"I consider Zlatá stoka (the Golden Drain) and the system of adjacent ponds to be one of the greatest landscaping works in our country," notes architect David Vávra in the Opponent's opinion for this diploma thesis. "The graduate carefully maps the beautiful wooden footbridges as well as socialist iron and concrete bridges. We enter into the forest silence, even pass along the landscaping trees, we pass the fallen plaster of old mills, we descend to the river surface on stone steps or on a sandy beach. It brightens our personal memories, mine being more than 40 years old," says David Vávra. Thesis supervisor Tomáš Novotný considers this work an important contribution to the discussion on sustainable development and admires the humility with which the author travels 49 kilometers of the Golden Sewer with the desire to help this ingenious water work to return to its original purpose.
Already as a small kid, Kateřina Průchová was interested in Zlatá Stoka, as she did not understand why the mostly dirty and sometimes smelly sewer is called “golden”: “This old childhood question came to my mind when searching for my thesis topic”, she describes reasons of her selection and is honored that work of such an unusual format and execution was appreciated by the jury. "Remembering certain doubts that I had about the chosen topic, or the feeling of somewhat restrictive conditions for closing the study at the Faculty of Architecture, I have to say the result is a pleasant outcome. I appreciate the trust of my teachers Tomáš Novotný, Jakub Koňata and Tomáš Zmek, who had let me to work on this project, I express my big regards to them, "she adds. Kateřina Průchová would like to continue to focus on the topic of landscape during her doctoral studies with Professor Jan Jehlík as her tutor, as she is applying at the Faculty of Architecture this year.
Due to the great response and interest in the Třeboň region and among architects, Kateřina Průchová also decided to publish her diploma thesis as a book by the end of 2019, supported by crowdfunding collection. The book Zlatá stoka has 304 pages, is divided into two parts named Dead (Part 1) and Alive (Part 2), and is supplemented by a folding map and a tab with a scale.
As soon as the anti-epidemic situation allows, Kateřina Průchová plans to continue to promote this unique locality and, in cooperation with the Třeboň Pond Heritage Center, to organize several discussions, lectures and walks. According to the center's coordinator Lucie Kukačková, no separate publication has yet been published about this fundamental waterworks in southern Bohemia, so the book on the Golden Drainis a small miracle.
And where to begin when wandering through the South Bohemian landscape along the Golden Drain? "The drain flows through the Třeboň landscape, you just need to connect somewhere and walk along for a while. It will show you cities, villages, mills, swamps, bridges, weirs. There is a lot to see and every kilometer is rich enough in perceptions, "says Kateřina Průchová.
Kateřina Průchová will receive the prize for advancing to the finalis at a ceremony in May 2021 during the Biennale in Venice, Italy. Among 382 young talents from all over Europe, the Czech Republic was represented by only 8 student projects nominated by their educational institutions. The Faculty of Architecture sent a total of 4 projects to the competition: Negrelli's viaduct - a city on the tracks by Nikoleta Slováková, the New Theater in Jindřichův Hradec by Matěj Šebek, and the Panel Heritage in Přerov by Karel Golán.
The competition takes place once every two years, in 2018 Veronika Indrová, a graduate of the Novotný-Koňata-Zmek studio and Filip Galko from the Stempel-Beneš studio, celebrated success on behalf of the Faculty of Architecture. The prestige of the competition is explained by the vice-dean for foreign relations doc. Irena Fialová: "Projects are an example of the best that is created in schools, because, unlike other competitions, they are nominated for this competition by schools, not by the students themselves."
The Young Talent Architecture Awards show is organized by the Mies van der Rohe Foundation in Barcelona in collaboration with the European Association of Architectural Schools (EAAE), the European Council of Architects (ACE-CAE) and the World Architects platform. The competition supports talented recent graduates of architectural schools who will participate in the transformation of our environment.
