Hipsight

‘Aula Maxima’

Slovak University of Agriculture
Architects: Vladimír Dedeček and Rudolf Miňovský
Designed: 1956-1960
Built: 1961-1966
Location: Nitra, Slovakia

The lens-shaped Aula Maxima with a diameter of 36 meters, and a unique monolithic rib arch from arm-cement parts with shape of spherical triangles, is the most characteristic and distinctive element of the whole University complex.

The architectural appearance corresponds very well to the lighter, more relaxed architecture that arrived with the end of Socialist Realism in the late 1950s.

Text based on Dnes24 and Oddelenie architektúry .
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Huge thanks to architect Ivan Málek for arranging our archiwalk.
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All photos by Pavel Hache .
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‘Vila K (Model)’

Architect: Oskar Singer
Designed & Built: 1934
Location: Nitra (Slovakia)

Oskar Singer belonged to the young generation of architects of the emerging new era. The Kollmann family house is the first bold declaration of the young architect’s adherence to the ideas and work of Le Corbusier, whom he met personally several times.

Singer drew inspiration from specific works of Le Corbusier even in the overall composition of the house, including the villa with sculptor’s studio of Oscar Miestchaninoff in Boulonge-Billancourt near Paris, and last but not least, the Villa Savoye in Poissy.

The house was designed so that the overall composition highlighted a distinctive figure, created by the combination of vertical staircase tower in the corner and the horizontal residential floor raised to the level of the first floor. This was enhanced by the originally free ground floor, which, however, due to its relatively low clear height, was first adjusted by lowering the terrain and then largely closed in 1937.

Text based on ‘Villa K - The History and Present of the Kollmann Family House in Nitra published by Vila K .
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Scale model by Ivan Málek .
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All photos by Pavel Hache , except of historical photo outsourced from Register of modern architecture by Oddelenie architektúry .
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‘Masaryk Colony for Bank Officials’

Architect: Josef Polášek
Designed: 1926
Built: 1932
Location: Košice (Slovakia)

The colony of residential homes was built by a team of 48 families, where Czech, Slovak and Hungarian clerks from banks in Kosice joined forces.

It is composed of partially enclosed block of four-storey houses. Respective adjoining clusters were each arranged in a U-shape. Above the three residential floors, there was a garret originally housing laundry machines.

In the inner yard of the block, there was a children’s playground with a swimming pool and gardens of residents. Even the roof terraces were originally green.

The colony is characterized by a simple orthogonal architecture. Its moderate character was enlivened by an arrangement of glazed shapes of staircases and airy block corners with underpasses and arcades.

Highlights from the exhibition of Czech and Slovak architecture held at Bratislava Castle.

The exhibition organized by Slovenské národné múzeum is so far the most extensive retrospective of architecture in both countries, representing more than 500 models of the most important architectural works of Czech and Slovak architects active from the beginning of the 20th century until the present day.

Text and historical photo outsourced from Register of modern architecture by Oddelenie architektúry .

All architectural model photos by Pavel Hache .
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‘Rufer House’

Architect: Adolf Loos
Designed & Built: 1922
Location: Vienna (Austria)

Designed by architect Adolf Loos in 1922 for Joseph and Marie Rufer, this house is one of the best-known examples of Loos’ approach to architecture, characterized by simple lines, clean geometric shapes, and the prominent use of materials such as concrete and glass.

The house reflects Loos’ “Raumplan” concept, which focuses on organizing interior spaces in a functional and dynamic way. Space to Loos should be the pinnacle element that dictates the form as it is where humans reside and spend their most time in, not the exterior.

The Rufer house is somewhat a statement, or even a rhetoric, as the house was deliberately shaped as a cube, with totally blank walls and irregular fenestration.

While the exterior is somewhat cold and nonsensical due to its window distribution, the space inside is highly ornamental, expressing his concerns on how architecture, form and ornaments should be related to daily life, not an object for the aristocracy to show off, as he wrote in Ornaments and Crime.

Text based on Archweb.com and Modern Architecture: A Visual Lexicon by University of Hong Kong: Department of Architecture.

Highlights from the 2019 exhibition of architecture scale models of Adolf Loos houses made by japanese professor Yoshio Sakurai at at Winternitzova vila .

All photos by Pavel Hache .
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‘Bauer House’

Architect: Adolf Loos
Designed & Built: 1913-1914
Location: Hrušovany near Brno (Czech Republic)

The villa of the sugar refinery director in Hrušovany u Brna, designed by Adolf Loos, replaced the earlier director’s villa from the late 19th century, also located near the factory complex.

Probably due to the modern appearance of the building, which distinguished it not only from modest family houses in the village, but also from construction in nearby Brno, the house was incorrectly dated by many experts in the past.

The simple white façade without ornamentation, the symmetrically composed frontage with a two-armed staircase and two mirror-oriented terraces, accessible from the bedrooms on the first floor, contributed to its uniqueness.

Absolutely original, though, was the roof, designed as a walkable roof garden, which makes this building probably the oldest residential house with a flat roof in the territory of today’s Czech Republic.

The appearance of the director’s villa thus foreshadowed in many respects the architectural trends that were yet to come in the second half of the 1920s.

Source: BAM - Brněnský architektonický manuál

Highlights from the 2019 exhibition of architecture scale models of Adolf Loos houses made by japanese professor Yoshio Sakurai at at Winternitzova vila .

All photos by Pavel Hache .
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‘Steiner House’

Architect: Adolf Loos
Designed & Built: 1910-1914
Location: Vienna (Austria)

Steiner’s house was designed for the painter Lilly Steiner and her husband Hugo. It was the architect’s goal to maximize the space at his disposal without violating the building regulations of suburban Vienna.

At the time, only one floor above street level was allowed. Loos’ solution was an arched tin roof which contains two additional floors giving the structure its somewhat austere and futuristic look.

This house is a manifestation of Ornament and Crime written in 1908, in which Loos repudiated the florid style of the Vienna Secession, the Austrian version of Art Nouveau. The house shows the architectural principes of Loos, a design to exclude all tools of arts to emphasize function.

Not only the house became a highly influential example of modern architecture, but it also played an important role in establishing the reputation of Loos as a bold modern architect inside and outside Vienna.

Source: Architectuul

Highlights from the 2019 exhibition of architecture scale models of Adolf Loos houses made by japanese professor Yoshio Sakurai at at Winternitzova vila .

All photos by Pavel Hache .
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