Category: Books

The publication focuses on selected examples of conversions of industrial buildings or entire complexes that have been transformed for the needs of cultural institutions. Forty examples present the situation in the Czech Republic and Europe, with an emphasis on Norway and Iceland. The selection includes a diverse range of approaches, scales, degree of input from contemporary architecture, private and public projects, projects now seen as iconic or initiatory, and relatively recent ventures, some even before their completion. The actual selections are introduced by essays by theorists who have long been involved in the subject.

Prague – Holešovická tržnice, Kunsthalle Praha, La Fabrika, Forum Karlín, Centrum současného umění DOX, Pragovka Art District
Czech Republic – Dolní oblast Vítkovice, 14|15 Bata Institute, Automatic Mills Pardubice, DEPO2015, Coal Mill and Boiler House in Libčice nad Vltavou, EPo1, Brillovka, Fait Gallery, Field of Design in Egoé Bílovice, The Distillery – Social Reactor, PLATO Ostrava, Moving Station Plzeň, Procházka Factory in Humpolec, Jabloneček Campus, Centre of Building Heritage Plasy
Norway – Kistefos Museum, Papirbredden in Drammen, Rockheim Museum, area along the Aker River in Oslo, Kaviar Gallery, Kunstsilo Kristiansand, Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall Arendal
Iceland – Reykjavik Art Museum Hafnarhús, Marshall House
Europe – Pfefferberg Berlin, Matadero Madrid, Tour and Taxis (Gare Maritime) Brussels, Tate Modern London, Danish National Maritime Museum, Kasárne/Kulturpark Košice, Tabačka Košice, Kulturní kraj

Editors: Klára Pučerová, Dan Merta
Essays: Dan Merta, Benjamin Fragner, Martin Strakoš, Petr Kropp, Grete Swensen
Dan Merta, Jakub Potůček, Klára Pučerová, Iva Dvořáková, Renata Vrabelová, Richard Vodička, Petr Kropp, Vendula Tůmová
Vít Zelinka
Graphic design by Jan Forejt, Gabriel Fragner / Formall studio
Publishers: ARCHITECTURA, z.s., Prague & Technical University of Liberec, 2024
First edition.

Language: czech, english
Format: 190 × 240 mm
Binding: sewn
Number of pages: 288
ISBN: 978-80-88161-20-2 (ARCHITECTURA, z.s.), 978-80-7494-706-3 (TUL)
Selling price in distribution: 490 CZK
Price at the exhibition at the Landscape Festival Prague 2024: 400 CZK

RAUMPLAN AND CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE

The book thematically focuses on the work of Adolf Loos in broader connections leading to contemporary architectural developments. The international collective’s individual authors have concentrated on exploring the ideas and work of Adolf Loos, as well as on examples of direct and less obvious continuities of his work. The main unifying moment is the link to space in architecture, which became a key point of architectural thought in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Selected Loos designs are included in the book. The relevance and circumstances of the book in relation to the exhibition at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery are presented in the introductory text by Dan Merta. Texts by Christopher Long and Maria Szadkowska discuss Loos’s background, illuminate the background of the ideas of the spatial plan and its practical application using the most famous example of the Müller Villa in Prague. Petr Domanický returns to important examples of the use of the Raumplan in an apartment building in Pilsen in his text. Less known use of Loos’s ideas from the circle of his followers is analysed in the texts by Martina Mertová and Jana Laubová. Filip Šenk focuses his attention on examples of contemporary architectural work with a creative search for spatial compositions and connections. Thinking space in architecture or thinking space in architecture is one of the strong themes of contemporary Japanese building design. Yoshio Sakurai’s contribution elaborates on the parallels and connections with the work of A. Loos. Texts by Hermann Czech and William Tozer return to the topic at hand through the eyes of practicing architects. The book also includes interviews with several prominent contemporary architects and architects whose treatment of the concepts and ideas of architectural space can be traced. Specifically, these include Alberto Campo de Baeza, the duo Mauricio Pezo and Sofía von Ellrichshausen, Sou Fujimoto and Momoyo Kaijima. 

The new publication, initiated by the Architectura association and published in cooperation with Akontext and the Technical University of Liberec, is a direct follow-up to the online exhibition held in a limited form during the lockdown at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Adolf Loos (10 December 1870 in Brno – 23 August 1933 in Kalksburg near Vienna). The graphic design was once again undertaken by sculptor and graphic artist Jiří Příhoda.

Language: English, Czech

Format: 245 × 285 mm

Number of pages: 224 

ISBN: 978-80-7494-677-6 

Selling price: 799 CZK