From Brno to the world: Architect Ondřej Chybík on aiming beyond Czechia’s borders
After cementing its reputation in Czechia with an acclaimed multipurpose arena, the young Brno-based architecture studio Chybík + Krištof is increasingly going international. The firm has significant projects in London and Paris in the pipeline – and ambitions to work even further afield in future. I caught up with co-founder Ondřej Chybík, who is 41, at the company’s bustling offices in central Prague.
Your father taught, or teaches, architecture. What influence did he have on you?
“He is not an architect. By background he’s a civil engineer, and he used to work with many architects in the past.
“But in the early ‘90s he switched from being a practicing engineer to being a teacher.
“We are constantly losing competitions because we try to keep as much as possible.”
“And his role in my career was quite significant. There weren’t internet connections in the early ‘90s, but there was one at the faculty and my first internet experiences were when I visited my father there.
“As a side product of my internet usage, I spent a lot of time at the faculty back then. And for me the environment of the Faculty of Architecture in Brno in the early ‘90s was just, like, unbelievably charming.
“On the walls there were student projects, models, lots of lovely pictures and sketches and drawings.
“And I thought that could be something that I would focus my future career on.
“I still visit my father at the faculty and now we are also teaching at the faculty, where we graduated 16 years ago.
“We are living in a different age now, but the charm is still there and when I walk the same corridors I’m still impressed by the quality of students’ work and the creativity and innovation they are able to produce.”
You’re known for the studio Chybík + Krištof, which you and Michal Krištof started while you were still students. Why did you decide to go in with him as a partner, and to stick with him over all these years?
“It’s been 16 years since we started up the collaboration. First, he’s a very good guy, and I know that I can trust him. That’s great.
“The other side of our collaboration is that there’s no ego. He’s not egocentric. Everybody has an ego, but there’s never been any competition between us.
“We shouldn’t be super revolutionary but try to be more evolutionary, to work with old and new.”
“We always try for the best architecture possible and of course sometimes he has his idea and I have mine, but we are really happy that we started this collaboration.
“We started in 2010, which was the year of the deepest crisis in the construction industry in Central Europe, and I wouldn’t have been able to set up a studio on my own, because I might have been afraid.
“There are lots of obstacles that you have to take into consideration, and if you were just on your own with all the problems and challenges, you just wouldn’t be strong enough, I think.”
Some of your projects have had an impact on Brno. You designed a new concept for Mendel Square and did the renovation of the well-known Zvonařka bus station. How is it working on projects in your home city, compared to in other places?
“I think a home city is extremely challenging, because neighbours, and even your family members, can constantly evaluate your work.
“The evaluation is sometimes positive, and sometimes there are some critical voices.
“For example with Mendel Square, I know that our approach was very good, as was our strategy.
“But I think what we didn’t manage was to communicate to the public the future shape of the square, because when we finished the refurbishment – together with Michal Palaščak, the other studio we collaborated with and Zdeněk Sendler, the landscape architect – the opening was in February, when trees have no leaves in the Czech Republic.
“So public acceptance of the project was pretty poor, and pretty low.
“Three years later, the trees have a certain size and proportion and their crowns are almost touching already.
“The goal with this public space was to create something very permeable on the ground, where you can really quickly change from a bus to a trolleybus, or from a trolleybus to a tram – so there are no obstacles.
“We expect to have a beautiful green canopy over the square to provide shade, and that’s already happening. It will take three to five years more to get these, like, grown trees.
“But I know this is one of the best projects we ever did. There are some projects that got really good acceptance, but here the acceptance was pretty poor.
“Our mistake was that communication about the project was pretty low. Also the client, the city of Brno, was not strong enough in its explanations as to why the project was like that, how high the quality was, etcetera.”
I think in the Czech Republic, nobody likes any change, anything new.
“It’s the same everywhere, to be honest. We have a project in London and there’s also a big debate about everything there.
“I think it’s healthy. On one hand, it’s really healthy to moderate the debate, and to be part of the debate.
“The real evaluation of an architect’s work comes after 20 years.”
