Serious discussions and wild speculations can both be heard regularly on the difference between Czech and Slovak architecture. However, thirty years since the dissolution of the federal republic probably is not enough time to truly register the changes in development, assuming that there actually is something like Czech and Slovak architecture in the first place. Simply put, there are some things happening in our neighbours’ architectural community that we could very well envy, like the new National Gallery building, or the Slovak Prize for Architecture gala being broadcast on primetime TV. On the other hand, there are other things our Slovak colleagues could learn from us.

The results of the 9th edition of the Czech Award for Architecture, organised by the Czech Chamber of Architects, were announced at a gala evening held on November 7th at the Forum Karlín in Prague. The main prize was awarded to Petr Hájek, Nikoleta Slováková, and Martin Stoss from the Petr Hájek ARCHITEKTI studio for the design of the Concert Hall in Karlovy Vary (see ERA21 #06/2023).

After decades of marginalisation and, more recently, years of controversial public debate spurred by misguided political statements, the victims of the Roma holocaust finally have a memorial place in Lety near Písek to pay tribute to their memory. The original site of the Roma concentration camp, which had since been used as a large-capacity pig farm (a baffling decision dating back to the Normalization period), was cleared to allow the planting of an extensive landscape memorial. Winner of an international competition, the design uses a forest—a metaphor for community— as the main compositional element, with time as an important actor in the design. There is no final or finished form, and the memorial represents a changing natural process. The primary commemorative function is complemented by an educational aspect, with an outdoor audio-visual trail and a visitor centre.

For the last ten years, Čierne diery (The Black Holes) have dedicated themselves to discovering architectural heritage in different corners of Slovakia. They explore and popularise historical and industrial places, as well as modern architecture, artworks, old pavements, and socialist-era wedding halls. Starting out as architecture enthusiasts roaming the country and documenting forgotten monuments, the group has since become a prominent voice in the defence of endangered buildings with a large community of supporters, an independent book publisher, and a socially responsible investor. The association operates independently, thanks to contributions from fans and sales from their books and risograph prints.

Visitors can now use a dilapidated old mansion in Central Slovakia as an unconventional form of accommodation. In its western wing, the Black Holes civic association commissioned three glazed cabins accessed by steel grating walkways. Previously used as an administrative headquarters for the Coburg family concern, the Jelšava mansion is now a protected heritage building; unfortunately, full restoration has not been possible so far due to budgetary constraints. Using the building for short-term accommodation was a good alternative; all newly installed structures are reversible and do not interfere with the main construction of the building. This allows for continuous restoration of the mansion in the future.

Spolka is a collective of architecture and sociology experts focusing primarily on participatory and innovative city planning based on feminist approaches that emphasise mutual respect, care, and coexistence as a means of creating more inclusive environments. In our joint interview with two members of Spolka, we spoke about their activities in Košice, their interdisciplinary work methodology, and their Never Never School summer program exploring the boundaries of alternative education in architecture. 

With different permutations over the years, Košice had a city architecture department for more than half a century. The latest change occurred when the internationally renowned architect Petr Kropp took the job in 2021. In the following interview, we discuss plans and ambitions of the second most populous city in Slovakia, current urban planning projects, and different ways to exploit the potential of a city which represents a gateway to the European Union and, albeit somewhat charged at the moment, a boundary between the East and West. 

In 2026, Trenčín will become the European Capital of Culture. One of the systemic decisions the City Hall has made in connection to this was to establish the position of the City Curator, a specialised custodian of city public spaces under the City Hall’s Department of Spatial Planning. So far, Trnava has been the only city in Slovakia that has its own city curator. In a conversation with Omar Mirza, we discuss what his new job entails, how successful he has been in promoting public participation and what he has achieved in his first year in Trenčín.

When the city of Revúca was selected as the Slovak City of Culture 2022, among the projects designed for this occasion was also the “living room in a public space”, erected in the central square in front of the Municipal Office and near the Municipal Cultural Center. The subtle architectural intervention created a new place suitable for cultural and art events, and at the same time, it became a signal beacon for the entire cultural project. The simple structure consisted of a fixed frame and modular furniture. The frame serves to visually delineate a space approximately the size of a living room and to introduce the human scale to the vast open space of the square, but it also serves as a supporting structure for lighting or sound technology. The movable furniture can be used for seating and stacked together according to current needs.

To fully appreciate functionalist architecture, along with its principles and philosophy, one can find only a handful of buildings in Slovakia that make this possible. Designed byJaromír Krejcar and built from 1930 to 1932, the Machnáč spa house became a symbol of the spa industry’s golden era during The First Czechoslovak Republic and its later decline due to privatisation of state property. The spa finally closed in 2001 and has been falling into disrepair ever since. The property has changed hands five times since 2008, which is also where the timeline of efforts to save it began.

The diploma project focuses on the phenomenon of old Slovak spa complexes that have been disrepaired. With the possible restoration of the abandoned Turzov Spa as an example, the project presents an alternative approach to the more commonly seen exclusive wellness concept. It addresses issues of temporality, culture, nature, and climate in dialogue with poetic, emotional, and physical human experience. This undermines the idea that there is inherent stability in the built environment, or the duality of culture and nature. Aided by external climatic factors, a controlled decomposition of the architecture is proposed. This diploma project from Studio Jan Kristek and Jaroslav Sedlák at the Faculty of Architecture, Brno University of Technology, was designed in 2022.

In Bratislava City Center, several ambitious projects by various real-estate development companies are currently under construction on a relatively small site, a fact which raises concerns about future population density, traffic intensity, and gentrification of the new and surrounding neighbourhoods. Virtual Develoutopia was a series of public happenings presenting a VR site-specific installation that responded to the curious vision of real-estate developer utopias—which often mix together information and advertising in a non-transparent way—using visual communication and virtual reality. The initiative was an attempt to highlight this fact in such a way that the audience could confront these utopian images in direct contact with reality.