Kuba & Pilař architekti is an architectural office founded in Brno in
1998 by Ladislav Kuba and Tomáš Pilař. It ranks among the
country’s pre-eminent architectural studios and has won several Grand Prix
architectural competitions. Kuba & Pilař are well known for their signature
minimalistic style, using architectural concrete. Both architects reference the
tradition of pre-war Czech and contemporary architecture as their
inspiration.
You may know their Na Krutci residential complex in Prague, the bold Omega
department store on Freedom Square in Brno, or the Church of Saint Anthony in
the village of Černá, strikingly reminiscent of Noah’s Ark.
Both architects, who know Brno very well, were well aware of the extraordinary
nature of the site. On the very same street is the so-called House for Two
Brothers, a modernist masterpiece by Otto Eisler, built in 1930–1931 for
himself and his brother. Together with the nearby house in Lipová Street, it
was the only Czechoslovak building featured in the catalogue of the
International Style exhibition, organised by the New York Museum of Modern Arts
the following year. Eisler, who built several buildings locally, may have been a
source of inspiration for the contemporary work of Tomáš Pilař. They share a
love of function combined with comfort, the beauty of simplicity and an aversion
to pompous architectural gesture.
