The Czech and Slovak Embassies originally formed one complex – the Czechoslovak Embassy – designed by Czech architects Jan Sramek, Jan Bocan and Karel Stepansky in association with Robert Matthew of Johnson-Marshall and Partners (now RMJM). The project started in 1965 and finished in 1970.
In its time the complex of the Czechoslovak Embassy was considered an important modern architectural achievement. It was granted the prestigious RIBA Architecture Award in 1971. The jurors explained their decision by the following comment: “Unlike so many examples of precast concrete buildings which are weathering badly, this one is a refined example of its kind, skilfully detailed technically and aesthetically”.
The aesthetic effect of the building lay in the creative combination of coarse concrete and glass surfaces, which make the Czech and Slovak Embassies a prime example of Brutalist architecture, a style that spawned from the modernist architectural movement and flourished from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. Brutalist buildings are typically geometrical, blockish and predominantly concrete with key interest in the functionality of the construction.
In 1993, when the Czech Republic and Slovakia came into existence as two separate countries, the complex of the Czechoslovak. Embassy was divided between them.
The special exhibition “Dialógy.Sk – Small and Larger Topics of Slovak Design” offers a glimpse at the Slovak designer scene. Twenty-two designers and two studios are showcasing a broad range of products and objects that attract attention, such as glassworks by Rona (1892), “flying car” by AeroMobil, ceramics, textiles, furniture, shoes and jewellery.
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Show up or get your FREE ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/open-house-london-2016-tickets-27305719141
