Realisation of the ‘New Era’ residential complex for the ‘Private Employees and Workers’ Building Society’ was accompanied by hopes of relieving the housing crisis of the era. Its innovation did not only apply to the idea of low-cost social housing, but equally to the application of progressive structural and insulation technologies. In the first block, the steel skeleton (though the second two shifted to ferroconcrete) was the first instance of such a structure in such a large building in all of Slovakia. The complex is formed from three identical four-storey blocks, each with a capacity of 162 flats. The five different typologies are of quite modest floor areas – 34.5; 39.5; 49.2 and 56.7 m2. Nonetheless, their standards were relatively high for the time: all with central heating and hot water, with all rooms receiving direct daylight. In terms of the composition, it has the character of an assemblage of bare white rectangles, articulated only by the regular windows. This exterior appearance is particularly striking through the intentional austerity of Weinwurm’s sense of modern architecture as a reflection of the rational spirit of the age.
Bibliography:
Obytné domy stavebného družstva Nová doba. Ed. A. Hořejš, Bratislava 1933. Slovenský staviteľ 4, 1934, s. / p. 81 – 87. Neuere Arbeiten der Architekten Weinwurm und Vécsei, Pressburg. Forum 5, 1935, s. / p. 108. Nová doba (2. etapa). Ed. A. Hořejš, Bratislava, 1936. Steiner, Ernst: Die Entwicklung der Mittelstandswohnung in den letzten zehn Jahren. Forum 7, 1937, s. / p. 83 – 84.
