Transgas (building)

Transgas
Originally control room
Originally control room
Location within Prague
Former names Transgaz, Budovy Ústředního dispečinku tranzitního plynovodu, Světové odborové federace, Federálního ministerstva paliv a energetiky
General information
Architectural style high tech, brutalism
Location Prague, Czech Republic
Country Czech Republic
Coordinates 50°4′42″N 14°25′59″E / 50.07833°N 14.43306°E / 50.07833; 14.43306
Elevation 2 m (7 ft)
Construction started 1972
Completed 1978
Inaugurated 1978
Client Czechoslovak government
Design and construction
Architect Jiří Eisenreich, Jindřich Malátek, Václav Aulický
Other designers Ivo Loos

Transgas is a high tech building with brutalist elements in the center of Prague, Czech Republic.[1] It consist of a cubic part, which is dark grey. Its facade is covered by small cobble stones. The other two buildings are high with long windows and steel dark contstruction. The surrounding decoration is symbolically made out of gas pipeline tubes.

The building was commissioned by the Czechoslovak government, which agreed in 1970 to build a pipeline and deliver Soviet gas to western Europe. As the pipeline was called Transgas, the same name was given to the building used from 1978 as a control and dispatcher room. The architects and designers where Jiří Eisenreich, Jindřich Malátek, Václav Aulický and Ivo Loos (fountain).[2] It was constructed in the years 1972 to 1978 on the site of apartment houses, which were previously demolished.[3]

As of 2017 the building is set to be demolished, as all previous attempts by different groups to release it as a cultural monument have failed.[1] In January 2017, art historians from Czech universities described the building as an exceptional example of brutalist architecture and requested Culture Minister Daniel Herman to prevent its demolition. They wrote, "In the context of Czech architecture of the latter half of the 20th century, it is an exceptional building that creatively follows up the period styles of Western technicism and brutalism."[2]

In November 2017 the Czech Ministry of Culture approved the demolition so that a new office complex can be built on the site.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 "Brutalistní Transgas nebude prohlášen za kulturní památku, demolici nic nebrání". iROZHLAS (in Czech). Retrieved 2017-12-10.
  2. 1 2 "Historians ask minister to help save brutalist building in Prague". Prague Monitor. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
  3. ↑ "archiweb.cz - TRANSGAS Budovy Ústředního dispečinku tranzitního plynovodu, Federálního ministerstva paliv a energetiky a Světové odborové federace". archiweb.cz. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
  4. ↑ "Demolition of Transgas HQ in Prague 2 approved - CijUsa.com". cijeurope.com. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
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