Bakala Foundation provides international opportunities to young architects

The Bakala Foundation is organising the fourth annual event of a truly unique Czech project providing fresh graduates of architecture schools an opportunity to take on internship with stars of contemporary architecture abroad. The competition called Kaplicky Internship, co-organised by the Kaplicky Centre Endowment Fund and The Design Museum in London, is open to exceptionally talented young architects and the best of them are offered paid internships abroad. This year’s winner is Petr Kousal, a graduate of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, with his comprehensive design of a pavilion for the Brno Exhibition Centre. Peter is now looking forward to a three months internship at the studio of Adjaye Associates in London, which designed the National Museum of African American History in Washington, among others. The past years winners spent their internships at studios Eva Jiricna Architects, Zaha Hadid Architects, and Allies and Morrison.

Art, design, and architecture are, according to the Bakalas, inseparable elements of human life, and for that reason they have been supporting them years both in the Czech Republic and abroad. “Thanks to the Kaplicky Internship programme, young architects get a unique opportunity to work under the auspices of globally renowned architects. The experience they gain in the process will help to kick off their international careers,” adds Michaela Bakala. “We believe with Zdeněk that they will spread the good name of our country across the world, and if they come back, they will contribute also to the Czech architecture.