Archcomix Vol. I

How should one teach the subject Tradition and New Urbanism at a school of architecture? — this was the question posed by Tomáš Pavlovský, a lecturer at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of BUT in Brno. Even the word 'tradition' puts off many students today — they want everything to be new, modern and unconventional. The phrase “new urbanism” is also somehow misleading, and many students were reluctant to enrol in this seminar. He therefore sought a way to engage students in this subject, to spark their interest in our architectural history with a connection to the present. He chose a story - the story of a building. How else does an architect tell stories other than through a drawing or sketching? This method is closest to his heart. From such reflections emerged the seminar assignment: Draw a comic strip about a particular Czech building of your choice. Everything must be drawn by hand; the stories may also be partly fictional. You have only two pages for your story. And so 24 stories emerged about significant Czech buildings from various historical periods - from the Rotunda of St Catherine, Špilberk Castle and the pilgrimage church of St John of Nepomuk on Zelená hora to the Tugendhat Villa, the Dancing House and the Žižkov TV Tower.