Concrete, glass, and steel in the work of J.J. Polívka - lecture at GJF

What materials do they want? The agency of concrete, steel, and glass in the work of Jaroslav J. Polívka between Europe and America. Steel and glass are very popular in modern architecture, but from a technical point of view, they represent a completely unsuitable combination, thought the architect and designer Jaroslav J. Polívka. Nevertheless, he is the author of the construction of Czechoslovak pavilions at world exhibitions in Paris and New York, where a steel structure combined with glass blocks dominated. In the case of concrete, he spent his entire life advocating for the standardization of reinforced concrete elements; nonetheless, his most famous projects are based on unique formal gestures that defy all systematic economization efforts. If the choice of materials and their shaping and combinations in his most famous projects was not a creative decision, what other decisions and interests stood behind it? This lecture will explore the interpretative possibilities of materiality approaches in the history of modern architecture using the example of Jaroslav Polívka.