Here, together with the new Krenn House, it once again completes Old Town Square and Kurný trh. Its pitched roofs, covered with lead, graduate in height to match the dominance of the Týn Cathedral behind the eastern front of the square and form the crown of the house. The building has a simple structural logic, its roofs matching the structural system below. Blocks of insulating concrete add scale and tectonics, firmly placing the building in context.