Ignoring and erasing: collective housing in 20th century Czechoslovakia

Hubert Guzik

doi:10.52200/59.A.RU7AKBT6

Authors

Hubert Guzik Czech Technical University in Prague

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52200/59.A.RU7AKBT6

Keywords:

Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern housing

Abstract

A concept of a collective house that would include apartments and a wide array of communal facilities was a topic of intensive debate in Czechoslovakia throughout the 20th century. This topic was popular not only among architects, but most importantly among feminists, social activists, sociologists, politicians or businessmen. Debaters projected onto these houses their ideas of a future political and social system of Czechoslovakia. For some, shared living was a way to facilitate the arrival of communism, for others it represented a means to develop liberal capitalism. This article presents the political framework behind the idea of collective housing in Czechoslovakia.

How to Cite

Guzik, H. (2018). Ignoring and erasing: collective housing in 20th century Czechoslovakia. Docomomo Journal, (59), 26–31. https://doi.org/10.52200/59.A.RU7AKBT6

Published

2018-11-01

Issue

No. 59 (2018): An Eastern Europe Vision

Section

Essays

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Plaudit

Author Biography

Hubert Guzik, Czech Technical University in Prague

(b. Poland, 1975) received his PhD in history of arts at Charles University in Prague. He currently holds the position of Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague. He is the author of the study Four Paths to Collective House (in Czech, Prague, 2014) and co-author of the exhibition Living Together: Czech Collective Houses at the Museum of Art Olomouc (2017–2018). He is currently finishing a project of comparative analysis of transitional periods of Czech architecture (1945–1948 and 1989–1993).

References

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ŠLAPETA, Vladimír, “Kollektivhaus und Wohnen im Existenzminimum – Eine tschechische Utopie“, in Winfired Nerdinger (ed.), L‘architecture engagée: Manifeste zur Veränderung der Gesellschaft, München, Detail, Institut für internationale Architektur-Dokumentation, 2012, 220–233.

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