It was already known that the city would not expand indefinitely. Karel Prager, however, found an original solution to this problem—one that is rarely seen even today and falls more into the category of utopian and fantastical visions of future cities. He was, however, determined to fulfill the task assigned to him, and he managed to outline the future of construction in Prague in such detail that building could begin practically immediately. How did Prager intend to build a metropolis where no one else at the time knew how?
Right from the start, it must be said that Karel Prager was not afraid to push boundaries or even cross them outright. Beyond those boundaries, he sought new ways to build—even entire cities. He was deeply interested in the pace of urban development and pondered what life would be like in the future. He also recognized that the times and our lifestyle were changing faster than our buildings. This, incidentally, remains true to this day. We even suffer from a certain nostalgia and tend to flee from new buildings to old ones. Prager, however, flatly rejected such a mindset and sought progress.
A study for the Košíře Valley, which Prager prepared as part of a research project.
Source: Radomíra SedlákováWe don’t know how to do it, but Prager will figure it out
He was assigned a research project, the outcome of which was the study “A permanent urban structure with flexible use”. Prager wrote the introductory essay for the project as early as 1973, focusing on the Košíře area. The task was to identify opportunities for construction—whether residential or office—in areas that had previously been excluded from the city’s development plans. In short, how to build where it had not been possible until then. Košíře was the ideal example of such a place. Old buildings, the impossibility of large-scale demolition and redevelopment, complicated terrain, and nature in close relationship with people.
The superstructure model for Košíře shows how tall the buildings could have been.
Source: Radomíra Sedláková
Prager operated on the assumption (and this is by no means a recent development) that cities cannot expand indefinitely. That it is necessary to build within cities, not on their outskirts. However, areas like Košíře were not suitable for the construction of the housing estates typical of that era, and innovation was needed. Prager took on the task with the conviction that his designs would be realized, and began to sketch a city above the city. He devised a system of buildings floating above the treetops. Massive structures, supported at intervals of 40, 60 or 80 metres, were to accommodate several levels of housing, offices, hospitals—in short, anything the city required. But what if the city’s needs changed? The system was designed to adapt. That is why the main load-bearing structure was designed to last for hundreds of years, while the cells or modules of individual buildings were designed to last for decades, and their technology could be updated even after just a few years. Prager also planned to use the patented GAMA system (prefabricated partitions, window sills, suspended ceilings, and other elements invented and patented by Prager’s GAMA studio). At the time, this was the only system comprehensive enough and produced in sufficient quantities. This would allow the building to adapt to modern trends and needs for another 300 years, while the old structures below would quietly outlive it.
Prager had no plans to demolish anything. He wanted to interfere as little as possible with the surroundings of the buildings and what lay beneath them. After all, minimizing the building’s footprint and impact on the surroundings was nothing new to him. He demonstrated this in two of his most recent projects at the time—the Federal Assembly and the pavilions of the Association of Design Studios, which we affectionately call “Prager's Cubes”. In the first case, he managed to preserve the historic Stock Exchange building using a structure based on bridge girders. In the second case, he ensured that the complex—intended for creative work and collaboration—gained many square meters of gardens and walkways, where a conventional architect would have ruthlessly placed the foundations for offices.
Prager drew inspiration from architects such as El Lissitzky, Yona Friedman, and Arata Isozaki, who had already applied the principles of Metabolist architecture before him.
Within reach of utopia
However, as we know, when Jiří Kodet, playing the former resistance fighter Mr. Kraus, walks through the picturesque Košíře neighborhood in the film Pelíšky, none of what can be seen in Prager’s models and drawings hovers above him. Prager, in fact, experienced disappointment—that his study was indeed just a study and did not lead to implementation, even though it had been recommended. He did not abandon the concept, however, and continued to work with it in his designs and visions. Nevertheless, the world did come to see this unique idea of a city above a city. In 1975, the same year Prager’s work received a positive review, the building of the Georgian Ministry of Highway Construction was put into operation. Its design and construction in Tbilisi were undertaken by Georgiy Chakhava himself—then both Minister of Transportation and architect—who personally selected the site for the project and was directly commissioned to carry it out. The question remains whether this was inspired by Prager’s superstructures. According to some opinions, the clear inspiration for the ministry building was a vision conceived by the artist and architect El Lissitzky (1890–1941), a leading figure of 1920s Constructivism. Prager was likely familiar with his work as well, having drawn inspiration from architects such as Yona Friedman and Arata Isozaki. However, when assessing Prager’s contribution to this topic, what is crucial is the sophisticated system he developed for the study of the Košíře Valley. Once again, this was rooted in his stubbornness and his conviction that architecture only truly exists when it is built.
The National Bank of Georgia, formerly the Ministry of Highway Construction in Georgia—which was designed and built by the Minister of Transportation and architect Georgiy Chakhava (1975)—underwent reconstruction in 2010–2011.
Source: Simona Rota; Bank of Georgia