Marek Vilášek Selection of works 2016-2019
Marek Vilášek facebook.com/marek.vilasek vilasekmarek@gmail.com +420 728 431 727 behance.net/vilasekmarek /in/marek-vilášek-087798139/
I am Marek Vilášek, a 26-year-old junior architect from Czechia, currently living in Sydney. During my studies, I moved from CTU in Prague to KU Leuven in Belgium, where I finished my Master thesis, under the tutoring by Martino Tattara from the DOGMA architectural office. I have spent last year working in a very different cultural context - in a small architectural practice called Aileen & Sage in Australia. My Australian experience was very intense and I have learned well to work in a foreign country, how to accommodate quickly and become an essential member of the team. However, the architecture in Australia lacks vision and persuasion of higher goals such as sustainability, cultural integration or relationship to its history. This is the reason why I’m looking for a job in Norway now, the country where architecture still has its significant importance and architects are working towards a better future for all of us. I believe that I would enrich your practice with my international experience and become a valuable part of your team. Please, take a look at my portfolio. Leaf through softly, you are browsing through my dreams.
Work experience: Aileen & Sage Architects August 2018 - February 2019 | Sydney, Australia I participated in numerous individual housing projects in all stages of development as well as on competitions and large scale public projects for the Sydney government A69 architects June 2016 - October 2017 (part-time) | Prague, Czechia I worked as an intern on medium and large-scale projects, cooperating on the design, making the architectural drawings and models Zdeněk Zavřel autumn 2015 | Prague, Czechia Together we attended the international architectural competition for a proposal of Biocentrum and Globcentrum building for Charles University in Prague
Language proficiency: •
English | C1-C2 IELTS exam
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Czech | Native
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Dutch | Beginner
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Norwegian | Beginner
Education: • KU Leuven 2017 - 2018 International master of Architecture | Resilient and Sustainable Strategies | Master degree - magna cum laude • CTU in Prague 2013 - 2017 Architecture and Urbanism | Bachelor degree • Secondary School of Civil Engineering in Val. Meziříčí 2008 - 2012 Civil Engineering | Graduation exam
Software skills: AutoCAD, Photoshop, Sketchup, Vectorworks (expert) Indesign, Vray, MS Office (advanced) Illustrator, Revit, Rhinoceros, Premiere (intermediate)
Awards and honours: •
Van Hove Prijs best diploma project award in Belgium | 2018 final shortlist
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Olověný Dušan a student project of the year at CTU | 2016 final shortlist
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Church square Ostrava an architectural competition | 2017 3rd place
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Bydlení IQ a student architectural competition | 2015 final shortlist
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Teendesign a high school design competition | 2012 3rd place
Vocational activities: • Workshop Nižbor | 2015 voluntary architecture workshop construction of the playground for children, made from living willow branches • What design can do?! Refugee Challenge | 2016 design competition proposal of mobile units for refugee camps, made from unused train wagons • Workshop Tanvald | 2015 voluntary architecture workshop proposal of the development strategy for the city centre of Tanvald • Mood for Wood | 2017 international architecture workshop the design and realization of the wooden furniture for Poznan in Poland • Rhookah | since 2017 brand and website design development of the graphic identity of starting company selling design shishas
Exhibitions and Publications: • KooZA/rch| 2019 | https://www.koozarch.com/ publication of two of my projects on a website devoted to visionary architecture • Anatomy | 2017 | NEST creative hub - Ghent - Belgium showcase of student works from the design studio of Jo van der Berghe • Drawing out | 2017 | Vlaamse Architectuurinstituut - Antwerp - Belgium exhibition of drawings in dialogue with the masterpieces of Boyarsky collection • Pokoje (Rooms) | 2016 | Containall - Prague - Czech Republic experimental installation on the exhibition of young art in the abandoned house
Restart for the Coast Adaptivo Path. Měcholupy Common Bridge of Houses Raumplan House Pokoje
Restart for the Coast Master Thesis | 2018 | tutor: Martino Tattara
The coastal territory in Belgium is a very peculiar place. As a tourist who is coming for a visit, you see only nice beaches, promenades with expensive restaurants and many attractions which. This prevents you from thinking about the other side of the thing. Tourism is both salvation and destruction for the Belgian coastline. It brings wealth into the region, but on the other hand, regular inhabitants are left behind as the municipalities do more for occasional visitors. The goal of my thesis is to precisely define the problems that Belgian coastline territory suffers from, even those that are not visible at the first sight, and by proposing a complex strategy contribute to their solution. This strategy extends over multiple scales and aims to serve as a catalyst for a positive change of the region. Change towards the new coast, where settlements have a more meaningful relationship with the territory, where regular inhabitants are not left out forgotten, where is enough of possibilities and values to live a meaningful life.
