Josef Hrubý

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Josef Hrubý (born February 23, 1906 in Větrný Jeníkov , † December 20, 1988 in Prague ) was a Czechoslovak architect and graphic artist . He was one of the most renowned exponents of Czechoslovak functionalism and international style . In addition to residential and commercial buildings, Hrubý designed numerous exhibition buildings and trade fair pavilions.

life and work

Bílá Labut department store, Na Poříčí 23 (taken in 1956)
Expo 58 restaurant , part of the Czechoslovak Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair
Restaurant Expo 58 , today reconstructed, seat of an advertising agency (date of photo 2018)

Josef Hrubý was born on February 23, 1906 in Větrný Jeníkov . After finishing school in Kutná Hora , he began studying at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague in 1924 . His teachers included Antonín Ausobský, Antonín Mendl and Oldřich Blažíček . While still a student, he participated with his own designs in the exhibition of young architects, which took place in 1929 in Topičův dům (Topic House) in Prague.

After completing his studies in 1931 he formed a studio community with Josef Kitterich , with whom he realized building projects in Ostrava- Zábřeh, Březnice , Příbram , Přerov , Choceň and Písek in the 1930s . A sanatorium project in Prague- Šárka , developed in 1932 with Karel Hanauer, was not carried out. In 1937, work began on the Bílá labuť department store in Prague , which was built on the Na Poříčí shopping street. Together with Josef Kitterich, Josef Hrubý planned a modern building in the functionalism style. The modern department store with escalators, central air conditioning, pneumatic post and a customer cinema was opened on March 18, 1939, three days after the invasion of the Wehrmacht . In the same year, the district court building planned by the two architects was inaugurated in Velké Kapušany . During the Second World War , Hrubý built a few residential and commercial buildings in Prague, including in Střešovice and in Brno , Komořany near Most and Trenčín .

Immediately after the end of the war, Hrubý worked in the field of town planning . In 1945 he and Kitterich submitted the development plan for Mirotice , which was badly damaged by air raids in the last days of the war. In 1948 he was appointed head of Stavroprojekt , the state building project institution in Prague. With his designs he was considered one of the most important representatives of the international style in Czechoslovakia. At Stavroprojekt he worked closely with František Cubr and Zdeněk Pokorný , among others . In 1956 he designed a second department store in Prague: the Dům módy on a corner plot of Wenceslas Square . In the same year, Hrubý won, together with Cubr and Pokorný, the architectural competition for the construction of the Czechoslovak exhibition pavilion at the world exhibition Expo 58 in Brussels . The exhibition building with a multi-storey restaurant was awarded the Golden Star Award for the best architecture at the world exhibition . After the end of the world exhibition, the modular exhibition pavilion was dismantled and rebuilt in Prague. In 1958, the restaurant was moved to Letná Park with a view of downtown Prague, while the exhibition pavilion was rebuilt at the Výstaviště Praha exhibition center . Here the building was used for temporary exhibitions until it was destroyed by a fire in October 1981.

In the years that followed, Josef Hrubý designed - mostly in a team with other architects such as František Cubr, Zdeněk Pokorný, Viktor Formáček, Jaroslav Kándl, František Štráchal and Vladimír Oulík - numerous public buildings as well as trade fair and exhibition pavilions, including in Zagreb and Utrecht , Damascus, Palermo, Sorrento, Barcelona, ​​Cologne and at the world exhibition Expo 67 in Montreal .

In 1966 Josef Hrubý was commissioned to design and build the Czechoslovak embassy in Athens together with František Cubr and Zdeněk Pokorný.

In addition to the architectural and urban projects Josef Hruby designed since his student days and graphics , bookplates and woodcuts , which, as in art magazines Veraikon or bibliofil were published. From 1925 to 1931 he regularly took part in the exhibition Krásné české exlibris ("Beautiful Czech Exlibis").

Josef Hrubý was awarded the Klement Gottwalt State Prize , the Prize of the City of Prague , an honorary member of the Union of Czech Architects and the title of Honored Architect for his work.

Dům módy, Wenceslas Square 58

Buildings (selection)

Czechoslovak pavilion at the 1967 Montreal Exposition
  • 1937/39: Bílá labuť department store, Na Poříčí 23 (Prague)
  • 1954/56: Dům módy department store, Wenceslas Square (Prague)
  • 1957/58: Czechoslovak exhibition pavilion at the 1956 World's Fair (Brussels)
  • 1959/60: Interior of the Laterna magika theater in the Adria Palace (Prague)
  • 1960/65: Development of the Strahov area, reconstruction of the Strahov stadium
  • 1964/65: Reconstruction of the chateau gallery at Prague Castle
  • 1966/67: Czechoslovak exhibition pavilion at the world exhibition 1967 in Montreal (destroyed)
  • 1966/69: Czechoslovak Embassy in Athens
  • 1972/79: Central telecommunications building in Žižkov

literature

  • Josef Pechar: Josef Hrubý: život s architekturou : exhibition catalog, Prague 1986 (Czech)

Web links

Commons : Josef Hrubý (architect)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Josef Hrubý | variety. Retrieved March 26, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Archiweb - Josef Hrubý. Retrieved March 26, 2020 (Czech).
  3. ↑ "Bílá labuť" was opened 75 years ago. Retrieved March 25, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Petr Ryska: Seriál z Letné: Pavilon Expo 58.Retrieved on March 26, 2020 (cs-CZ).
  5. ↑ Původní domy zničily za války bomby. V 50. letech tu vznikly oázy luxusního nakupování a lahůdek. December 6, 2018, accessed March 26, 2020 (Czech).
  6. ↑ Kimberly E. Zarecor; Vladimir Kulić: Socialism on Display: The Czechoslovak and Yugoslavian Pavilions at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair . In: Meet Me at the Fair: A World's Fair Reader . Carnegie Mellon Press, Pittsburgh 2014, pp. 231 ff .
  7. ↑ Nejslavnější restaurace vesla do dějin architektury. Teď jsou v ní kanceláře. July 29, 2009, accessed March 26, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Archiweb - Před 25 lety přišlo pražské výstaviště o Bruselský pavilon. Retrieved March 22, 2020 (Czech).
personal data
SURNAME Hrubý, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak architect and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Větrný Jeníkov
DATE OF DEATH December 20, 1988
Place of death Prague