Institute of History
Topic
Architecture of post-war modernism: personalities, typologies, context
PhD. program
World History
Year of admission
2026
Name of the supervisor
prof. Dr. Ing. arch. Henrieta Moravčíková
Contact:
Receiving school
Faculty of Arts, Comenius University Bratislava
Annotation
The modern architecture of the second half of the 20th century is a significant part of the existing building stock, both in Slovakia and in Europe as a whole. In the four decades following the Second World War, thousands of healthcare, educational, cultural, recreational, sporting and commercial buildings were constructed which still form the basis of public infrastructure today. The construction of such public institutions in European countries was guided by two fundamental objectives. The first was the efforts of social democratic governments in Western European countries to establish a welfare state. The second objective was to build a socialist state, pursued by countries in Central and Eastern Europe. These two objectives had similar starting points, including post-war reconstruction, the modernisation of city centres, and providing access to healthcare, education, culture and recreation for large sections of the population, as well as eliminating differences between social classes. State or municipal management, planning and public financing played an important role in this. However, while this infrastructure was intended to strengthen civil society in Western European countries, its purpose in communist bloc countries was to reinforce the authoritarian position of the state. Despite these differences, post-war modernist architecture is an important part of Europe's shared identity and cultural heritage. Understanding and adapting this heritage for contemporary use is one of today's key social challenges.
The dissertation will examine the architecture of public buildings from the second half of the 20th century. It will focus on selected personalities, works and typologies that have not yet been explored, as well as the broader social context in which these works were created and the potential for their adaptive reuse.
The dissertation will examine the architecture of public buildings from the second half of the 20th century. It will focus on selected personalities, works and typologies that have not yet been explored, as well as the broader social context in which these works were created and the potential for their adaptive reuse.