Jan Kotěra and Metropolitan Urbanism

Jan Kotěra and Metropolitan Urbanism

Kapitola, resp. kapitoly v odborné knize

Prepared as part of the collective monograph Jan Kotěra. Czech Modern Architecture in Context, edited by Ladislav Jackson and Helena Čapková, whose stated ambition is to demythologise the long-established image of this key figure as the “first Czech modern architect,” the study re-examines his work through alternative interpretive lenses. Against this background, the article tests one such lens by asking what it means to look for “urbanism” in the oeuvre of an architect who did not practise urbanism as a sustained field, produced only a limited number of urban-scale schemes, and did not position himself as an urbanist in the sense of systematic planning or theory. Rather than reconstructing an “urbanism” that Kotěra did not develop, the article investigates how references to his urbanistic thinking emerge indirectly – through period writing and subsequent historiography. It examines selected texts by contemporary and later author-actors, particularly architects writing architectural history (including Karel Boromejský Mádl, Otakar Novotný, Max Urban, and Bohuslav Fuchs), and analyses the argumentative frameworks, evaluative criteria, and rhetorical strategies through which these accounts link Kotěra to the city, planning, and modernity. Grounded in the concept of “architectural history written by architects,” the study also considers how professional experience, generational perspective, and institutional roles shape such interpretations. By foregrounding this genre and its epistemic limits, the article clarifies mechanisms of canon formation and contributes to a methodological reflection on the relationship between architectural practice, disciplinary institutions, and historiography.

Prepared as part of the collective monograph Jan Kotěra. Czech Modern Architecture in Context, edited by Ladislav Jackson and Helena Čapková, whose stated ambition is to demythologise the long-established image of this key figure as the “first Czech modern architect,” the study re-examines his work through alternative interpretive lenses. Against this background, the article tests one such lens by asking what it means to look for “urbanism” in the oeuvre of an architect who did not practise urbanism as a sustained field, produced only a limited number of urban-scale schemes, and did not position himself as an urbanist in the sense of systematic planning or theory. Rather than reconstructing an “urbanism” that Kotěra did not develop, the article investigates how references to his urbanistic thinking emerge indirectly – through period writing and subsequent historiography. It examines selected texts by contemporary and later author-actors, particularly architects writing architectural history (including Karel Boromejský Mádl, Otakar Novotný, Max Urban, and Bohuslav Fuchs), and analyses the argumentative frameworks, evaluative criteria, and rhetorical strategies through which these accounts link Kotěra to the city, planning, and modernity. Grounded in the concept of “architectural history written by architects,” the study also considers how professional experience, generational perspective, and institutional roles shape such interpretations. By foregrounding this genre and its epistemic limits, the article clarifies mechanisms of canon formation and contributes to a methodological reflection on the relationship between architectural practice, disciplinary institutions, and historiography.

Jan Kotěra; urbanism; architectural historiography; architects as historians; discourse analysis; canon formation; demythologisation; Czech modern architecture; planning discourse; professional and institutional context; modernity

Jan Kotěra; urbanism; architectural historiography; architects as historians; discourse analysis; canon formation; demythologisation; Czech modern architecture; planning discourse; professional and institutional context; modernity

ŽÁČKOVÁ Markéta

2026

15.07.2025

Pravý úhel

Hradec Králové

978-80-907128-6-7

Jan Kotěra: Czech Modern Architecture in Context

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