Vlastimil Koubek
| Vlastimil Koubek | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 17, 1927 Brno, Czechoslovakia |
| Died | February 15, 2003 (aged 75) Arlington, Virginia, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Awards | Tucker Award of Excellence (1988) Award of Excellence, Washington Chapter, AIA (1988) |
| Practice | Koubek Architects |
| Buildings | Willard InterContinental Washington Annex and Office Building, L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, Franklin Tower |
| Projects | Rosslyn, Virginia; Washington Harbor; Camden Yards Sports Complex |
Vlastimil Koubek (March 17, 1927 – February 15, 2003) was a Czech American architect who designed more than 100 buildings, most of them in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. When he died, he had designed buildings worth more than $2 billion. Most of his work is Modernist in style, although he developed a few structures in other vernaculars. He created the site plan for the redevelopment of Rosslyn, Virginia, and his Ames Center anchored the area's economic recovery. He also designed the World Building in Silver Spring, Maryland, which sparked redevelopment of that town's downtown and the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C. amongst many other buildings. In 1985, Washingtonian magazine considered him to be one of 20 people "who in the past 20 years had the greatest impact on the way we live and who forever altered the look of Washington." In 1988, The Washington Post newspaper said his Willard Hotel renovation was one of 28 projects in the area which made a signal contribution to the "feel" and look of Washington, D.C.
Vlastimil Koubek was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia and received his degree in architecture from the Faculty of Architecture at Czech Technical University. After graduation, he worked for several Czech architecture firms, designing office buildings.
Because he and his father held strong anti-communist beliefs, Koubek decided to flee Czechoslovakia after the Communist coup d'état of February 1948. He tried to cross the border into the American Zone of Occupation of Allied-occupied Germany, and failed. A second attempt in July succeeded. Koubek emigrated to the United Kingdom in October 1948, where he worked in a brickyard, as a draftsman for the city of Gloucester and county of Gloucestershire, a draftsman for the Ministry of Works, and announcer for the Czech language news service of the BBC. He encountered his future wife, Eva, in a bookstore in London. Eva was born in Prague, the daughter of a Czech Army officer. Her brother, whom she later rescued, was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany during World War II.
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