Pavel Janák (12 March 1881 in Karlín – 1 August 1956 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

- Dejvice) was a Czech modernist architect, furniture designer, town planner, professor and theoretician.

Life

Janák studied with Otto Wagner in Vienna between 1906 and 1908, and worked in Prague under Jan Kotěra. In 1911, with the publication of an article ''The Prism and The Pyramid'' advocating dynamic architectural compositions and destabilizing traditional right-angled buildings, Janák became the leading theoretician of

Czech Cubism Czech Cubism (referred to more generally as Cubo-Expressionism) was an avant-garde art movement of Czech proponents of Cubism, active mostly in Prague from 1912 to 1914. Prague was perhaps the most important center for Cubism outside Paris before ...

. Of the three Czech cubists—Janák, Josef Chochol and Josef Gočár—Janák built fewer buildings and produced more theoretical work, but his 1913 Fara House in

Pelhřimov Pelhřimov () is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservations, urban monument reser ...

is a key work in that style. After 1918 Janák and Gočár developed Cubism into Czech Rondocubism, with decoration taken from folk and nationalist themes, and then subsequently into a purer functionalism. His 1925 Palace Adria is an unusually late example of integrated sculpture. As the chairman of the Czechoslovak Werkbund he drew up the master plan for the 1932 Baba Werkbund Housing Estate, the last of the European housing exhibitions, and also designed 3 of its 32 houses. He was also responsible for the design for the Hussite Church in

Vinohrady Vinohrady (until 1960 Královské Vinohrady, in English literally "Royal Vineyards" ) is a cadastral district in Prague. It is so named because the area was once covered in vineyards dating from the 14th century. Vinohrady lies in the municipal ...

. In 1936 he took over from

Jože Plečnik Jože Plečnik () (23 January 1872 – 7 January 1957) was a Slovenian architect who had a major impact on the modern architecture of Vienna, Prague and of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, most notably by designing the iconic Triple Bridge a ...

as the supervising architect of

Prague Castle Prague Castle (; ) is a castle complex in Prague, Czech Republic serving as the official residence and workplace of the president of the Czech Republic. Built in the 9th century, the castle has long served as the seat of power for List of rulers ...

. Pavel Janák was also associated with the functionalist Baba housing project in Prague, the '' Werkbund'' inspired housing estate located on the outskirts of Prague Pavel Janák created the Master Plan for this community, and was also in charge of selecting the architects that would be involved. Although Baba survived the World Wars, it is now in danger of historical extinction due to recent renovations and neglect. In 2006, the

Government of the Czech Republic The Government of the Czech Republic () exercises executive power in the Czech Republic. The members of the government are the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (Chairman of the Government), the deputy prime minister and other ministers. It ...

named Janák an Honorary Citizen of

Prague 6 Prague 6, officially known as the Municipal District of Prague 6 (''Městská část Praha 6''), is the largest Districts of Prague, district in Prague. Located in the northwest, it covers 41.54 km2 and had a population of 100,600 as of 31 D ...

Gallery

Image:Praha Skoduv Palac.jpg, Škodův Palace, Prague Image:Prague PalacAdria jungmanovaSide.jpg, Palace Adria, Prague Image:Prague PalacAdria facade2.jpg, Palace Adria, Prague Image:Prague PalacAdria facade1.jpg, Palace Adria, Prague Bolzanova, stará trafika.jpg, Cubist kiosk near Bolzanova Street, Praha 1-Nové Město Baba - Lindová 02.jpg, Villa Linda (1933-1934)

References

External links

English-language biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janak, Pavel 1881 births 1956 deaths Architects from Prague Cubist architects 20th-century Czech architects Architects from Austria-Hungary Czechoslovak architects Czech Technical University in Prague alumni