Construction of a hydroelectric station on the river Váh represented one of the greatest public-works projects of interwar Czechoslovakia, as well as one of the first instances in which an architect was invited to collaborate in a predominantly technical work. It is likely that the influence of Merganc has made the power station the intriguing work of architecture that it is, particularly the Constructivist towers of the two fascines, as well as the building of the generator and the adjoining distribution block in Ladce. In its simplicity and strict functional determination, the architectural design is, despite its utilitarian purpose, a uniquely poetic technical work. The channel-based hydroelectric system uses two Kaplan turbines and requires around four minutes for closure. As one of the oldest power stations on the Váh, it is now a registered technical heritage site.
Bibliography:
Stavba vodného diela k využitiu vodnej sily na rieke Váhu v trati Púchov – Dolné Kočkovce – Ladce – Tunežice. Ed. F. Smrček. Ladce 1936. 56 s. (nestr.)
SMRČEK, F.: Stavba kanálu na Váhu. Praha, SNTL 1958.
AMBROŽ, Václav: Vodné diela na Slovensku. Poznámky o ich architektúre a začlenení do krajiny. Projekt 20, 1978, 1, s. 14 – 17.
HALLON, Ľ.: K začiatkom výstavby vážskej kaskády. Vlastivedný zborník Považia XVI. Osveta Martin, Považské múzeum Žilina 1991, s. 79 – 111.
SZOLGAYOVÁ, Elena: Vodné dielo Ladce - Dolné Kočkovce. Architektúra & urbanizmus 29, 1995, 1 – 2, s. 106 – 109.
DULLA, Matúš – MORAVČÍKOVÁ, Henrieta: Architektúra Slovenska v 20. storočí. Bratislava, Slovart 2002. 512 s., tu s. 143, 370.
