Svatopluk Voděra

(16 February 1936, Třemošná – 24 January 2001, Prague)

Svatopluk Voděra was born in Třemošná near Pilsen. Following his education at the municipal school and the real grammar school in Pilsen, he studied at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague from 1954 to 1960. Already during his studies, he worked as a student research assistant, subsequently collaborating with Prof. Oldřich Dostál on his research into vernacular architecture. This early start permanently shaped his career, directing his focus towards themes associated with building heritage, with a particular emphasis on vernacular architecture. As early as 1963, he participated in the methodological work at the open-air museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, conducting field surveys and measurements of rural structures together with his students; as early as the 1960s, he advocated the concept of village conservation areas.

Svatopluk Voděra (on the left) with the photographer Karel Vronský; Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow (beginning of the 1960s.).

The core of his career lay in his teaching at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, enriched by his ongoing research, design and theoretical practice. He contributed significantly to establishing the subject “Reconstruction and Preservation of Monuments” as well as the first postgraduate course at the Czech Technical University, titled “History of Architecture and Monument Care”. This course substantially broadened the scope of the university’s graduates at a time when the institution was predominantly oriented towards modern, prefabricated construction. He also ensured that architecture students were required to complete a semester-long reconstruction project, which inspired many of them with a lasting passion and respect for architectural heritage.

Svatopluk Voděra in his office at the Czech Technical University (1980s.).

Following the change of political regime, he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Architecture in December 1989, as a respected authority in the field; from February 1990, he served as Head of the Department of Theory, Development and Reconstruction of Architecture, and from 1991 onwards he worked as Vice-Rector of the Czech Technical University. In the complex climate of the 1990s, he founded the Department of Fundamentals of Architecture at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, which attracted a number of prominent lecturers from the then Faculty of Architecture; gradually, this evolved into the independent degree programme Building Structures and Architecture at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague.

He passed away suddenly on 24 January 2001, shortly before his 65th birthday.

Svatopluk Voděra’s career progression was artificially impeded during the Normalisation period; he was allowed to habilitate only in 1974 and was appointed associate professor in 1980. Following the change of political regime, he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Architecture in December 1989, as a respected authority in the field; from February 1990, he served became as Head of the Department of Theory, Development and Reconstruction of Architecture, and from 1991 onwards he worked as Vice-Rector of the Czech Technical University.

In 1997, he was appointed full professor. He held various positions within the Association of Czechoslovak Architects and, from the 1990s onwards, served on numerous expert bodies, particularly those connected with the restoration of monuments, including the newly established Council for Monument Care of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. In 1996, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, he was awarded the Golden Medal of the Czech Technical University.

In addition to teaching materials, Professor Voděra’s primary legacy comprises books on vernacular architecture, prepared jointly with Jiří Škabrada (Vesnické stavby a jejich úprava [Rural Structures and Their Adaptation], 1975 and Jihočeská lidová architektura [South-Bohemian Vernacular Architecture] 1986), with a number of generalising excurses extending beyond the boundaries of this region).

In the mid-1990s, he prepared the nomination documentation for the village of Holašovice, which formed the basis for its successful inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Holašovice (České Budějovice) Nos. 1—4. Frontages of farmsteads and cottages on the eastern side of the village green. Drawing by Svatopluk Voděra

Alongside his scholarly activities, he also helped popularise traditional methods of repairing rural buildings during the boom in second-home ownership – both through a series of articles published in magazines and via the television series Chalupy a my [The Cottages and Us].

Svatopluk Voděra repairing his own second-home cottage in Svojkov; a photograph taken by Karel Kuča 1992.

He was a member of the team that, in the 1960s, prepared comprehensive documentation on the development of historic towns in Czechoslovakia for inclusion in the pan-European encyclopaedic survey edited by Erwin Anton Gutkind. This research was subsequently used for the national volume Československá historická města [Czechoslovak Historic Towns].

