Brussels style

In the post-war years, the Czech applied arts were very negatively affected by the totalitarian communist regime, which in its paranoia failed to distinguish avant-garde, originality and progress from the germs of counter-revolution and bowing to the West.

Although the planned economy and contemporary design do not go well together, and in times of material scarcity the level of applied art is not of the highest interest, Czech designers have managed to create a rather peculiar, if somewhat unoriginal, style under the influence of Scandinavian and modern American design. With the passage of time, it has come to be generally known as Brussels, after the venue of Expo 58. Czechoslovakia was successfully represented by a pavilion consisting of three interconnected glass cubes, a subtle circular restaurant with a terrace and an exhibition of applied art objects. The architects continued the tradition of interwar functionalism with geometric austerity, rationality, luminosity and the integration of the surrounding greenery of the park.

It is thanks to the Czechoslovak Pavilion that not only Czech architecture, but also design, has returned to the modern mainstream. The dialogue with current international developments, which had been interrupted by the era of stagnation during the period of socialist realism, was restored. The Czechoslovak pavilion designed by architects František Cubro, Josef Hrubý and Zdeněk Pokorný was not as innovative as, for example, the pavilion designed by Le Corbusier, but it won the highest award because of the pavilion's concept as a Gesamtkunstwerk. Thanks to the joint work of our architects, scenographers and artists, a great connection between architecture and exhibition display was created. The theme of the exhibition was "One Day in Czechoslovakia - Work, Rest, Culture", and included works of art as well as engineering products and everyday objects. The various objects were united by a unique way of presentation, the authors emphasized the expression of ideas in an artistic language through scenography, without verbal descriptions.

Following its overwhelming success, the pavilion and the restaurant were relocated to Prague. The architects designed the building as a steel skeleton structure composed of tubes, which made it easy to assemble and later dismantle and move to our capital. The pavilion located in the Holešovice Exhibition Centre burned down in 1991. After a period of dilapidation in the 1990s, the restaurant located in Letenské sady has been renovated and houses an auction room and a café open to the public.

The term Brussels style itself cannot be easily defined. Rather than the Brussels Expo exhibition itself, it refers to the later influence on domestic developments. In the following years, the echoes of the Brussels Exposition manifested themselves mainly in home culture - in the design of furniture, lighting and interiors in general. Rounded, organic or geometric shapes of objects in pastel colours and subtle constructions made of laminate, umacrete, aluminium or coloured glass were significant. In contrast to the heaviness and static nature of earlier years, the so-called Brussels made use of the airiness, grace and brightness of colour. The context and atmosphere of the time, the development of science and technology and, above all, the development of new materials were important for the Brussels style.

Barbora Kovářová

‍