At Expo '67 in Montreal, the Slovak koliba (which is a traditional shepherd's loghouse) was set up as a stand-alone restaurant building near Laterna Magika (Czechoslovak theatre house). Its architecture symbolized the connection of the modern abstract art and folk traditions in Slovakia. The building had asymmetrical pitched roof with a vertical skylight at the top, exposed beams over a patio near the entrance and modern stylized wooden furniture. The interior consisted of three sections, representing three Slovak regions: the south (Grob), the central region (Liptov) and the north (Zdiar). Grob interior is complete with a traditional oven (by Bizmayer), Zdiar section has an open fireplace. Wall carpet in the Grob interior was created by M. Rudavska while wooden light fixtures are the work of V. Holubar. The restaurant had a total of 100 seats. The interior design reflected the overall building concept. Well-balanced architectural design was complemented by quality artwork – from tiled stoves to ceramics, glassware and cutlery (by D. Rosulkova, Z. Lindavsky, J. Taraba, J. Calovka, graphic design was by C. Pechr). Following the end of the Canadian exhibition, this excellent representative of a typical architectural archetype of the period repeated over and over again often with much less invention has been transferred in an altered form to Koliba in Bratislava, where it is still open today. The original and unique structure, however, virtually disappeared in the renovation of 2005/2006.
Bibliography:
Slovenská koliba. Projekt 9, 1967, 7, s. 167 – 168.
TALAŠ, Stanislav: Osobné spomienky na prof. Vojtecha Vilhana. In: Vojtech Vilhan – idea, objekt, priestor. (Katalóg výstavy.) Bratislava, VŠVU 1995. s. 41 – 47.
DULLA, Matúš – MORAVČÍKOVÁ, Henrieta: Architektúra Slovenska v 20. storočí. Bratislava, Slovart 2002. 512 s., tu s. 430.
