51: Socialist realism - how to deal with complicated architectural heritage? (guest: Michal Kristof - CHYBIK + KRISTOF)

I am happy to share with you the newest conversation, I had with Michal Kristof - architect and one of the two founders (together with Ondřej Chybik) of the Czech - Slovak architecture practice CHYBIK + KRISTOF. It was a perfect moment to talk as they are celebrating their own - 10th anniversary. Since we both come from Easter/Central Europe and the former Soviet block countries we will talk about the complicated socialism realism heritage both in architecture and culture. How should we approach the old, often monumental (sometimes even too much) and brutalist buildings? Should we transform them? Should we tear them down? Should we accept them? It is a very hard question to answer. Is it even possible to do it? We talked about: Complicated heritage What is Michal's attitude towards these projects? Why is our heritage so complicated? How should we approach it while developing our cities? Michal recommended the books about the great architect Luigi Snozzi, you can read about him here: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Snozzi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Snozzi New vs old How can we introduce new qualities but also show some respect to the heritage? Does Michal think that a new architecture market opens in former East/Central European countries? You can follow Michal's and CHYBIK + KRISTOF: on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ond%C5%99ej-chyb%C3%ADk-01b5a1107/?originalSubdomain=cz https://www.linkedin.com/in/michalkristof/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/chybik.kristof.associated.architects on the C+K webiste https://www.chybik-kristof.com/ and their facebook https://www.facebook.com/Chybik.Kristof and instagram https://www.instagram.com/chybikkristof