Symposium in honor of Alfred Neumann at the Stiassni Villa
On Thursday May 10, 2018, starting at 9:30 AM, a symposium in honor of Israeli architect Alfred Neumann will take place at the Brno Stiassni Villa. The symposium is kindly sponsored by JUDr. Bohumil Šimek, the governor of the South Moravian Region.
Alfred Neumann is known as an architect whose work is primarily celebrated in Israel, Paris, and Algiers; however, he is also strongly associated with Czechoslovakia and Brno. Although a native of Vienna, he spent part of his life in Brno, where he studied at the German State Industrial School and continued at the German Technical University. After completing his studies at the Vienna Academy under the guidance of Peter Behrens, he repeatedly returned to Brno, and although there is only one identified realization here, some of his designs were indeed intended for Brno.
In addition to architecture, he also designed furniture and worked in Paris, Berlin, and spent more than 2 years in Cape Town, South Africa. After returning to Czechoslovakia, he was deported to Terezin due to his Jewish heritage, but with the end of the war, he managed to return to Brno. In 1947, he represented then Czechoslovakia at the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) meeting in Bridgwater, England. The change of regime after February 1948 prompted him to emigrate, finding refuge in Israel, where he lived and worked until 1965. Israel is where Neumann's qualities manifested on the largest scale — he participated in urban planning, taught, and founded his own studio. Among his most significant buildings are the town hall in Bat Yam or the officer school in Micpe Ramon. His last Israeli realization — the mechanical engineering faculty of the Technion — was accompanied by considerable complications that eventually led him to permanently leave Israel and move to Canada, where he obtained a professorship at the University of Quebec. However, he only lived there for 3 years, passing away at the age of 68 from lung cancer.
The life and work of this famous architect will be presented, among others, by his students and direct collaborators – Zvi Hecker and Rafi Segal. Additionally, Ines Weizman, a professor from Bauhaus University in Weimar, Jerzy Ilkosz, director of the Wrocław Museum of Architecture, and Ita Heinze Greenberg, a professor from ETH Zurich, will participate from abroad. From the Czech side, contributions about Alfred Neumann will be presented by Tadeáš Goryczka from the Architecture Cabinet in Ostrava and Vladimír Šlapeta, who works at the Brno office of the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ).
Symposium program:
9:30 AM - OPENING
Naděžda Goryczková (CZ)
Zvi Hecker (DE)
10:15 AM - BLOCK 1: Alfred Neumann, Life and Work – moderated by Tadeáš Goryczka
Rafi Segal (USA): Humanizing Space: Proportions and Patterns in the Work of Alfred Neumann
Vladimír Šlapeta (CZ): Alfred Neumann and Brno
Ita Heinze Greenberg (CH): The State of Israel / State of Israel: 1949–1966
Ines Weizman (DE): Tracing Modern Architecture in Motion
12:10 PM - Lunch Break
1:05 PM - BLOCK 2: Reflection on the Work of Alfred Neumann – moderated by Petr Svoboda
Jerzy Ilkosz (PL): The 1927 Competition for the Design of the City Hall and Fire Station in Wrocław
Jadwiga Urbanik (PL): Wrocław Modernism (based on the work of Ernst May)
Jan Slezák (CZ): Life in Neumann’s Interior
Tadeáš Goryczka (CZ): Rediscovering Alfred Neumann
3:00 PM - Conclusion of the symposium
Registration must be completed using the online form.
The project is taking place with the financial support of the statutory city of Brno and the South Moravian Region.
More information >
Alfred Neumann is known as an architect whose work is primarily celebrated in Israel, Paris, and Algiers; however, he is also strongly associated with Czechoslovakia and Brno. Although a native of Vienna, he spent part of his life in Brno, where he studied at the German State Industrial School and continued at the German Technical University. After completing his studies at the Vienna Academy under the guidance of Peter Behrens, he repeatedly returned to Brno, and although there is only one identified realization here, some of his designs were indeed intended for Brno.
In addition to architecture, he also designed furniture and worked in Paris, Berlin, and spent more than 2 years in Cape Town, South Africa. After returning to Czechoslovakia, he was deported to Terezin due to his Jewish heritage, but with the end of the war, he managed to return to Brno. In 1947, he represented then Czechoslovakia at the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) meeting in Bridgwater, England. The change of regime after February 1948 prompted him to emigrate, finding refuge in Israel, where he lived and worked until 1965. Israel is where Neumann's qualities manifested on the largest scale — he participated in urban planning, taught, and founded his own studio. Among his most significant buildings are the town hall in Bat Yam or the officer school in Micpe Ramon. His last Israeli realization — the mechanical engineering faculty of the Technion — was accompanied by considerable complications that eventually led him to permanently leave Israel and move to Canada, where he obtained a professorship at the University of Quebec. However, he only lived there for 3 years, passing away at the age of 68 from lung cancer.
The life and work of this famous architect will be presented, among others, by his students and direct collaborators – Zvi Hecker and Rafi Segal. Additionally, Ines Weizman, a professor from Bauhaus University in Weimar, Jerzy Ilkosz, director of the Wrocław Museum of Architecture, and Ita Heinze Greenberg, a professor from ETH Zurich, will participate from abroad. From the Czech side, contributions about Alfred Neumann will be presented by Tadeáš Goryczka from the Architecture Cabinet in Ostrava and Vladimír Šlapeta, who works at the Brno office of the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ).
Symposium program:
9:30 AM - OPENING
Naděžda Goryczková (CZ)
Zvi Hecker (DE)
10:15 AM - BLOCK 1: Alfred Neumann, Life and Work – moderated by Tadeáš Goryczka
Rafi Segal (USA): Humanizing Space: Proportions and Patterns in the Work of Alfred Neumann
Vladimír Šlapeta (CZ): Alfred Neumann and Brno
Ita Heinze Greenberg (CH): The State of Israel / State of Israel: 1949–1966
Ines Weizman (DE): Tracing Modern Architecture in Motion
12:10 PM - Lunch Break
1:05 PM - BLOCK 2: Reflection on the Work of Alfred Neumann – moderated by Petr Svoboda
Jerzy Ilkosz (PL): The 1927 Competition for the Design of the City Hall and Fire Station in Wrocław
Jadwiga Urbanik (PL): Wrocław Modernism (based on the work of Ernst May)
Jan Slezák (CZ): Life in Neumann’s Interior
Tadeáš Goryczka (CZ): Rediscovering Alfred Neumann
3:00 PM - Conclusion of the symposium
Registration must be completed using the online form.
The project is taking place with the financial support of the statutory city of Brno and the South Moravian Region.
More information >
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