Pavel Janák was a Czech modernist architect, furniture designer, town planner, professor and theoretician.

Janák studied with Otto Wagner

Otto Wagner

Otto Koloman Wagner was an Austrian architect and urban planner, known for his lasting impact on the appearance of his home town Vienna, to which he contributed many landmarks.-Life:...

 in Vienna between 1906 and 1908, and worked in Prague under Jan Kotěra

Jan Kotera

Jan Kotěra was a Czech architect, artist and interior designer, and one of the key figures of modern architecture in Bohemia.-Biography:...

. In 1911, with the publication of an article The Prism and The Pyramid advocating dynamic architectural compositions and destabilizing traditional right-angled building, Janák became the leading theoretician of Czech Cubism

Czech Cubism

Czech Cubism was an avant-garde art movement of Czech proponents of Cubism, active mostly in Prague from 1910 to 1914.Members of this movement realised the epochal significance of the Cubism of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque and attempted to extract its components for their own work in all...

. Of the three Czech cubists—Janák, Josef Chochol

Josef Chochol

Josef Chochol was a Czech architect.-Education:Chocol studied architecture at the polytechnic in Prague , then at the academy in Vienna, under guidance of Otto Wagner .-Career:...

 and Josef Gočár

Josef Gocár

Josef Gočár , was a Czech architect, one of the founders of modern architecture in Czechoslovakia....

 -- Janák probably built less and theorized more. Still, his 1913 Fara House in Pelhřimov

Pelhrimov

- Basic facts :Pelhřimov is located approximately half-way between Prague and Brno. It is known as “the Gateway to the Highlands“ because of its location in the westernmost tip of the Czech-Moravian Highlands. The altitude above sea level at the foot of the tower of the Church of St...

 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.

In 1936 he took over from Jože Plečnik

Jože Plecnik

Jože Plečnik , was a Slovene architect who practised in Vienna, Belgrade, Prague and Ljubljana.-Biography:...

 as the supervising architect of Prague Castle

Prague Castle

Prague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had their offices. The Czech Crown Jewels are kept here...

.

Gallery

Pavel Janak was also associated with the functionalist housing project in Prague known as Baba. Baba, was the "Werkbond" inspired housing estate located on the outskirts of Prague. Pavel Janak not only created the Master Plan for this community, he was also in charge of selecting the architects that would be involved. Although Baba survived the destruction of the World Wars, it is in danger of historical extinction due to renovation of new owners with lack of historical reverence and general neglect.

External links

• English-language biography