“If you speak very openly and transparently and you are trying to explain your thoughts about public space and public buildings – and even private projects, which also affect public life and public space – that’s very healthy for a project, because sometimes you can’t reflect from your own perspective all the assets you should include within your design.
“But on the other hand, if you’re not good enough in the communication of the project, it can end up being something that is poorly accepted.”
Do you particularly like doing renovations or remodelling? For instance, on your website it says that you have a philosophy of “creative reuse of cities”.
“I think to work with memory, with the soul of a place, with existing structures, is something very contemporary.
“We are constantly losing competitions because we try to keep as much as possible.
“But I think it’s really important to keep as much as possible, and not just to keep all the materials, because sometimes even erasure is related to history.
“And even in history some mistakes were made, at the level of buildings but also at the level of urban planning, and we need to work with these mistakes and to try to improve and fix things.
“The Czech market is quite small and in a decade there could already be enough of Chybík + Krištof.”
“We also shouldn’t be super revolutionary but try to be more evolutionary, to work with old and new and to research the space between the old structures and the additional ones.
“It’s extremely interesting. It’s not that our mission is to save the planet only – I think the mission is to be curious and to understand the layers from the past and to be very sensitive in the new additions.”
The Czech pavilion at the World Expo in 2015 really helped to put your company on the map, but I guess your biggest project to date has probably been the Jihlava ice hockey and multipurpose arena, which to me is simply amazing?
“Thank you very much. I think in Jihlava the city achieved something which for me is like magic.
“It’s a public money investment and David Beke, a local politician with an architectural background, spent enormous energy and time explaining why it was important to keep such a public facility as a multi-purpose arena in the city.
“If you get such a beautiful brief – to keep such an arena in the city – as an architect you are half-way there, because it’s much easier for you to follow the existing urban pattern, to connect the site within the existing boundaries and also to think about the very strong identity of the place, but also of the building.
“If we were invited to work on the project on some greenfield site outside the city, I’m afraid that we wouldn’t be capable of designing such an urban building.”
Even the design of the seats at the stadium has been highly praised. It must be hugely gratifying for you to have a project that has been so universally acclaimed?
“Honestly, the real evaluation of an architect’s work comes after 20 years, or more than 20 years, when the building is aging properly and when the acceptance is still high – and if the building is accepted by other generations.
“So we will be waiting for the final evaluation for another 19 years, because it opened last year.
“The recent acceptance is pretty much the opposite of what happened with Mendel Square, but I hope the quality of the project is similar, or maybe the same, because we spent the same amount of time on both and our philosophy is there in both.”
“The environment for young studios in Czechia is just amazing.”
I’ve seen an interview with you in which you said that Denmark is very good at promoting the country’s architecture internationally. Is there anything that you would like to see Czechia doing to help architecture?
“Our studio’s experience with Denmark is because Michal Krištof used to work there.
“It’s a good question, because if the Czech government, or Czechs, did take this opportunity to export Czech architecture and Czech talent and Czech design, I believe that we could create enormous added value – just out of talent and innovation.
“I think it’s much better for the country, and also for the country’s economy, than just producing cars for global companies; not even cars with your own design, but cars which are just assembled here.
“I think that’s the future of Central Europe, because Central Europe is still a little bit undiscovered – and it’s full of talent.
“Honestly, this is a little bit our mission – to bring Central Europe outside this territory.”
One reason I wanted to speak to you is because I know you have an office in London. What led you to dip your toes in the water in London, and to start an office there?
“London is the most competitive city in Europe, in terms of architecture and design, but in our opinion it’s the only global city in Europe.
“Also it’s highly inclusive, and we believe that if you have talent and energy, and some money to spend, you can succeed there.”
How hard has it been to make an impact in that highly competitive market?
“It’s an amazing challenge, and this is what drives us the most.
“And of course you need local partners and local staff.
“We are super lucky that we started a collaboration with Stuart Blower. He’s been practicing in London for 20 years and used to work for major studios – big names we’ve followed since the first years of our studies at the Faculty of Architecture.
“He’s highly capable of delivering – and also designing – large-scale projects there.
