Jaroslav Otruba

Education

After graduating from technical school, he began studying at the University of Architecture and Civil Engineering in Prague. His mentors included Antonín Mendl, under whom Jaroslav Otruba studied Architecture; Alois Mikuškovic, under whom he studied Town Planning and Landscaping; and Oldřich Blažíček, who directed his courses on Drawing and Painting. The Nazis closed all universities in 1939, delaying Otruba's graduation until June 1945, which he then completed with Honors. The Ministry of Education later back-dated his graduation to 1940.

During the closure of Czech universities Jaroslav Otruba joined the studio-office of F. Stalmach and J. Svoboda as an architect.

In August 1945, the University of Architecture and Civil Engineering hired Jaroslav Otruba as an assistant professor, participating in a vast study of surgical hospital departments for his dissertation. During this period, he helped create the Department of Medical Architecture at the University. In 1953, he received his Doctorate in Architecture. From 1956 to 1959 he completed a second dissertation on maternity wards.

Career and Legacy

Jaroslav Otruba's works consisted mainly of transportation buildings: the main building for a railroad station and two apartment buildings for railroad employees in Prostějov in 1947 (completed in 1952), followed by a railroad station in Řečkovice near Brno (completed in 1952). He also completed a project in Přibyslav, a complex of three railroad stations at the line Havlíčkův Brod – Brno (completed in 1949).

In the 1960s and 1970s he created a complex of engineering and industrial buildings in Prague-Vršovice (completed in 1967), an administrative building in Prague, Kubánské náměstí (completed in 1966), a building for the administration of railroads in Prague at Vinohradská Boulevard (completed in 1974), and an administrative building for the Ministry of Transportation in Prague Žižkov at Olšanká Street (completed in 1974).

Otruba designed a thermal colonnade in Karlovy Vary in 1961, as part of a larger urban design for the spa town. The colonnade was never completed.

Jiri Siegel, an architect and engineer who was one of Otruba's many students, wrote: "[Otruba] was respected for his positive attitude, professional assurance, success and maximum tact" while working with his students. As a result of the pressure for political (read: Communist) conformity among the faculty of the University, Otruba resigned his teaching post in 1960. He subsequently took a job at the State Department of Transportation, spending ten years as a lead designer within the department.

In 1979 Jaroslav Otruba was transferred to Metroproject, a new department tasked with building the massive Prague public transportation system. As lead architect and designer, he oversaw the creation of the A and C lines of the Prague Metro. Jaroslav Otruba is the designer of the distinctive aluminum tiles that can be found throughout the Metro A line.

Competitions

Jaroslav Otruba participated in many national and international architectural competitions. Among the more prestigious national competitions were the competition for the State Theater and Opera in Brno 1956, (third place in the open competition and second place in an invitation-only competition), in 1960 a competition for the town plan design for a spa center in Karlovy Vary (first place in an exclusive competition), in 1966 a competition for a town plan for the spa area in Františkovy Lázně (first place). In 1970 he collaborated with architect Šrámek in an architectural competition for the design of the dispatcher building at the Main Railroad Station in Prague (first place).

Otrubova participated in several international competitions, placing fifth in an architectural competition for the design of the Plaza for UN in Geneva in 1957. In 1958 he participated in an international architectural competition for the design of the town hall in Toronto, Canada and a memorial to victims in Auschwitz, Poland. In 1962 he collaborated with architect Jindřich Krise in a competition for the design of the main railroad station in Sofia, Bulgaria and in 1965 in the EUROKURSAL competition in San Sebestian, Spain.

For his basic concept for stations of the Prague Metro line C in 1974 Jaroslav Otruba was presented with 1973‘s Prague City Award.

The Artist

Jaroslav Otruba's second profession as an artist. His painting evolved in different styles, influenced by the heavy political pressure of the early 1950s. At the beginning of his painting career he used oil paints on canvas, but later discovered synthetic acrylic paints which he applied to paper. Otruba's early paintings reflect abstract configurations of communication: antennas and various objects from outer space. As he became further immersed in the world of architecture, Otruba's paintings often portrayed architectural objects, such as Gothic cathedrals and imaginary abstract cities. After a trip to the United States, his paintings consisted of countless variations on skyscrapers and cities full of color, often in congruence with his earlier European cities and historical styles.

In the 1990s he experimented with abstract painting, concentrating on lines and colors, movement of lines and circles, sometimes interpreting a city within a dramatic storm. In 2000 he started to paint different cities and small towns from old maps. In 2001 an illness prevented him from continuing his passion for painting.

Jaroslav Otruba did not pursue exhibition or compensation for his paintings. He had one art exhibition at Most Hospital in 1983. His paintings are held in private collections in Europe, the United States, and Australia. After his death in 2007, his wife sold one of his paintings in an art auction at Prague Gallery Kodl in 2009