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The architect’s second alternative for the southern wing anticipated
cladding, for the administrative and bridging structures,
of white and red glass mosaic tile (from the firm Jablonecká
bižutéria: white no. 937 and red no. 1561) and facing of slate
(from Moravské ště rkovny and pískovny Olomouc); for the third
alternative, he designed an alternative facing of anodized steel
from Hunter Douglas (with “golden”, or more precisely bronze,
finishing). However for reasons of time and finances the cladding
was realized in the winter using “dry assembly” of siporex
panels, quickly finished with profiled enameled aluminium plates
(with white and red enamel). The bridging’s abutments and the
administration’s parterre are faced with gray-black slate (the design
featured facing the abutments at ground level with black
marble; not realized).
Thus the architect had to adjust to rapid “winter assembly” of
the facades and their surfaces, so the first stage of construction
(the Danube gallery wing) could be put into use on the occasion
of the 29th anniversary of The 1948 Czechoslovak coup d’état
and the 29th anniversary of the SNG’s founding. This is why
he chose the “temporary” installation of a metal facing, in part
because the material corresponded to the architectural character
of the building’s facing wing: “It may seem too unusual to
use such surfacing material, but they are the expression of the
current material and technological circumstances, and reflect
the current progress and condition of industrial manufacturing.
So there is no reason they ought not to become significant
media for modern architecture. This is especially so if it is architecture
that in no way reminds us of preceding developmental
phases of architecture in our country. Interiors, too, use equally
new materials 27 .” (DEDEČEK undated [1975], p. 7)
The indoor white cement masonry was designed to have
a surface layer of crushed white marble (supplied by Umelecké
remeslá; not realized). The atypical glass windows, doors and
walls were supplied by the state-run Sklounion Teplice, ZUKOV
in Prague and the collective Umeleckých remesiel.
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