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south Danube wing (closed due to it’s state of serious<br />

disrepair), dedicated to the possibility of the demolition,<br />

repair, reconstruction and modernisation of the SNG<br />

building. The discussion 36 was accompanied by an exhibition<br />

of documents regarding the historical Water Barracks<br />

building and the design documentation of the SNG premises<br />

by Vladimír Dedeček. Curator Alexandra Kusá.<br />

There were several calls for the construction of a new<br />

gallery building; the only difference in them was their<br />

aim to repair, reconstruct or demolish the SNG bridging.<br />

The “... possibility of removing the construction” was openly<br />

presented only by Professor Štefan Šlachta: “Personally,<br />

I would prefer to look for a way of having a new gallery,<br />

to seek a new solution, because this reconstruction would<br />

be very problematic and I am sure it would be twice as<br />

expensive as a new building. (...) Of course it is my personal<br />

opinion, but if each visit to the national gallery makes me<br />

feel frustrated, I think it is not a good national gallery.” 37<br />

A similar viewpoint was indirectly presented by the architect<br />

Ján Bahna who designed the reconstruction of the Water<br />

Barracks building in the 1990s and had also been working<br />

on the whole premises with his students in his architectural<br />

studio in Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava.<br />

He questioned the structure's load capacity if there would<br />

be changes in the facing or an additional superstructure,<br />

which was immediately disproved by the objective arguments<br />

of the building's structure engineer Jindřich Trailin.<br />

The former Bratislava Chief City Architect Štefan Svetko<br />

also presented his critical view of SNG building (he had had<br />

a crucial role in the change of the front wing concept, which<br />

he did not hide). Svetko did not support the disassembly<br />

or demolition (“slum-clearance”) of the bridging. Interestingly<br />

objective supportive viewpoints were presented not only<br />

by both of the involved structure engineers Jindřich Trailin<br />

and Jiří Kozák but also by the co-founding director of former<br />

state architectural company Stavoprojekt Professor Štefan<br />

106

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