AÂ complex strategy for the empowerement of the coastal territory in Belgium across the scales
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1. The Pier - revealing the sea in a different perspective 2. The Tribune - space for contemplation in the natural dune environment 3. The Duneroad - recreating the relationship between the dunes and inland 4. The Backroad - making the agricultural landscape accessible again
Large scale
The large-scale part of the project that I have designed is a strengthening infrastructural armature which is connecting the whole territory and adding new missing slow-mobility networks – bike paths and pedestrian transversal links. At the same time, it works as a stabilizing element for new development, which is redefining the seams between the built and unbuilt and recreating the mutual relationship between them. New public space and amenities are built along this territorial infrastructural artery.
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1. The Farm - new local food hub 2. The Kindergarten - in close vicinity of the settlement in the contact with nature 3. The Sportfields - new sports facilities for inhabitants, connected by the slow-mobility armature 4. The Workplaces - co-working hubs adjacent to a major road nearby new settlements
Middle scale
In the intermediate scale, I am defining the key sites at the municipal level, for new growth as well as for the demolition. This is done in order to make the territory work as a whole, get rid of bottlenecks which are fragmenting the landscape, and also to select the most valuable building plots for new public facilities, which would then become functional also in large scale.
2020
2035
2050
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2080
Small scale
In a smaller scale, I am focusing on declining camping sites and holiday parks and I am giving an example, how municipalities should reuse these plots in upcoming years. I had rethought the trailer park, kept the valuable infrastructure and proposed a new innovative form of housing on the similar spatial layout as they currently have.
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1. Low-cost house for a couple - basic version of the housing unit 2. Workshop on the ground floor and one bedroom upstairs 3. House for a single family - double height space is subdivided by floor slab fully 4. Spacious house for a couple - part of double height space is recreated as the floor slab is removed
Flexible housing unit
The inner space is divided into the core, which contains all technical rooms and storages, and liberated double height space. The steel structure is providing the possibility to subdivide the space by placing another floor level. By this, the inner space of the house can vary from 80 to 110 sqm, allowing a range of spatial possibilities for different users. Because of the fact, that the ceiling panels are lightweight, the basic inner expansion can be done without the crane or any partial demolitions. This also allows the shrinking of the house – added the first floor can be dismantled again when it is not needed, which would recreate more luxurious double height space.
Redefined flexible housing unit in the holiday park
Holiday park in transformation into the new settlement
Detail of the new settlement
The site is rather small, around 120 sqm which would cut down the price significantly. At the same time, the spatial layout is very efficient. The building is using half of the former site – around 60 sqm from corner to corner and leaving another half for a private garden. The street width is slightly extended, functioning as a shared courtyard for all the residents. The house facades are closed from two sides and fully open from the other two, which is allowing a sufficient level of privacy, even within low-rise high-density spatial layout.
Complete Master Thesis on Issuu
Adaptivo Spaces for the economy in the city | 2018 | tutor: Dieter de Vos, Patrick Moyersoen, Bram Aerts, Matteo Paracchini
In today’s turbulent times, it is necessary to respond to everaccelerating demands for flexibility and a change of functions in the buildings we inhabit. In my proposal, I explore the possibility of quick adaptation of the internal function of the building, between producing and living, using easily replaceable elements within a durable rigid structure. The space I propose is naked and flexible, capable to contain anything while maintaining architectural quality. The building becomes The Place to work and dwell in.
