1st stage of construction (1916-1918)
The construction of the factory of the well-known ironworks Coburg family began in 1907 in Trnava. In the first stage they built a foundry with a Siemens-Martin furnace. It was joined by two rolling mills covered by a vaulted arch ceiling, discreetly hidden behind the gables. The basis of the factory's energy core was the electric power plant (today a heating plant) with an eye-catching facade - the pilasters, the windows with strong lining and the small accents in the roof gable bear the characteristics of a simplified classical architecture. The water tower with a well was built in a similar architectural style.
2nd stage of construction (1921-1927)
The 1921 wirehouse, designed by the Viennese architects Siegfried Theiss and Hans Jaksch, is one of the first works of decoration-free modern architecture in Slovakia. The building is symmetrical in both axes and is thoroughly illuminated by large windows placed between the trapezoid-shaped reinforced concrete pillars, which extend to the exterior and run through all the floors. The flues and air ducts are ingeniously concealed in the pillars protruding over the roof plane. When steel production ceased in 1932, the owners put the expansion of the factory back in the hands of Theiss and Jaksch. A new transformer station, an annealing and staining plant, a gatehouse with office spaces and part of a residential complex were built. The buildings of the gatehouse, the transformer station and the office building are characterised by the distinctive cornice of the entrance portal with geometric ornaments.
3rd stage of construction (1929 -1944)
At this stage, a number of production buildings, warehouses and a dyeing plant were built. The buildings, roofed with arched concrete shells, were designed by the Pittel+Brausewetter firm. Arthur Schwarz, an engineer working for this company, developed special reinforced concrete frames that were used to ease the fitting of the large industrial windows, also used in the new nailing plant. In the years 1935-1936, a completely new plant of Banská a hutná spoločnosť, závod Trnava (Mining and Metallurgical Company, Trnava plant), was also built here, which covered the production of anti-aircraft grenades for war purposes. In 1930, the Pittel+Brausewetter company built an extension to the turbine hall to house the machine and boiler rooms. Despite the time of its construction, the builders decided to unify the facades with the original architecture, thus creating the grouped arrow-shaped windows in the gable walls that characterise the building. In 1935, the original steam power plant was purchased from the Coburgs by Západoslovenské elektrárne (Western Slovak Power Plants). In 1938, an assembly tower was built here by their architect Dušan Jurkovič, in a typical brick style.
4th stage of construction (1945 -1964)
After the war, the factory was nationalized and became a part of Slovenské závody na smaltovaný a železný tovar, národný podnik (Slovak Enamel and Iron Goods Plants, national enterprise), later known as Kovosmalt. Its production programme shifted towards the production of heating appliances and radiators. The most valuable new building of this period is the foundry, consisting of frames forming two unequal sections. The most noteworthy is the roof composed of reinforced concrete shells in the shape of hyperbolic paraboloids, which creates an unusual arch on the inside and an undulated attic on the outside, following the shape of the shells in the transverse direction. Along with this building, a number of new buildings were constructed during this period, supporting the production process.
5th stage (1960s and 1970s)
In 1966, the production of axles and spare parts for trucks began to move into the halls, followed by the renaming of the factory to Trnavské automobilové závody (TAZ) (Trnava Automotive Plant) in 1967. The 1960s and 1970s followed the spirit of assembled, prefabricated, standardised halls.
In addition to the production buildings, housing estates, a community centre and many other social buildings were built for the factory workers during the more than a century-long tradition of the factory.
Bibliography:
BEŇÁK, Miroslav: Skrytý klenot priemyselnej architektúry - najstaršia časť Coburgových závodov. Novinky z radnice, XXX, 2019, 7/ 8, s. 28-30.
BEŇÁK, Miroslav: Skrytý klenot priemyselnej architektúry - Viedenskí architekti Theiss a Jaksch a ich tvorba v Coburgových závodoch. Novinky z radnice, XXX, 2019, 9, s. 19-24.
BEŇÁK, Miroslav: Skrytý klenot priemyselnej architektúry - Obdobie oblúkových striech a železobetónových okenných rámov v Coburgových závodoch. Novinky z radnice, XXX, 2019, 10, s. 24-28.
BEŇÁK, Miroslav: Skrytý klenot priemyselnej architektúry - Závod v závode – trnavská parná elektráreň v Coburgových závodoch. Novinky z radnice, XXX, 2019, 11/ 12, s. 21 - 25.
BEŇÁK, Miroslav: Skrytý klenot priemyselnej architektúry - Architektúra z éry Kovosmaltu. Novinky z radnice, XXXI, 2020, 4, s. 24 - 27.
BEŇÁK, Miroslav: Skrytý klenot priemyselnej architektúry - Architektúra z éry Kovosmaltu 2. Novinky z radnice, XXXI, 2020, 5, s. 15 - 18.
BEŇÁK, Miroslav: Skrytý klenot priemyselnej architektúry - Architektúra z éry Kovosmaltu 2. Novinky z radnice, XXXI, 2020, 6, s. 23 - 27.
