Architect Alžběta P. Brůhová believes that public spaces should be accessible to everyone. She is an architect, the coordinator of the international study A2 | Future Architectures Platform at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, and a co-founder of the organisation ‘Architektky’. Currently, Alžběta is participating in her first residency in Kaunas with the Magic Carpets project. During it, the architect organises workshops that have become part of the The Power of Kindness event. Together with members of the Dainava community, Alžběta explores the neighbourhood and discusses how spaces meet people’s needs.
These topics became even more evident while preparing for the interview and making my way to meet Alžběta – something that required crossing the unavoidable central underground passage. While cars above move unhindered, people below – with suitcases, bags, pushchairs, and bicycles – each adapt to the same space to cross the street. This raises important questions about shared urban spaces and inclusion. As I descended the stairs into the underground, I wondered: what would perfect movement through the city look like through Alžběta’s eyes? We talked with her about such situations, about architecture and architectures, unexplored professional tools, attempts to broaden the field, and, of course, the courage to try things differently.
Agnė Sadauskaitė: As we speak, you’ve already had a first session with the residents in Dainava. Tell us more about your first date with them.
Alžběta P. Brůhová: The curator team selected me from recommended artists in the Magic Carpets system. I have a feeling that I’m already gaining a lot. We had an introductory meeting where more than 20 people showed up, all of whom are part of the Dainava community. Everyone introduced themselves, and we talked about what each of us can give and what we wish to receive from the upcoming sessions. The majority said that they want to experience togetherness and learn new things. The core group will stay for the whole three weeks, but it is voluntary. It is exceptional to be a part of a working neighbourhood community. People have known each other for quite some time. They had a celebration of someone’s birthday prior to coming to the workshop, so it was a lively atmosphere.
Agnė: What is your plan for the workshops in Dainava?
Alžběta: I have an ever-changing plan – I have a set base track, but nuances change. Workshops are a series of exercises, and we will look into the neighbourhood from the perspective of fair shared space. For example, whether the city part meets the diverse needs of its different users or if it prioritises certain ways of using it – e.g. car users over pedestrians and cyclists, able-bodied users over disabled ones, certain genders over others, etc. We will visualise these discussions and outcomes, and I really want to work with textiles. I like their softness and their ability to connect with precise geometry while at the same time not being something easily drafted in CAD software. We will combine textiles with some wooden frames and make multipurpose furniture that can be used both inside and outside.
Photo: Martynas Plepys
Agnė: Not very far from us, there is a tile with an inscribed quote: Every step I have taken in my life has led me here, now (Arwork by Alberto Garutti for the 12th Kaunas Biennial). Alžběta, tell me which life events and happy accidents contributed to you being here, now in Kaunas?
Alžběta: I really like that quote. The first category is what I personally did, and the other one is the circumstances that were given to us when each of us was born. I was born in a free democratic state, right after the revolution in 1990, and as I’m living in the EU, it gives me these opportunities and privileges. I was lucky enough to study architecture at a nice university, which combined architecture, design, arts, and art theories. It contributed to me having a more blended notion of what architecture is compared to more technical universities. After finishing my studies, I left university but now I’m back working there as a studio coordinator. We are three women teaching in the independent architecture studio A2 | Future Architectures Platform. Together with colleagues, we often discuss the prospects of architecture. We need to expand our horizons much more than just designing buildings. On the personal level, these interests in combination with a professional network I am part of led to this wonderful opportunity to spend some time at the residency in Kaunas.
Photo: Martynas Plepys
Agnė: How would you describe your architectural style and philosophy around it?
Alžběta: What an easy question (laughs). I sense that we are generally much focused on outcomes and their size in architecture – meaning that it is mostly about the presentation and representation: taking all the beautiful pictures of buildings, colours, happy people in front of it, mostly white and able-bodied. But the outcome has too much gravity and outshines other aspects – less tangible things that I wish we would notice more. How do we behave towards each other when we collaborate, what kind of relationships architecture maintains, and if we will take advantage of others just to have a beautiful building… The key for me is to follow the flow of some powers and gravitation systems and observe if there is space for other things to happen.
Agnė: I found this question on your website, and I want to ask it here as well: how can places support and develop our unique potential and who we are?
Alžběta: For me, it is interesting and important to connect to the users of the space as they are experts in the environment and their own needs – and naturally one person cannot think about all aspects alone. In this regard, collaboration really makes sense. The best support is to invite users and hear their needs. For example, children in a kindergarten might say that they do not see anything when windows are up high. Slowly you get to know what aspects they need in their space – colours, plants, certain materials – and you can get to understand their needs better and design a space that supports them. Including the users in some capacity in the design or building process, rather than only acquiring their “list of needs” at the beginning, can lead to the creation of an even more supportive space. Participating in the creation builds strong bonds.
Agnė: What spaces do you like and feel best in?
Alžběta: I like to experience new things, and I do not wish to stay in most spaces for too long. My personal preference is for spaces that are not 100% finished. If referring to typologies, I do not enjoy spaces where there is too much domination of one part – for example, big car-oriented roads in cities. I cannot calm there, and my mind is constantly buzzing.
Last winter semester at the university we had the topic “City of Care”. One of the workshops I coordinated was about children and their rights to the city. I got a bit deeper into the topic and the most interesting seemed to be places that are not necessarily built for children, but where both children and adults are invited – in contrast to, for example, playgrounds, where parents mostly sit down bored or tired and watch their kids alone. One of the first group of places is a space called Atlas, which is part of the Prague National Gallery. It incorporates a co-working zone, music zone, playground, café. They invited visual artists to collaborate – entry is free of charge. Kids are, of course, kids, and you can hear them in all the spaces in the gallery, but most people are intrigued by it.
