Architecture Day: Zlín - Čiperova Villa: Living Like a Director

A guided tour of Čiperova Villa with art historian Nela Kvíčalová will focus on the architecture and lifestyle of a Baťa company director. Designed between 1939 and 1942 by architect Vladimír Karfík, the villa exemplifies representative residential architecture in Zlín. Unlike typical Baťa construction, it appears almost aristocratic - serene, elegant, with meticulous attention to detail - yet naturally emerges from Baťa architectural traditions. It belongs to the category of director's houses, a specific type of dwelling at the intersection of private and social life. Recently renovated, it has been opened to the public.

This event is part of a programme marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Tomáš Baťa (1876-1932), the company's founder. Born in Zlín to a shoemaker's family, Baťa is renowned not only as an entrepreneur but also for his innovative approaches to working conditions and employee quality of life - notably through the so-called Baťa cottages. Following the model of English garden cities, he developed entire new neighbourhoods in Zlín, collaborating extensively with architects Jan Kotěra and František Lydia Gahura. Gahura's urban planning principles later influenced the development of new Slovak cities such as Svit pod Tatrami and Partizánske (briefly also Baťovany), designed under the direction of Vladimír Karfík and Jiří Voženílek.

Led by: Nela Kvíčalová, art historian