The exhibition introduces the forms of urban mass housing

Prague - Soviet housing estates and Dutch "tailor-made" towns are typical architectural modules of mass urban development. Dutch architect Bart Goldhoorn has mapped the historical, contemporary, and potential future forms of mass housing for 15 years. The results of his work are presented in the Block City exhibition at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery in Prague. The exhibit will be open to the public until March 2.
The topic of urban housing and mass construction in the Czech Republic is associated with housing estates, panel buildings, or modern satellites. However, in the last half-century, much more diverse and also controversial projects have emerged worldwide. Architect Goldhoorn focused on these, defining three basic modules of mass urban development during his work - Modular City, Designer City and the concept of Block City which he himself devised.
The Modular City is, according to him, "a surrounded staircase" repeatable in an endless series, as evidenced by housing estates from the 1960s and 70s in Europe and the still ongoing construction in Russia, Asia, and South America. "For example, in Russia, modular housing estates are experiencing their golden years even now. And they won’t end any time soon, as we see the need to accommodate as many people as possible for as little money as possible all over the world," says Goldhoorn. He considers this module a compilation of the worst elements from both communist and capitalist approaches to housing construction.
The opposite extreme for Goldhoorn is the Designer City. This is designed for a specific client. This was how it was done in the Netherlands in the 1970s - urban blocks and entire neighborhoods were designed "to measure", using expensive materials and wasting space. High costs have, however, prevented and still prevent the more massive spread of this concept.
"Designer City is the product of a housing market boom. I’m not sure if it's a sustainable model," the architect believes. Therefore, the starting point for him is the Block City, after which he named his exhibition project. It combines aspects of Designer City and serial construction. The basis is "block", a standardized size of each part of the urban development, but balanced by absolute freedom in content.
Goldhoorn tested his theory on a commission for a large development company that announced a competition for a new city for 40,000 inhabitants near Moscow. Four international architectural studios participated in the competition. At the same time, a competition was held for the design of blocks, which involved 210 architects from 20 countries. And it is precisely the majority of these projects that form the main part of the exhibition at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery.
The main part of the exhibition is complemented by the exhibition Welcome to Panelstory!. This is a project mapping 21 housing estates in Bratislava from 1955 to 1995. The exhibition was prepared by leading Slovak architectural historians Henrieta Moravčíková, Mária Topolčanská, and Peter Szalay.