news
- 05.03.2005
Memory of Ladislav Monzer
Our cooperation with architect Monzer began in our first office in Klimentská street in Prague in 1993. One day a figure, which we perceived thanks to the contrejour lighting only as a silhouette, came into the door and said: „Good morning, I am Monzer“. That was the beginning of our cooperation that took more than ten years.
To work with architect Monzer was pleasant, inspiring and surprising. He didn’t talk about his previous activities very much. I remember how he mentioned once that some Japanese who wanted to realize his design of lighting arrived to see him. The fact that someone came all the way from Japan to see a Czech architect was quite surprising for me. What was even quainter was the setting of the project. It concerned a project of lighting on one small island near the coast of Japan. It was a small mountain island where there was a funicular that connected the coast with an observation point on which a small brewery was set. The remaining part of the island consisted of protected non-domesticated region. The setting of the task was to lighten quite a large area of the island that could be visible from the funicular. I guess that the island was called, when translated, Pea.
The combination of occupation of architect and knowledge from the field of lighting, acquired from his long-time work in Tesla Holešovice, was unique. He managed to understand as an architect in his lay-outs the objects and spaces for which he designed and at the same time to choose the suitable way of the lay-out and the necessary technical means. His projects respected the given space.
Currently, when light technology industry spouts thousands of lighting fittings and the offered range is slowly becoming a dangerous jungle, designs of lighting are reduced to the solution of the question „with what“. Unified solutions arise, creativity and individual approach get lost. Architect Monzer was one of the few project engineers who, in his designs, tried to find answer primarily for the question „why“. After that he started to deal with the question „how“ and the question “with what“ was, I believe, not so essential for him.
Besides designing of lighting, architect Monzer also excelled in other skills. One of his superhuman deeds in our joint working-recreation trip to the castle Bezděz proves that. While playing the darts he managed to stab a dart with plastic point into an oak plank. Unbelievable! His enthusiasm as to light was admirable. He had read a lot of books, especially with historical themes where he was looking for all kinds of mentions of light.
He created small papers with notes, hypotheses and questions about the pages where he had found something interesting. He could talk about his observations in a captivating way. He was interested not only in technology itself but he was also looking for deeper implications. He was concerned with influence of light on the development, behaviour, thought and being itself of man. He looked for these links not only in publications about history but also in books about mythology, religion and philosophy.
He was a gifted speaker; his lectures were interesting, encouraging and intelligible. Thanks to his great general overview, he was able to speak and lecture on various themes without preparation. He had a number of in-the-process themes that he wanted to deal with in his prepared publications. His great dream that he often talked about was a book about history of development of lighting that he unfortunately didn’t finish. Some fragments from this intended book are conserved in his last publication The lighting of Prague – changes of seven centuries (2003).