“So our goal is not to aim for some extensions of small family houses, but for at least a similar scale to what we do here in the Czech Republic.”
I’ve seen images of the London Colosseum, which should be a big sports arena, including possibly for NBA games. Is that definitely happening, or is it just at the discussion stage?
“It’s early days for the project, but it’s happening. Kevin Davis, one of our clients, had the amazing idea of responding to the NBA coming to London. And there’s a definite need of another arena, because the O2’s capacity is not sufficient.
“We’ve been working on that for two years, so it’s a serious thing.
“But you never know, because our desks are full of projects that are never going to be built, unfortunately; we’ve worked on more than 500 projects, and only 10 percent of them have been completed.
“But this is exactly why we went to London, because this scale in Czechia would be really hard to achieve – and in London it’s possible.”
You’ve taken part in big competitions, including for the Vltava Philharmonic and the remodelling of Prague’s Central Train Station. You didn’t get those, but you have had many great successes. It seems from the outside like your story is one of continued success from the beginning, but have there been any big setbacks along the way for Chybík + Krištof?
“Yes, it’s a constant back and forth, to be honest.
“Though we are investing in growth, and we do invest a lot, it’s a constant cycle of success and struggling.
“Our dream is to be a truly international player and to compete with the best. And that’s since day one.
“The philosophy is still the same. I know that we are agile, and not everybody is happy about that – that’s why we are also trying to broaden our horizons.
“Because the Czech market is quite small and in a decade there could already be enough of Chybík + Krištof, so it’s a kind of necessity to try to expand.
“And on the other hand, it’s how we see the profession, because the profession could be highly international.
“That’s not just because of our London studio – recently our studios in Prague, Brno and Bratislava comprise seven or nine different nationalities.
“So I think the possibility to be active, and maybe also attractive, abroad is very high.
“And you know what, in London – and how we got the London Colosseum project – the voice of our generation of architects (I was born in 1985, so I’m 41) is completely missing.
“There are big, iconic architecture firms and large-scale studios, and maybe the second or third generation of architects are working in the same studio, but someone like us is lacking.
“And if the generation is there, and is not working for the major architecture practices, they tend to work on small commissions, because it’s a chicken or egg scenario.
“They are not invited to large projects because they have no experience of them.
“But we have great experience from here, because the environment for young studios in Czechia is just amazing, because the only qualification you need to participate in large-scale architectural competitions is your membership of the Czech Chamber of Architects, and you can get this membership after working for practicing architects.
“So the qualification is quite simple, compared to in Great Britain, or London, where you have a completely different system.
“You have ‘frameworks’, and to be selected in a framework means having built references, enormous insurance, etcetera, etcetera.
“So with a built portfolio in the Czech Republic, broadening our horizons, even in London, is possible.”
What about New York? I read an old interview with you where you also mentioned New York as a possibility, but that seems like a big step up, even from London.
“I’m really grateful that we made the decision to go to London, because I can be there in two hours on a Ryanair flight, whenever I want.
“Because of Jihlava, we have six or seven similar multipurpose halls in our pipeline.
“From Brno, Liverpool Street station is closer for me than Central Station in Prague. Honestly. The flight is only two hours and the airport in Brno is very small, so boarding takes only 15 minutes sometimes.
“Then it’s just one hour by train to Liverpool Street and I’m in the city. And sometimes the train from Brno to Prague takes three and a half hours.
“So it’s easy in terms of mobility. It’s also highly competitive in terms of architects and architecture, but it’s still Europe; it’s not continental but it is Europe.
“New York is a completely different game, but maybe in the future it would be nice.
“Because of Jihlava, we have six or seven similar multipurpose halls in our pipeline. One in London, one in Paris, one in Nitra – where we were selected for a competition.
“So lots of things are happening within this typology.
“It’s great to have such a built project. It’s quite rare, and in combination with our age it’s even more rare.
“And maybe in the future Canada or the States would also be open to our ideas. Ice hockey is something Czechs and Canadians have in common.
“The typology seems to be Czech, Canadian, Scandinavian, so we are competing with big Scandinavian and Canadian firms. But maybe there’s space for us as well.”
