PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Holeček, Josef
TI  - The design of the Industrial Palace : original synthesis of historicism architecture and modern steel structure
Die Formlösung des Palastes der Industrie vom Prager Ausstellungsgelände eine originelle Synthese der historisierenden Architektur und der modernen Eisenkonstruktion
DP  - 2019 Jun 15
TA  - Staletá Praha
PG  - 26--50
VI  - 35
IP  - 1
AID - 10.56112/sp.2019.1.02
IS  - 02316056
AB  - A very detailed building-historical survey carried out in 2017 and 2018 and supplemented by restoration surveys proved the special and unique constructional design and art and symbolic features of the Prague Industrial Palace, important also in the international context. The Industrial Palace of architect Bedřich Münzberger shifted the architectural potential of the steel truss structure in spatial design and was also surprisingly radical in the articulation of tectonic elements of traditional architectural morphology. The article reflects the subordination of the structural possibilities of modern steel structures to the thinking of a traditional architect. The particular spatial form of the palace was evidently conditioned mainly by the modification of the previous, more traditionally conceived proposal of a masonry exhibition palace and by the design of the Machine House, the little-known building at the Prague Exhibition Centre. Based on historical sources, the commissioning and commercial genesis of the palace design is monitored in detail, which also significantly influenced the genesis of the architectural form, especially the central part of the building. The "logic" of morphological, constructional and tectonic solutions is described, and the article presents in detail how the architectural form of the older design of the masonry palace was transferred to a building with a steel supporting structure and how its resulting spatial form was influenced mainly by the possibility of using larger spans. Proportions of the golden ratio are pointed out, applied in the ratio of the length, width and height of the central hall of the steel palace, together with the genesis of the monumental decoration of its masonry parts. Some of the details, original and radical in terms of period architectural language and tectonics, have been transferred to the larger scale of the Industrial Palace from the Machine House: the building, with its distinct monumentality, stands out from the historicism architectural order.