Following the Velvet Revolution of November 1989, one of his major publishing successes was Pražská architektura – významné stavby 11 století [Prague Architecture: Significant Buildings of Eleven Centuries], co-authored with Jaroslava Staňková and Jaroslav Staněk and published in four language editions. This was followed shortly afterwards by Praha gotická a barokní [Gothic and Baroque Prague], co-authored with Jaroslava Staňková, 2001). The highly accessible textbook for secondary schools Architektura v proměnách tisíciletí [Architecture Through the Millennia], written in collaboration with the same team of authors along with Rudolf Pošva and published in 2001, remains popular to this day. His architectural design practice continued throughout his professional career, alongside his participation in design competitions and service on a wide range of professional bodies.

Publications:

VODĚRA, Svatopluk. Problémy architektonického řešení rezervačních vesnic [Problems of Architectural Solutions in Reserve Villages]. Památková péče 1962, 1(9-10), pp. 268—278.
VODĚRA, Svatopluk. Potřeba komplexního přístupu k přestavbě měst [The Need of a Complex Approach to the Redevelopment of Towns], Architektura ČSR XXIV, 1965, p. 440.
VODĚRA, Svatopluk. Přehled teorie a technických metod obnovy památek [An Overview of Theory and Technical Methods of Monument Restoration]. Praha: ČVUT, 1966.
DOSTÁL, Oldřich. Československá historická města [Czechoslovak Historic Towns]. Naše vlast. Praha: Orbis, 1974.
ŠKABRADA, Jiří a VODĚRA, Svatopluk. Vesnické stavby a jejich úprava [Rural Structures and Their Adaptation. Mechanisation, Construction, and Land Improvement]. Praha: Státní zemědělské nakladatelství, 1975.
VODĚRA, Svatopluk. Přehled teorie a technických metod obnovy památek [An Overview of Theory and Technical Methods of Monument Restoration]. Praha, 1978.
VODĚRA, Svatopluk. Rekonstrukce a ochrana památek [Reconstruction and Preservation of Monuments]. 1st edition. Praha: ČVUT, 1983.
VODĚRA, Svatopluk a ŠKABRADA, Jiří. Jihočeská lidová architektura [South-Bohemian Vernacular Architecture]. České Budějovice: Jihočeské nakladatelství, 1986.
VODĚRA, Svatopluk. Rekonstrukce a ochrana památek: určeno pro stud. fak. architektury [Reconstruction and Preservation of Monuments: Intended for Students at the Faculty of Architecture]. 2nd edition. Praha: ČVUT, 1991.
STAŇKOVÁ, Jaroslava; VODĚRA, Svatopluk and ŠTURSA, Jiří. Pražská architektura: významné stavby jedenácti století [Prague Architecture – Significant Buildings of Eleven Centuries]. Illustrated by Jaroslav STANĚK. [Praha]: [s.n.], c 1991. ISBN 80-900209-6-8.
VODĚRA, Svatopluk. Architektonicko-urbanistické zhodnocení výsledků asanace [Architectural and Urbanistic Evaluation of the Redevelopment Results]. In: Pražská asanace : k 100. výročí vydání asanačního zákona pro Prahu / Praha: Muzeum hlavního města Prahy, 1993 pp. 56—62.
STAŇKOVÁ, Jaroslava a VODĚRA, Svatopluk. Praha gotická a barokní [Gothic and Baroque Prague]. Praha: Academia, 2001. ISBN 80-200-0866-7.
STAŇKOVÁ, Jaroslava et al. Architektura v proměnách tisíciletí: architektonická kompozice, dějiny stavebního umění od pravěku dodnes, lidová architektura, životní prostředí a památková péče [Architecture through Millennia: Architectural Composition, the History of Architecture from Prehistory to the Present Day, Vernacular Architecture, the Environment and the Preservation of Historic Buildings]. Revised reprint. Praha: Sobotáles, 2007. 303 pages. ISBN 978-80-86817-51-4.