Cycle Matadors/Matrons - Ivo Oberstein

Cycle Matadors/ Matadoras

Thu 04.06 09 19h

Ivo Oberstein. New Towns in Prague

The spring lecture cycle Matadors/ Matadoras will be concluded by a lecture from architect Ivo Oberstein (* 1935), who has focused on urbanism and the design of new residential complexes in Prague since the 1960s. With his projects, he participated in all three important competitions for the so-called new Towns in Prague – Southern, Northern, and Southwestern. Oberstein won the competition for the Southwestern Town as early as 1968 and subsequently worked on the project for nearly twenty years. He had the opportunity to oversee the development of the entire project and to think through everything from land composition, issues of housing standards, to the architectural concept of individual quarters, which were worked on by architects such as Václav Valter, Pavel Dydovič, or Milan Klíma, Tomáš Brix, and Václav Králíček. The Southwestern Town closely mirrors the evolution of urban design trends from a dispersed urban composition to a connection with traditional town-forming and landscape principles. The project of the Southwestern Town also opened up space for new artistic solutions in the ground floor design. The overall design of the residential complex was significantly influenced by artists Kurt Gebauer, Čestmír Suška, Magdalena Jetelová, and Jaroslav Róna.
Despite all the efforts of the authors of the new Towns, their realization faced numerous difficulties and often ended up differing from the original plan. Nevertheless, the new towns in Prague still invite reflection on the issues of large residential complexes and the search for their architectural, artistic, and conceptual foundations.


venue: Experimental space Roxy/NoD, Dlouhá 33, Prague 1
free entry

publications and t-shirts from the Circle are for sale at a favorable price during the lectures

partners: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Experimental space Roxy/NoD, AVU School of Architecture Prague
project supported by: Konsepti, Metrostav a.s., City Hall of Prague, MDA Prague s.r.o., MDA Ostrava s.r.o., AV Media, Sipral
media partners: Era 21, Radio 1, www.archiweb.cz, Cultural Weekly A2
info: www.kruh.info, www.nod.roxy.cz