In an urban context, the building truly responds to its location on the boundary between family row houses and factory complex and draws on both. The basic spatial module is derived from the size of a typical Belgian house and is still readable in the designed volume, while the scale of the building and roof lighting are more relative to the old industrial buildings. From the outside, the building fits into the surroundings and does not attract too much attention, all the richness appears when you enter one of the atriums.
1st and 2nd floor plan | cross-section
Within the skeleton structure of 12x9 meters, the base modular unit, which can be rented in the building, is 25 m2. By multiplying this area, you can create an apartment or workspace of any size. In addition, the first and the second floor varies – the upper level has the possibility of duplex space division and added a skylight in the shed.
All inner life in the building is centred on two identical courtyards, which are the only circulation spaces here. However, it does not only serve to circulation, but every tenant has also their associated space where they can spend their free time, store products or park their bicycles. Space becomes a catalyst for social interactions, a living place with which you can identify yourself. Thus, I create an intimate atmosphere that also invites you to collaborate and share, a sort of rediscovered backyard where you can live and work at the same time. The different colour of the bricks, white on the ground floor and a typical red one on the upper floors divides the area of the atrium into more public and more private spaces. The play of lights and shadows together with the grown trees and the meadow in the middle create a cosy and inviting place to stay.
Faรงade fillings embedded in a rigid construction can be easily replaced and react to actual internal function by their design and material solutions. For a living, wooden boards and lighter shades are chosen; for the workshop, on the contrary, metal plates of a larger scale, which can withstand the rougher treatment. Modular elements that define privacy can be inserted between individual spaces to separate them. Half of the balcony area is reserved for circulation, while the other is always the part of the adjacent workshop or the flat.
street line view
inner patio
Path. Design Studio Anatomy | 2017 | tutors: Jo Van Den Berghe, Mira Sanders cooperation: Jiřà Vala, Timothy Ghyssaert
We discovered a sequence of spaces in the immediate surroundings of the Church of Our Lady in Bruges. Outer spaces defined by walls filled with details and hidden potentials which intrigued us to their further investigation. All of those spaces appealed to us as separate rooms with a strong connection through the enfilade of doors, gates and viewing axes. They are connected with its common path we discovered and decided to follow and listen to all the whispering pointing towards us. Each room has its unique atmosphere created by the specific key elements and details. After a deeper examination, the background narrative of the path of life came to the surface. With our design, we work with the emotion of each room in a straight connection to the path and enhancing the atmosphere through the language of architecture and architectural detail.
pre-existence A place so flawless and perfect, it feels even inhuman. Alienated. It‘s the space out of this world, too perfect for us to actually be able to spend a longer period of time. The sphere as the most perfect geometric shape in the universe. We as human beings are not suited for such perfection. The precisely shaped spherical interior space carved out of white marble enhances this perfection to such a level, that it causes even discomfort. No edges or corners to hold on to. No fixed point letting you create the precise idea of space or its dimensions.
moment of birth The promise of space behind that wall that makes you wonder and raises questions. You want to enter that space, but you‘re not allowed yet. A dismantling couple of bricks could reveal something not yet known. This intriguing desire does not leave a passenger calm. Right after passing through the door you‘re drawn by that wall. The gable, the only trace left behind. Mass of bricks and mortar with a promise of space behind it. A mysterious retreat defending you from the outer world. You need to dare that first step and climb through. You climb through the tunnel and reach the safe shelter. After a while, you find a trapdoor beneath your feet leading to the cellar. After descending a narrow ladder, you discover resources allowing you to stay a bit longer. Wood, water, and wine.
life and death
You‘re facing the river. Preparing for that long step into the unknown. Reach out with your foot to land onto something you have a clue about, yet you‘re not sure. There is a bridge in the water. Just below the water level, to give you a hint of its existence. You need to reach out with your feet and seek for the solid ground below. It is possible to pass that bridge, but you need to be aware of every single step you make. This bridge does not give you comfort, but it gets you to the other side. You just need to make an effort and start walking and see where it leads.
