Vlastislav Hofman practised at a period when the terms of architecture itself were under argument.
The record lists Vlastislav Hofman as Czech artist and architect (1884-1964).
Vlastislav Hofman was born at Jičín in 1884. His recorded nationality is Cisleithania. He trained at Czech Technical University in Prague.
Modernism rejected ornament and historical style, arguing that a building should express its structure and its function - a claim contested ever since.
He is recorded as architect, painter and scenographer.
Buildings outlast their architects and usually their purposes, which is what makes the discipline unforgiving.
Recognition followed: Merited Artist of Czechoslovakia, Order of Labour (Czechoslovakia) and Klement Gottwald State Prize.
That the work was built in Cisleithania shaped it: climate, materials, planning law and who holds the budget all decide what can actually be built.
Vlastislav Hofman died in 1964, aged 80. The buildings remain, still in use by people who never knew the name - which is the particular afterlife architecture offers.
Achievements
- Merited Artist of Czechoslovakia
- Order of Labour (Czechoslovakia)
- Klement Gottwald State Prize
- Trained at Czech Technical University in Prague
