We are an architecture studio with Dutch roots, founded in 1973 in Rotterdam, with headquarters now located in Prague and several offices within the Czech Republic and Europe.

We combine Dutch temperance and sense for urbanism with Central European poetism, a feeling for the landscape and experience with historical monuments. We love the challenge of converting neglected brownfields into vibrant new urban districts. We take it as our mission to breathe new life into historical monuments; we sensitively restore not only their facades, but also their contents. All our projects take into account the ravages of time and the development of the market and are designed with regard to changes enabling development. We enjoy architecture that humbly approaches its surroundings in its scale and yet stands out. We value timelessness more than trends.

Studio acht has been operating in the Czech Republic since 1993 under the leadership of Václav Hlaváček and is the third generation successor to the Dutch studio founded in Rotterdam in 1973. Václav Hlaváček graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Technical University of Czech Technical University in Prague - in the studio of Vladimír Dlesk, he graduated in the field of building reconstruction. He worked at the State Institute for the Reconstruction of Historic Cities and Buildings under the direction of architect Pavel Kupka. Today, under his leadership alone the studio has more than 100 members. In the Czech Republic, offices are open in Prague, Brno, Olomouc and Prachatice. Other colleagues are located in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Curaçao (part of the Netherlands Antilles).

For our clients, we provide preparation of studies, building documentation, cooperation in obtaining the necessary permits, author´s and technical supervision as well as project management of buildings.

Studio acht has turned 50

Studio acht was founded in Rotterdam in October 1973 as a joint project of several architects. The names Maarten Struijs, Nico Witstok, Ronald Vermaas, Nico Zwarts, Ben Hoek and Pietro Hammel are linked to the beginning of the studio. These were mainly recent graduates who knew each other through cooperation on projects for the city of Rotterdam, for example the renovation of old harbor houses.

The word "acht", Dutch for "eight", in the name of the Studio refers to the eight work places that their first office in the premises of a former church at Slachthuiskade 2, Rotterdam offered. These positions were continuously filled and the names of members of the Studio changed with them. At the beginning of its operation, it resembled co-work rather than a closed collective or company, where each new project required a different number and composition of members. Everyone could come and go, everyone was responsible for their own work.

With larger commissions for the city of Rotterdam, such as the Gouvernestraat apartment design from 1976, the Studio gradually became a group with clearer outlines, as the client, the city of Rotterdam, understandably wanted to know exactly who they were honoring. At that time they performed under the name Architecten Collectief, Studio Acht. In 1980, Studio acht moved to the village of Moodrecht, where they created an architectural studio.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Willem Kaujit, one of the collaborators of Studio acht, went to Prague. He was inspired by a speech by Václav Havel, who during his visit to the Netherlands invited Western businessmen to the Czech Republic. Kaujit gradually invited his colleagues to come Prague as well and they started to design administrative spaces and "pilot offices" for companies that were expanding into the Czech Republic, for example Douwe Egberts or the insurance company Allianz. Cooperation with Allianz continues to this day, mainly thanks to the realization of the interiors of administrative spaces.

Václav Hlaváček, who is behind the Czech branch of Studio acht, has been working with Dutch architects since the early 1990s, then founded the Prague branch of Studio in 1993. He thus forms the second (and his younger colleagues are currently rather third) generation of the studio. He sees himself as a follower of the original founders, with whom he worked closely on projects in the Czech Republic and Rotterdam.

"In the Netherlands, an architect is expected not only to be structurally competent, persistent and hardworking, but that the phenomenon of aesthetics runs through his design from start to finish. In our country, architects are forced into the position of "mainly to serve". I am inspired by countries where aesthetics are embedded in society. Where they know that the building has to serve, but it has to be beautiful at the same time, otherwise there's no point in investing in it," explains Václav Hlaváček, what makes the Netherlands inspiring for him.

For Studio acht, the main value from the beginning has been the joy of working on meaningful projects and a fulfilling, inspiring atmosphere. The architects were oriented towards the functionality of the projects. In the words of Ben Hoek: "The way buildings are lived in has always come first, rather than whether they feel design-wise enough."

50 years of Studio acht is not the anniversary of the founding of the company, but 50 years of an architectural idea that had the power to cross borders and spread from West to East, from Rotterdam to Prague.