The Moravian Gallery in Brno is currently showing an exhibition about prefab housing built in second part of 20th century, in former Communist Czechoslovakia. It is a fascinating insight into a social experiment that changed the country forever.
Like many other European countries after World War II, Czechoslovakia faced a massive housing crisis. The decision to choose prefab as a way of building was logical; it was fast and cheap which made it possible to build on a massive scale across the country .
The main focus of the exhibition is to show the "ordinary unit” - the standard for everyone. And it is these unitary prefab estates that still house one quarter of the Czech population today.
Within the exhibit is a series of incredible drawings from the 1960’s showing what could have been! Unfortunately these proposals were too radical for the Communist Goverment who opted for the cheapest and simplest design schemes.
Finally our favourite part of the exhibition was a section of photographs offering a glimpse into the every day life on the large scale housing estates throughout the years!