afterlife
The final destination. The tunnel leading into the darkness down below. You walked a long way up to this point and you‘re about to reach the end of your path. You‘ve been through the struggle, but you can‘t just stop walking now. There‘s a certain mystery waiting in the darkness, too tempting to just let go. The marble dome, buried beneath the ground, peeking out just with its fragile fontanelle facing the church. After crossing the bridge, you are facing a dark and narrow corridor. Just a dim light running down the dome and washing against the walls gives you the direction to follow. Large steps, descending in the ground, guide you further on. It is necessary to sneak through the tight gap around the foundations to finally reach the space beneath the dome. It‘s too dark to actually see, but the feel of foundations substitute your eyesight. Do not let your touch mislead you, otherwise, you‘ll never find closure. The revelation comes when you approach the space beneath the dome and behold the hint of the church projecting on the floor through the lens of the camera obscura and the Madonna exposed in this secret sanctuary.
selected sketches
The great emphasis during the semester was placed on sketching and tracing as a tool in the design process and on the section, as the most important architectural drawing.
exhibition
Our work was shown at the final exhibition in the NEST creative lab in Ghent and then again at Vlaams Architectuurinstituut as a part of the exhibition Drawing Out - in dialogue with the drawings from the Boyarsky collection. Our project was published on KoozArch in year 2018.
Měcholupy Common Competition entry | 2018 | cooperation: Radka Komrsová
Due to its proximity to the capital city of Prague, Mecholupy has transformed from a small lively village into a medium size satellite, where inhabitants only return to sleep. However, the former centre has kept its classical urbanism and character, which we are trying to revive and strengthen. A busy road which is currently running through the village will be moved further in the nearest future. We are taking this as a starting point and returning the village commons to the inhabitants. We are considering the outdoor space as a living room of the village with many different places – rooms – with various functions. At the same time, the village centre is also part of a larger urban and landscape area even though the mutual bonds were broken over time. We are reconnecting the village commons with the surroundings by new transversal pedestrian connections and making the landscape accessible again.
Outdoor space - rooms of the village | conceptual scheme
Bridge of Houses Design Studio Císler & Pazdera| 2017 | tutors: Ondřej Císler, Miroslav Pazdera
The idea of using bridge construction for other purposes than merely transportation is not a new one. It’s so seductive, that many architects tried to grasp it throughout the centuries. This idea hides some utopian naivety and a picturesque charm. Maybe it is the fragility, we feel when we look at the results or an apparent escape from ordinary reality, which we all need. In this design, I come out mainly from Palladio’s proposal for the Rialto Bridge in Venice, from a spontaneously growing old London Bridge and from a project by Steven Holl - Bridge of houses. The design is inspired by the simplicity of industrial buildings, whose aesthetics were captured by the Becher couple in their photographs.
bridge of houses scheme
concept
Why not use the complicated structure of the bridge pillars for something more than just to support the deck on top? The proposed structure can be in principle divided onto „stem“ - the supporting pillars of the bridge, „capital“ - independent houses on the pillars and „lintel“ - a bridge deck creating space for a public square, transportation, and parking. The shape of the column itself is based on the load forces of the houses above it, the element of water and from the wind flow. House grows naturally from the pillar, whose area is expanded by the consoles to the very limit. It is essential to maximize the symmetry so that the load spreads evenly to the pillar. The circulation passes through the heart of each building and links all levels of the bridge and floors of the house. The deck is doubled for structural reasons, which I used to create two levels - one for the normal movement of pedestrians, trams, and cars; the other one for parking and bicycle traffic.
