One of Ivan Matušík’s best projects, also highly accepted abroad. The rehabilitation centre is the only architectonic project in Slovakia that was included by an eminent theoretician Udo Kulteramann into the world’s architectonic selection of the 20th century projects and was also published in many foreign magazines.
The building conception resembles one of the architect’s first works – the shopping centre Slimák in Bratislava.
The building is delicately located in its surroundings and doesn’t rival the romantic castle nearby. The centre consists of a circular base and a four-storeyed bed section in a shape of a sector. Inside the base there is an entrance, a canteen and a hydrotherapy part accessible from the main lobby and corridor surrounding the central circular atrium. On the other four floors there are twin-bedded rooms (with capacity of 200 places). The interior corridor leading to the atrium is roofed with glass blocks – a typical material used in post-war Slovakia. The outside part of the building is cladded with dark ceramic. Prefabricated concave elements of balcony railing at each room resemble Doric column cannelures for their symmetrical structure .
The shape clarity and geometrical ornamentality of the centre demonstrates how close was Matušik’s conception to the contemporary world’s movement and at the same time it also proves his typical style apparent at all the projects.
Peter Szalay
Author: Ing. arch. I. Matušík
Project: 1967 – 1968
Realization: 1970 – 1975
