1958 Brno plans designed by Kalivoda

Budujeme Brno, město mezinárodních veletrhů / We Are Building Brno, the Town of International Fairs. Prague / Brno: Svaz architektů Československé republiky & Městský národní výbor v Brně, 1958. Edited and designed by František Kalivoda. 4to (30 × 23.5 cm). 101, [3] pp. With numerous photographic illustrations, architectural drawings, and several folding colour maps showing the urban development of Brno. Original publisher’s boards with plastic cover, embossed coat of arms and silver-stamped title. Issued in 3,000 copies. Text in Czech with summaries in French, Russian, English, and German. An important mid-century work on the postwar urban planning and transformation of Brno into a “city of international fairs.” Contributions by Bohuslav Fuchs, František Kočí, Oskar Poříska, Vladimír Veselý, Vojtěch Thoř and Zdeněk Kubíček. Richly illustrated, the book documents the planned reconstruction, transport schemes, housing estates, and preservation of the historic core. František Kalivoda (1913–1971) was a Czech architect, graphic artist, and influential modernist designer active in Brno. A committed advocate of the Bauhaus and International Style, Kalivoda was deeply engaged with avant-garde design before and after the Second World War, producing striking photomontage-based layouts and typographically innovative books. He maintained close ties with Zdeněk Rossmann (1905–1984), the Brno-based architect, graphic designer, and a leading figure of the Devětsil group and Czech functionalism. Their professional dialogue connected Kalivoda’s postwar urban and exhibition projects with Rossmann’s earlier interwar experiments in constructivist typography and architecture, underscoring Brno’s role as a hub of progressive design in Czechoslovakia. Inv. H9ho