REAL ESTATE NEWS

Battle over Contemporary Czech Architecture

The Czech government is considering reducing the amount of historical monuments. According to a proposed bill, works of living architects would no longer be protected by law.

If the proposed bill is passed, many architecturally important buildings would be under threat of commercially motivated reconstruction and redesign. The legal change would among others affect the TV aerial and hotel Jested overlooking Liberec or the functionalist/high-tech building of the Maj department store (currently occupied by Tesco) on Narodni trida in Prague.

The rationale behind the proposal is that the architects should have the freedom to decide on possible changes of their original architectural works. The critics of the government's proposal, however, claim that the state is only trying to reduce the number of historical monuments bearing the protective status. Without the state's protection, these buildings could easily fall prey to investors, who might favor commercial profit over historical preservation.

One of the most famous constructions in question is the tower of Jested designed by the world-renowned Czech architect Karel Hubacek who received the international Perret prize in 1969 for the tower's design. Constructed between 1966 and 1973, the multifunctional tower was designed in the shape of a rotating hyperboloid. Its modern design has been voted among the experts as the best architectural work of the 20th century in the Czech Republic.

The design of the Maj department store is, on the other hand, less protected by public opinion. To some, its harsh cold functionalist lines represent the arrogance of communism. The experts, however, see its late modernistic design and technical elements as a predecessor of high-tech architecture.

If the proposed law is passed, the only protectors of the buildings will be their architects, whose only weapon against insensitive changes to their works would be a lawsuit. The question is what the consequences of such a legal state would have on the architectural legacy in the Czech Republic. < back