Ctibor Seliga was born in Košice in 1934, but he spent most of his life in Jihlava. In 1960, he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Brno University of Technology, where he had also met his future wife, who was from Třešť. Between 1960 and 1961, he worked in Stavoprojekt Prešov company. This was followed by six months of military service, after which he settled in Jihlava, where he worked as a teacher at the school of civil engineering between 1961 and 1965. From 1965, he was employed in Stavoprojekt Brno – Jihlava branch for 10 years. At Stavoprojekt, he became the lead architect for the district of Znojmo. From 1987–1989, he worked in the cooperative design studio Drupos Brno – Jihlava studio, and between 1989 and 1992, he was employed by the building cooperative Rozkvět Jihlava. From 1992–2012, he worked as a freelance designer.
Ctibor Seliga’s career involves nearly 50 years of design practice in housing and civil construction. His work includes projects in Jihlava, Prague, Žďár nad Sázavou, Třešť and Pelhřimov. Seliga’s portfolio of projects in Jihlava includes Demlova and Březinova Primary Schools, and he designed the Seifertova (formerly Leninova) Primary School together with Jiří Herzán. He was involved in the residential complexes of the Jihlava-South housing estate, and in the Královský vršek housing estate together with Jiří Herzán and Zdeněk Gryc. He also designed a complex of atypical brick buildings for the Na Dolech housing estate (1979) on Olbrachtova, Vančurova and Kainarova Streets. Seliga’s projects also include the skating arena in Znojmo (1967–1980), where the final outcome unfortunately diverted from Seliga’s superior design (1966) on account of delays in the non-professional construction. He also designed zoning plans for housing estates for Znojmo. Housing estates built according to his designs were based on a closed geometric grid. A significant number of them date back to the period between the first half of the 1960s and the end of the 1980s. For Třešť, Seliga drew up the design for the House of Clothing (Dům odívání) as well as for residential premises. He designed the social amenities for the Homolka housing estate in Prague 5.
Seliga conceived the complex of the Semilucká I and II Nine-Year Primary Schools in Jihlava (now Demlova Primary School at no. 4178 and Březinova Primary School at no. 4765) as an atypical construction. Based on the urban layout of the Březinovy Sady (formerly Antonína Zápotockého) housing estate by the architect Zdeněk Gryc, he situated the complex towards the eastern edge of the residential estate in an open green space adjacent to the surrounding landscape. The school was inaugurated in 1976.
As an architect, Seliga was also involved in the selection of works of art. In Jihlava, these included, for example, a fountain in front of the entrance to the administrative building of the state farm (1988) on Telečská Street, or the Dance (Tanec) sculpture (1978) in front of the complex of Demlova and Otokara Březiny Primary Schools. In Znojmo, he had a relief placed on the department store in the Pražská housing estate (1974) and the Family (Rodina) sculpture in front of the department store (1977). Ctibor Seliga’s long list of activities and works clearly shows that the architect had a broad scope and that his projects contributed significantly to the contemporary appearance of Jihlava as well as other places.
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