Symposium MATERIALITY with the support of Xella

During the IBF trade fair, held from April 27 to 29, 2006, a significant international event took place in Brno, the expert symposium "Materiality of Surface Areas in the Architecture of Classical Modernity. Significance – Insights – Care." The organizers of the meeting were HAWK - University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hildesheim /Germany/, the Museum of the City of Brno, the Faculty of Architecture of the Brno University of Technology, and the National Technical Museum in Prague. The symposium was sponsored by Xella Porobeton CZ s.r.o., for whom the continuity with architectural traditions of the past and a modern view of today's architecture is part of the company's philosophy.

Brno was not chosen at random for the discussions attended by prominent international experts. Due to its extraordinarily high concentration of modern architectural monuments, it became an ideal place for a meeting focused on the protection and care of modern architecture. An important impetus for this professional meeting in Brno was the planned heritage restoration of the Tugendhat villa, which is among the most significant architectural monuments not just in the Czech Republic, but also on a global scale. This topic was dedicated to one of the blocks of the symposium discussions.

Right in this gem of pre-war architecture, in the world-famous building listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a festive gathering of the symposium participants took place on the eve of the symposium's opening. Present were various speakers and significant personalities from the field of architecture and care for architectural monuments, including Prof. Ivo Hammer, Dean of the Faculty of Restoration at HAWK in Hildesheim, Dr. Thomas Danzl from the State Office for Heritage Care and Restoration in Halle, Dr. Eberhard Grunsky, State Conservator of the Westphalian Heritage Office in Münster, Ing. Bruno Maldoner from the Federal Monuments Office in Vienna, Dr. Monika Markgraf from the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau, Prof. Arthur Ruegg and architect Ruggero Tropeano from Zurich, Ing. John Allan from London, Mrs. Ida Van Zijl, director of the Rietveld Schröder Huis in Utrecht, Prof. Ola Wedebrunn from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and simultaneously a member of the DOCOMOMO board, and several other leading foreign experts. On the Czech side, among others, participated the president of the Czech ICOMOS Committee and until recently the chief conservator of the National Heritage Institute, Dr. Josef Štulc, the guarantor of the heritage restoration of the Tugendhat villa and the deputy director-general of the National Museum, Bc. Karel Ksandr, members of the design team of the Association for Tugendhat, preparing the project for the heritage restoration of the Tugendhat villa under the guidance of architect Marek Tichý, architect Jan Sapák from Brno, and also the director of the co-organizing Museum of the City of Brno, Dr. Pavel Ciprian, and the executive of Xella Porobeton CZ s.r.o., Ing. Martin Polák.

A particularly rare visitor was Mrs. Daniela Hammer-Tugendhat, daughter of the original owners of the villa. As the most qualified person, she could – apart from reminiscing about the times when the villa was her family's home – emphasize the indispensable significance of such a method of caring for architectural monuments, which is not renovation, but rather a restorative act. Only in this way can all the advantages and characteristic features of unique building monuments be preserved for future generations.

Such are also the goals of Xella Porobeton CZ s.r.o., which sensitively perceives the need for a connection between modern and traditional approaches in architecture and strives to support them – besides direct financial support for similar events, such as the MATERIALITY symposium, also through an annual student architectural competition. Last year's edition of this competition once again connected Xella with the Tugendhat villa, as the student designs dealt with the project of a planned Center for Modern Architecture, which is to eventually be built in its immediate vicinity and be connected to it both technically and intellectually.