Zlín - Gottwaldov : Architectural Changes between 1945 and 1960

Abstract

Zlín's reconstruction following its bombardment in 1944 began immediately after the Second World War had ended. A new urban development plan prepared by J. Voženílek focused on resurrecting its center, tackling transport problems and further developing the premises of the town's shoe factory, as well as a new type of housing - apartment houses. In the eastern part of the city, a second center was to go up, which would emphasize precisely such edifices. The three new types were a three-storey attached house by V. Karfík and eight-storey apartment and point houses by M. Drofa, all with the traditional Zlín appearance with brick facades. The most pioneering building of the period was the Kolektivní dům (Collective House) by J. Voženílek which consisted of traditional, high-qualiy apartments as well as common facilities, such as a space for preschoolers, a club room and a restaurant, and offered certain services as well. The architect made the most of the interwar tradition by proposing a reinforced concrete frame structure, brick spandrels and continuous stretches of windows. With this, however, the traditon of an architecture designed by individuals ended; it was in Zlín where from the early 1950s the search for new forms of construction began, which culminated with a structure assembled from prefabricated panels (the so-called G-house, the "G" standing for Gottwaldov) which by the end of this decade began to be built throughout Czechoslovakia. For the factory premises, meanwhile, a new type of a production building was designed, one with enlarged structural spans and a greater floor-to-floor height. A new warehouse also went up and the energy center was reconstructed, with new dominant features in the form of a 140-meter smokestack and three cooling towers. After the communist coup of 1948, buildings that had been started in the original Zlín spirit were still being completed but a year later, the city was renamed Gottwaldov and preparations began to change its center. A competition (with four groups of architects chosen to participate) had been declared for a new regional government building which eventually became a typical example of so-called socialist realism, i. e. of an architecture which takes its inspiration from history, including its stepped Stalinist tower. In a similar vein, a public architectural competition for a new cultural center was held in 1955 but neither of the two produced an actual building and Czech architecture in the meantime began to return to its rational Functionalist roots.