KRUH (Circle) was founded in 2001 by a group of architecture students at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and it is the only NGO, which operates professionally and continually within the architecture field nowadays. Focus of our activities lies in an ongoing cycle of lectures on architecture held by leading Czech and foreign architects and architecture critics. In addition to that, we have organized excursions to contemporary architectural realization and film festivals as well as Day of architecture, the festival on architecture in more than 60 cities in Czech Republic. During 16 years of our activity, we have already provided more than 250 lectures (f.e. a lecture cycle 'Across Swiss Architecture' – in cooperation with Pro Helvetia and Swiss Embassy in Prague and Metamorphoses of the cities in cooperation with the French Institute in Prague), 5 film festivals on architecture, an exhibition and published 5 collective volumes with texts on architecture. All our activities gained both a favorable public response (200 – 800 visitors per lecture, 2000 visitors at film festival) and a response of professional press – we were awarded an Architect magazine prize in 2003. KRUH through its president Marcela Steinbach won in 2016 two awards, Price Architect of the Year 2016 for her own excellent creations and for the education of professional and lay public in the field of Architecture, and Architecture Award 2016.
Within 10 years anniversary of the KRUH the Architecture Day was founded 6 years ago and since then every edition attracts thousands of visitors. In 2014 and 2015 Kruh collaborated with the ETH Zurich Faculty of Architecture on the project called Swiss-Czech Inspiration, which included lectures, working groups, excursions and publication of the eponymous text-book.
So far we have lined up lectures by significant figures of contemporary architecture eg. Aaron Betsky, Eva Jiřičná, Jan Kaplický, Luigi Snozzi, Mario Botta, Dietmar Eberle, Francisco Mangado, Jonathan Sersion, Kate Otten and as well many starting Czech architects.
In all we do our goal is to create a continuous dialogue about contemporary issues among architects, architecture theorists and public. Our target group consists of architecture students, architects, construction engineers, humanities students and last but not least the general public. This year our programme is focused on “Different perspective” - cycle of 7 lecture and discussion evenings about contemporary architecture. It introduces the current exceptional architecture on the European continent and represents a unique and creative perspectives, which can inspire Czech environment, both professionals and the general public.