DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45213#0083
79
were presented as empty shells in order to showcase the new building technologies. Although the
houses' expansive, open plans would have called for frame construction and lightweight building
materials, the investors preferred a more traditional approach and as a result the concrete frame
construction was combined with massive brick walls.
The BABA development comprised of houses of different size: small (e.g. No. 17 by Jan E. Koula),
medium (No. 15 by Frantisek Zelenka), and large villas containing one or two flats (e.g. No. 10 by
Pavel Janak), and houses with a studio (e.g. No. 8 by Oldrich Stary or No. 28 by Frantisek Kavalir). Most
houses had rectangular floor plans, with the longer side situated parallel to the slope's contour lines.
With their articulated volumes and large expanses of windows often arranged in horizontal strips
set off by white elevations, they referred to Le Corbusier's formula and the geometric and functional
International Modern style.
The houses designed by Pavel Janak (the architect's own house had a cubical shape and very
functional floor plan), Jan E. Koula, Oldrich Stary, and Ladislav Zak (prototype of a housing unit in
a collective house) impressed with original, innovative and forward-looking solutions achieved by
employing simple means. All houses featured the family quarters on the ground floor and the pri-
vate quarters (bedrooms and the bathroom) on the first floor. Except for earthworks completed as
part of construction work, none of the originally planned communal facilities (uniform fencing, cen-
tral heating system, shared launderettes, external lighting system of spotlights perched on eight
20-25-metre-high steel masts designed by F. Kerhart and M. Prokop) were not completed because
of financial and legal difficulties.
The significance of the BABA development consisted of presenting the aesthetic, economic,
hygienic, and structural values of Neues Bauen. Leftist architects scorned the BABA development
as bourgeois architecture. Because of the investors' direct influence on the architects, the idea of
model development could not have been fully adhered to and few progressive solutions were im-
plemented.
were presented as empty shells in order to showcase the new building technologies. Although the
houses' expansive, open plans would have called for frame construction and lightweight building
materials, the investors preferred a more traditional approach and as a result the concrete frame
construction was combined with massive brick walls.
The BABA development comprised of houses of different size: small (e.g. No. 17 by Jan E. Koula),
medium (No. 15 by Frantisek Zelenka), and large villas containing one or two flats (e.g. No. 10 by
Pavel Janak), and houses with a studio (e.g. No. 8 by Oldrich Stary or No. 28 by Frantisek Kavalir). Most
houses had rectangular floor plans, with the longer side situated parallel to the slope's contour lines.
With their articulated volumes and large expanses of windows often arranged in horizontal strips
set off by white elevations, they referred to Le Corbusier's formula and the geometric and functional
International Modern style.
The houses designed by Pavel Janak (the architect's own house had a cubical shape and very
functional floor plan), Jan E. Koula, Oldrich Stary, and Ladislav Zak (prototype of a housing unit in
a collective house) impressed with original, innovative and forward-looking solutions achieved by
employing simple means. All houses featured the family quarters on the ground floor and the pri-
vate quarters (bedrooms and the bathroom) on the first floor. Except for earthworks completed as
part of construction work, none of the originally planned communal facilities (uniform fencing, cen-
tral heating system, shared launderettes, external lighting system of spotlights perched on eight
20-25-metre-high steel masts designed by F. Kerhart and M. Prokop) were not completed because
of financial and legal difficulties.
The significance of the BABA development consisted of presenting the aesthetic, economic,
hygienic, and structural values of Neues Bauen. Leftist architects scorned the BABA development
as bourgeois architecture. Because of the investors' direct influence on the architects, the idea of
model development could not have been fully adhered to and few progressive solutions were im-
plemented.