PragueScape

Recently I took the metro to the end of the C-line and emerged to find myself in the midst of a pastel-coloured concrete candy land: blocks upon blocks of pale blue, baby pink, peach and improbably sunny shades of yellow. Some building facades even had stripes or artfully scattered geometrical patterns. Jižní Město, the country’s biggest panel housing estate, which lies southeast of Prague’s city centre, just celebrated its 33rd anniversary, and I was curious to see what had changed. The last five years of its existence were devoted to revitalisation, in part subsidised by EU funds, with the aim of making it more liveable. This was the place that once epitomised the dehumanised face of socialist housing. Upon constructionContinue Reading

The list is too long for comfort. In their introduction to the new exhibit Co jsme si zbořili – What We Have Destroyed (Ourselves), its organisers enumerate all the Czech industrial structures that have been destroyed in the last 10 years. And it’s not just boxy factory buildings. Among the demolished are several breweries, sugar mills, water towers, power plants and even a viaduct. The exhibition, which runs until 15 October, is on display at the Old Sewage Treatment Plant in Prague 6, a remarkable industrial structure in its own right, now operated by the Eco-Technical Museum. It’s part of this year’s fifth international biennale Industriální stopy – Vestiges of Industry, held in the Czech Republic’s major towns over theContinue Reading