translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville,
240111: Architektur im Ringturm, Wiener Städtische Allgemeine Versicherung AG Bohuslav Fuchs
Architektur im Ringturm, Wiener Städtische Allgemeine Versicherung AG
Bohuslav Fuchs
09.12.10 – 18.03.11
Expedition to the green frog
It is incomprehensible why Bohuslav Fuchs is still considered an insider tip in this country. As an architect he was part of the same crowd as Le Corbusier and others, but always remained in the background and unpretentious. The same can be said about his buildings that are characterized by an impressive stringency and rational elegance.
German-speaking literature on Functionalism and its main representative Fuchs already exists for quite some time. Even the city of Brno recognized that those who visited the city to see Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Villa Tugendhat were strongly inspired by Moravian architecture, of which there are numerous examples of unparalleled quality in Brno. Nevertheless, the search for great names, spectacular stories and traditional ideas still seems to shape the public perception of Brno and its architecture.
Thhe exhibition, which was curated by the expert on Functionalism in Brno, Jan Sapák, as well as the highly recommendable catalogue concentrate on Fuchs’s most representative buildings in Brno, Western Slovakia and the Moravian province. His oeuvre is presented in great detail, with plans and photographs of the meat market, the Café Zeman, the Hotel Avion, the Bank of Moravia, the Vesna School, the Masaryk dormitory, the public swimming pool, the Brno Werkbund housing estate, the Western Slovakian buildings of the 1930’s – primarily the Sanatorium Morava in the High Tatras and the unfortunately unused thermal spa Zelena Zaba (Green Frog). Maybe the increasing popularity of the architect will contribute to its reopening. With this in mind, let’s go to Trencianske Teplice!
By Iris Meder
Architektur im Ringturm, Wiener Städtische Allgemeine Versicherung AG
1010 Vienna, Schottenring 30
Tel: +43 1 531 39 Ext: 1115 or 1101
http://www.wienerstaedtische.at
Opening hours: Mon – Fri 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
240111