1st - 3rd floor | 1 x appartment 170 m2 | 4 x appartment 45 m2
4th - 8th floor | 4 x appartment 85 m2
9th - 10th floor | 2 x appartment 170 m2
Despite its monumentality, the bridge maintains the quality across the scales. You want to watch it from afar, but also to come nearer and touch it. The supporting structure, visible on the facade, is forming a clear tectonic harmony. These subtle differentiations break monumentality and add a human scale to the houses. The selected materials of the houses are bare concrete structure, stucco, and wooden window frames. The bridge deck truss structure is painted slightly green.
Each pillar is made of reinforced concrete, void, the wall is one meter thick. Transverse reinforcing walls are providing spatial rigidity. In the pillars, there are fixed steel brackets, on which are slidably mounted individual segments of the deck. Above the deck, pillars change into the structural system of the building by a system of cross-pillars. These columns are cantilevered and visible on the facades and in the internal structure of the house. The grid of each house is 3x5 fields, each with a span of 6x6 meters. The visible structure on the facade helps to brace and to stiffen the house. Through the house, a vertical circulation core is passing, which directly connects the house with a pillar. The facade and interior partitions are made of wood panels to minimize the weight of the house.
Raumplan House Bachelor Thesis Design studio Redčenkov & Danda | 2016 | tutor: Boris Redčenkov, Vítězslav Danda
Raumplan was at the time a quite revolutionary concept and it overturned the previous thinking about architecture. A house was no longer only a matter of individual floors of the same height, layered on top of each other, but became a complicated spatial structure of contiguous space. The principles that Adolf Loos defined are still used in many family houses. In apartment buildings, unfortunately, similar thinking applies extremely rarely despite its many advantages. That is why I decided to explore this way. I tried to create an apartment building with as many spatial and typological variations as possible. Therefore, the plan consists of nine squares. In the middle one, a staircase is located, lit by an indoor atrium. Thanks to the fact that the staircase rises always in the corners of the atrium by 800 mm, it creates a module that allows you to place an entrance to the apartment at any height level in multiples of this height. Therefore, Raumplan is applied in an apartment building.
My goal was not to cut off the promenade by the river from the rest of the city. That is why I divided the parcel into three separate houses, which allow passing on the waterfront, as well as visual contact with the river. On the waterfront, the three houses have a common base with the business ground floor. The spaces between the houses are elevated public plazas, where entrances to the houses are oriented. Individual houses have 4-5 stories and because of the height difference between the waterfront and the street Strakonicka, they have also two basement floors. Due to this fact, there are two parterres: one on the street, with entrances, shops and restaurants, the other one at the bottom with a club, a gallery and a cafĂŠ opened to the river. Between them, I placed the garage floor.
“My architecture is not conceived in plans, but in spaces (cubes). I do not design floor plans, facades, sections. I design spaces. For me, there is no ground floor, first floor etc…. For me, there are only contiguous, continual spaces, rooms, anterooms, terraces etc. Storeys merge and spaces relate to each other. Every space requires a different height: the dining room is surely higher than the pantry, thus the ceilings are set at different levels. To join these spaces in such a way that the rise and fall are not only unobservable but also practical, in this I see what is for others the great secret, although it is for me a great matter of course. Coming back to your question, it is just this spatial interaction and spatial austerity that thus far I have best been able to realise in Dr Müller’s house” Adolf Loos
160 m2
88 m2
154 m2
105 m2
window details
Complete Bachelor Thesis on Issuu
In the spirit of Raumplan, I can also work in individual flats. The highest room is the living room and the kitchen (3700 mm) as the most important areas of the apartment. Other residential rooms have a height of 2900 mm and bathrooms, locker rooms and passages have a minimum one. The flats are therefore multilevel.
Pokoje Exhibition of young art | 2016 | cooperation: Martina Urbanová, Radka Komrsová, Šimon Jiráček
Can imaginary students of non-art school take a part in the art exhibition? Or is this just closed environment bubble only for a selected few? We signed to take part in this exhibition as fictional students of the Faculty of transportation science and were admitted. This experiment shows that not always have all the showcased artworks such a meaningful and deep concept as it looks like at first sight and sometimes they might be even very banal in the end.
‘the artwork’
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vilasekmarek@gmail.com