Terraced family houses with two apartments

A group of ten terraced houses was part of the second stage of construction of the Jižní svahy housing estate. The master plan created by Stavoprojekt Gottwaldov was finished in 1979, but the construction did not take place until seven years later. 

The houses are located on a sloping plot between Nad Vývozem and Na Výsluní streets. The authors of the design for the terraced houses are the architects Adolf Zikmund and Antonín Procházka. Zikmund worked for twenty years as a senior employee of the Department of the Chief Architect, in an institution that organised an invited competition for the master plan and architectural design for the site. Procházka was a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture in Brno, and between 1977 and 1986 he worked in the studio of architect Ivan Přikryl in Centroprojekt, where the project was developed. The plots are divided in a north-south direction. The first two houses stand next to each other, while the rest gradually step forward towards the street, due to the sloping terrain, and at the same time there is a difference in height between the individual houses. The houses are two-storey from the west, street side, and three-storey from the east side. The eastern half of the houses faces the garden and overcomes a difference of approximately 4.5 metres between the highest point on the west and the lowest point on the eastern side.

The simple shape of the houses with a flat roof is determined by the combination of large three-part rectangular windows with pillars between the windows and a subtle brick pattern that borders the windows and the entrance area of the front door and garage. The house is lined with brick strips or face bricks, the additional elements were made of exposed concrete. Dark stained wood was used for entrances and as the cladding of balcony ledges. This material and colour scheme refers not only to the houses built during the first stage of Jižní svahy construction, but also to houses inspired by the popular Nordic architecture of the time. 

The entrances for cars and inhabitants to each of the houses are separate and are placed at the western side of the buildings at the higher street level. Two apartment units share an entrance area and a garage. The smaller apartment, on the second floor, faces the garden, has two rooms, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. The second apartment, on the third floor, has a bedroom facing the street, while the living room and dining room are again on the east side. All living rooms have a generous amount of daylight and a view of the garden, and each unit also has a separate loggia. On the first floor, in addition to the cellar, there is an entrance to the garden; the whole house is connected by a U-shaped staircase.

The ten terraced houses were built as self-help housing and most of them were only completed in 1990. Although this is the second stage, which is not comparable to the first in quality, this group can still be classified as a valuable example of construction at the end of the 1980s. Architects Adolf Zikmund and Antonín Procházka placed the houses sensitively into the surroundings, offering their residents above-standard designed spaces that offer not only a direct access to the garden, but also a view of the city. The residents of the apartments could adjust their layouts, but overall there were no major changes compared to the initial design. The group still has a unified character with many original details. The exception is one house that has undergone complete renovation, the windows have been replaced, the building was insulated and covered in white and grey plaster.

 

 

LŠ