(continued)

Brno in the 20th Century

Between the two world wars, Jewish architects distinctly influenced the face of Brno, then a prosperous, industrial, multinational, and bilingual center. According to Brno architect Jan Sapak, common elements in their work included axis symmetry, logical objectivity of the ground plan, the regular, almost mechanical articulation of the facade, and the avoidance of luxurious materials such as marble, granite, bronze, or exotic woods.

One of these architects, Arnost Wiesner, was not only a pioneer of the functionalist avant-garde but was also the first to execute purist modern buildings in the city.

In 1930, Wiesner built the Commerce Bank on Independence Square. In 1997 its revitalization was completed, with facade panels rebuilt according to the original plans, as part of an extensive city restoration program. It is now one of the city's most important functionalist buildings and a registered monument of the Czech Republic.

In the late 1930s, the Jewish architectural blossoming came to an end under German occupation. The works of all these architects were recently shown in a commemorative pictorial exhibition in the city.

The Tugendhadt Villa

One of the most famous buildings to emerge from that era was the avant-garde villa by Mies van der Rohe. Commissioned by a wealthy young Jewish couple, the Tugendhadts, the house was located in Cerna Pole (Black Field), a prosperous suburb near a popular park and with a view into the city.

Together with the Robie House in Chicago by Frank Loyd Wright, the Steiner House by Adolf Loos in Vienna, the Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier in Poissy, France, the Tugendhadt Villa is considered a key work in early modern architecture. In addition to the house itself, every piece of furniture was designed by Mies van der Rohe.

Simple and restrained in the extreme, the beautiful horizontal house is an expression of his principle that "less is more." Because money was no object, the architect was free to give full rein to his imagination and ingenuity, without needing to compromise.

The Tugendhadts decided on an architect during a trip to Berlin in 1927, where they were impressed by a house belonging to art historian Eduard Fuchs, built in 1911 in classicist Schinkelian style by the young Mies van der Rohe and by his design for the German pavilion for the International Exposition in Barcelona.

That pavilion focused on structure and materials. The space, bordered with glass and marble walls on a stone platform and covered with a concrete slab on steel columns, was completely open and allowed to "flow" freely. The building was an expression of an abstract idea of space made powerful by its simple perfection and absolute novelty.

The Tugendhadt Villa in Brno became the embodiment of that idea.

Partially sunk below ground level, the house has three floors totaling 20,000 square feet (1900 square meters). A three-line network of supporting steel columns, consisting of four L-girders forming a cross, ascends through the entire height of the house.

Flowing Space

The central point of the house is the 50 by 80-foot (15 by 24-meter) living hall. Visually open onto the garden through full-length glass walls, it is divided into overlapping functional areas: entrance, working, rest, and dining spaces.

The most striking feature of the house is the free flowing space and the fusion between internal and external. On the ground floor, the architect even dispensed with doors, substituting these with palisander wood panels to make the connection between inside and out seamless.

When he lived there, Fritz Tugendhadt commented, "If it is cold and clear, you can sit with the panels down, and in the warm sun watch the snow-covered landscape, just as if you were in Davos. In the summer, the awning and electric air cooling provide pleasant temperatures."

The most important details are an onyx wall, a wooden semicircular wall, and supporting chrome-plated steel columns. In contrast to the ground floor, the upper floor containing the bedrooms, nursery, and bathrooms is designed for intimacy and privacy.

Together with the German architect, Brno landscape architect Marketa Muellerova designed the garden based on the idea of "accentuated emptiness." A path around the green area presents views of the villa's architecture and demonstrates the balance between the house and its natural environment.

The Villa's Survival

The Tugendhadt Villa, a cultural landmark, has had a turbulent history. After the Nazi occupation and the escape of the Tugendhadts to Venezuela, the house was turned into technical offices for the Messerschmidt aircraft factory.

Toward the end of the war, the villa was damaged in an Allied air bombardment that shattered the glass walls. Next came the Russians who destroyed the floors. After the war, the villa served as a school of modern dance, then, nationalized, as the rehabilitation department of the local children's hospital.

Almost none of the original furniture survived. Today a few remaining pieces are on display at the Moravian Gallery in Brno.

In the early 1960s architect Frantisek Kalivoda proposed that the villa be renovated as a key monument of modern architecture. In 1963 it was listed as a national monument and a few years later Greta Tugendhadt, the original owner, offered the villa to the city.

Reconstruction plans were laid in 1970, but the political climate delayed execution for 10 years. Finally, in November 1989, the city opened to the public the reconstructed villa now administered by the Brno City Museum.

Members of the Tugendhadt family, the Villa Tugendhadt Foundation in Brno, and Friends of Villa Tugendhadt in the United Kingdom and the United States are gradually re-equipping the villa with replicas of the original furniture and fittings.

The Stabil Engineering firm of Brno has recently completed security and stability renovations, and American and Italian manufacturers are producing some items of furniture from Mies van der Rohe's original plans.

The 21st Century

With its strong tradition of electrical and mechanical engineering, Brno is entering the 21st century with the construction of a technological park. This low-density development neighboring the city's technical university, is intended to provide some 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 square meters) of mixed commercial accommodation for office, research, and light industry, together with retail, leisure, and service facilities.

The master plan is by Building Design Partnership, one of the largest multidisciplinary architectural practices in Europe, with modifications by local Czech architects.

Roderick Barker, the English project director who has settled in Brno, speaks of the three-phase development of the park. "In zone one we now have five buildings. We use Czech architects to ensure that our buildings can be offered at competitive rental levels since many foreign companies relocating here are driven by cost savings."

The buildings are Foggo steel-frame (coated with fire-resistant material) and achieve natural ventilation by circulating air through an under-floor plenum. The ventilation plant on the roof takes in cold air at night and pushes it under the raised floor, serving cool air to the interior.

"It can get up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) outside in the summer," says Barker, "and our inside temperature will be no more than 82 (28). We are pioneers in bringing western standards to the Czech Republic."

And so, this town in Moravia, unassuming on the stage of world history, is shaking off a lethargy thrust upon it by years of Nazi then communist tyranny, and, like the princess in the fairy tale, is waking to a new life.

Lili Eylon is a freelance writer based in Jerusalem and a frequent contributor to ArchitectureWeek.

The Klein Palais now. Photo: Department for the Preservation of Monuments in Brno The 1930 Commerce Bank, built by Arnost Wiesner on Brno's Independence Square, was revitalized in 1997. Photo: Department for the Preservation of Monuments in Brno The Tugendhadt Villa by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Photo: Libor Teply A wall of onyx in the Tugendhadt Villa. Photo: Libor Teply The living hall. Photo: Libor Teply Entrance to the Tugendhadt Villa. Photo: Libor Teply The new Technological Park in Brno is being designed by Building Design Partnership in conjunction with local architects. Photo: Technological Park, Brno The Kaplan Building, setting modern standards in an ancient city. Photo: Technological Park, Brno   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.