Agnė: You base your creations on contemporary feminist theories. How does that manifest in reality?
Alžběta: This is my life topic, and I will be exploring it till my day comes – as everything can be explored as a feminist approach (not only) in a built environment. Feminist approaches are – for me – not so much about gender only. It is about opening the space for everyone who was (or is) being underrepresented: women, people of colour, more-than-human beings, non-car-oriented infrastructures, or even if we think about different forms of collectiveness (as an alternative to overrepresented individuality). It can be both what we cannot decide to be (e.g. sexual orientation, colour of skin) and those we choose (e.g. vehicle to operate). Feminist theories are both processes and outcomes – of how spaces can be more balanced in terms of usage and more sustainable. Where the world is currently favouring certain kinds of behaviour or approaches, it is not leading us as a whole society to a nice, open, democratic, just future – so this is a counterliving.
Photo: Martynas Plepys
Agnė: Lately it seems that what was here to stay can be easily taken away.
Alžběta: I feel that there is a big power when people get together – as in one of the projects which I co-founded, ‘Architektky’, or as neighbours in Dainava. As an individual, you cannot really stand up equally in front of someone who has much more power – but a bigger group of people can. We need to learn how to get together to advocate for kinder and more just environments. And we need to learn this in our own unique way in post-Soviet countries, such as Lithuania or the Czech Republic, because I still sense a bad aftertaste of this forced collectivity and suppressed individualism by the communist regime.
Agnė: In one of the interviews, you mentioned that you pay great attention to the artistic aspect, drawing on spiritual foundation. How do you balance creative freedom with a client’s needs or constraints?
Alžběta: I decided to focus on smaller-scale projects, which are easier in some capacity as they are not as complex as, for example, huge building areas or cities. There is also a question of control. Systems are complex – to navigate through all the inputs, our society tends to calculate everything, and there are piles of documentation. The process has grown, and it is – in my opinion – unsustainable to keep this direction. When we control everything in advance, it is complicated to allow coincidences to happen. One of the artistic layers that I try to bring is to open the system, try not to urge and control all aspects, invite other actors to come into the process – e.g. visual artists – and minimise the scale. I’m still figuring it out and playing around.
Photo: Martynas Plepys
Photo: Martynas Plepys
Agnė: Together with Adéla Pečlová you co-founded an organisation and a support system, ‘Architektky’. Your mission states that “We want architecture as a discipline to be more inclusive, offering an inspiring environment for people with diverse life experiences and varying degrees of privilege.” What steps are you taking to bring this mission closer?
Alžběta: We started five years ago, and the chronology was not linear – depending on the energy and time. I like how we started. Adéla and I did not know each other, but she dropped me an email saying that she liked my work and invited me for coffee. The topic of women in architecture started coming to my mind when I was freshly out of uni. How is it possible that we have so many women graduates, and they are not in representation so much? We discussed it with Adéla and decided to do something about it – as well as about working conditions. We spread it and shared the experience, and it started like a small snowball. We opened a Facebook community, and women approached and asked the same questions: where are women architects, how do you combine work and parenthood, how am I supposed to keep on living when working conditions are so poor? We also co-initiated a survey on young architects’ working conditions, did some mentoring events with senior architects, networking events, professional lectures on business, law, marketing, and other fields which are useful if you start as a freelancer. Currently, Adéla is a single mum, so we put the project on maternity leave as well – and rest. But the project lives on.
Agnė: You have shared your experience of losing part of your vocal abilities and trying some techniques to regain that. That also made me wonder – how is it, finding your voice? Not only when speaking, but also in the field of architecture.
Alžběta: After surgery, one part of the vocal cords was numb and paralysed. The voice sounded different, there was no intensity – recovery was long. Nobody knew if it could ever come back, but eventually it did. Finding my voice in architecture is still in process and I think it will be until the very end of my life. It is about getting closer to it. Here in Kaunas, I really like meeting super interesting and inspiring people who are grounded and intelligent. They know about their limits – which are not viewed as constraints – they are on the way to opening those limits up. It is nice to experience. This is also my first time leading a bigger workshop, and it feels so good. I’m also connecting with newly discovered parts of who I am – and having fun with them.
Agnė: It is an empowering feeling.
Photo: Martynas Plepys
Alžběta: I have generally been better with one-on-one collaborations, and working with groups is a big challenge for me. I needed to jump into the water and see how it went.
Agnė: You are also testing new waters with a service called architherapy. Tell me more about it.
Alžběta: It is an experiment coming from a feeling that sometimes architecture serves as a privileged profession for privileged people. I am sure that there is much more to explore and offer from professional expertise. Not all clients need a drafted project, plan, and visualisations – which is usually the norm. Some people just need quick consultation, new methods of how they can make their space better – or just reassurance. I am still testing architherapy, but it is a series of methods and consultations finding and advising what would make a particular place more supportive and grounding for a specific user or users. Sometimes they need to clean their space, hang curtains, and put in some drawers. Some need new furniture, and sometimes it is a more elaborate process where we continue with the usual norm and plans. But I always encourage my clients to explore for themselves first – so sometimes we would have even some personal-development-like sessions before starting, which can help to open up. There are many ways that are still not discovered in architecture. This is my little attempt to grow it a bit.
The creative workshops ‘The Power of Kindness’ is part of the Kaunas Biennial project Magic Carpets. The project is co-funded by the EU Creative Europe Programme and Lithuanian Culture Institute.
Photo: Martynas Plepys
