Experiencing Prague through the Years | 10.1.13 Wednesday

On Wednesdays, Josh has seminar class in the morning which is a little different than studio in the way that it helps relate Prague's history, culture and architectural background into what the students are working on in their studio class.  This week, his studio and the other studio that joined us in Copenhagen had a field trip to visit different areas of Prague to show how housing has changed throughout the years.  I was invited to come along and the first location was near our apartment so we met the group there and then we would ride the bus with the group to the other locations.  We visited areas and homes beginning in the early 1920's then traveled to an area built in the early 1930's.  After that we traveled on the bus for 20 minutes, skipped a few decades and arrived at a housing community that was built in the 1970's when high rises became the way of housing.  After we walked around (not much to see except large ugly buildings) we headed to our last stop which began construction within the last five years.  It was a modern community that was built on farmland, because it was the cheapest, 10 minutes away from the city center with nothing surrounding the area.  It seemed very out of place and uninviting and the tall chain linked fences surrounding each home didn't quite go with the modern look I think that they were trying to achieve. 

Lastly we rode the bus to the metro station nearby that was recently built and stuck out like a sore thumb within the area.  Střížkov is this large white modernized structure among all of these older high rises and buildings and cost millions of dollars to build and maintain.  Although it looks nice, it's very out of place and doesn't make any sense.  Both of the professors were very negative about this structure and emphasized the importance of designing around the environment.

From the metro station, we headed back to the apartment since josh had school work to do.  But overall it is was very interesting to see the changes throughout the years and kinda  seemed depressing as far as what Prague's society "wants" as a home these days.

Starting with large villas built in the early 1920's

Josh loves the homes that have greenery growing along the walls

Spacious roads and each villa has its own style

Next stop were homes built in the early 1930's.  Can you see the change of style?

Built by a famous architect, just can't remember the name at the moment

Then we stopped at high-rise city!  Built in the 70's, you could tell that alot of families lived in this area

One of the newer high-rises in the area, still not that appealing to the eye

Last stop was in the middle of nowhere, this was the view from the end of the street

Very modern homes with very attractive chain linked fences to keep the neighbors out

Built within the last 5 years, very different from the first stop!

The newly constructed metro station...yes it looks very cool but placed in the wrong area, too modern for this area in Prague 

This ugly complex is parallel to the metro, the grassy area is between the two structures

Heading inside the metro to head back to the apartment