Masterplan of the Slovak Academy of Sciences complex has been contrived in the late fifties by architects M. Kusy, L. Lysek and S. Talas. Institute of Chemistry was among the first to be erected. It was designed by the architect Karol Palus at the age of not even forty, a graduate of Prague's College of Arts and Crafts ('UMPRUM') and a fellow of prestigious Paris Academy of Arts. The Institute of Chemistry is one of the most successful attempts to build on the local interwar modernist tradition. The building responds to a soft wavy profile of the nearby Sitina mountain range. The architect designed the institute on an asymmetric scheme comprising of three-aisle office wing and a generous wing with social spaces. A two-storey entrance hall formed a link between the two parts of the building. Unfortunately,the institute has been built without the west wing, which we are reminded of these days only through a blank gable wall. In its relation to the nature and subtle architectural details, the building of the institute invokes an association with works of the great Finnish architect A. Aalto. In 2008 the building has been restored under the project by D. Palus, a grandson of the original architect.
Bibliography:
Objekty SAV v Bratislave. Projekt 3, 1961, 1, s. 7.
Kusý, Martin: Architektúra na Slovensku 1945 – 1975. Bratislava, Pallas, Bratislava 1976.
Dulla, Matúš – Moravčíková, Henrieta: Architektúra Slovenska v 20. storočí. Bratislava, Slovart 2002, 512 s., tu s. 193, 232, 423.
