Residential Area Brno–Lesná

Lesná - the first large housing estate in Brno - became an object of criticism and admiration from its inception. Strong opinions and sharp discussions continue to accompany it to this day. It is not surprising; alongside the establishment of BVV, it represented the widest and most radical construction project in Brno since the demolition of the city walls.

Urbanism
The housing estate is located on the northern edge of the city, in the area of a former military training ground. Its elevated position and gentle slope towards the south provide almost luxurious views of the city; on the other hand, however, it is an unmistakable motif that harshly draws attention to itself. Bohuslav Fuchs commented on the panorama of Lesná with the words: "The silhouette is in constant transformation and continuous motion… Sometimes you see a Vernean steel city, other times a fairytale city within walls. It is a new urban scale that clearly dominates the Brno landscape and becomes its new symbol." [1] Today, there are probably not many people who share such a poetic view of the housing estate. However, it is true that Lesná must have been perceived quite differently in isolation than later as part of the subsequent flood of even more pronounced panel housing groups like Vinohrady, Líšeň, Nový Lískovec, Kohoutovice, etc.

The basic idea of a garden city is fulfilled by the much-lauded connection with Čertova rokle (Devil's Gorge) and the creation of wide parks between the panel houses. The natural conditions are respected here to such an extent that the layout of individual buildings does not follow any regular scheme, but instead depends on the character of the terrain. This means that primarily the basic longitudinal buildings follow the contour lines, thereby minimizing the necessary groundworks. However, the seemingly chaotic organization has its operational logic - the main traffic artery is the circular road, from which short branches extend for access to the houses. The vast majority of apartments and services in the estate lie within the circle, creating an extensive quiet zone without busy roads, only with sidewalks for pedestrians, essentially making it one large park.

Houses and Apartments
The panel houses are built using the B 60 construction system [2]. The basic type is the aforementioned longitudinal house with nine floors, whose width (up to 200m) reaches what the authors call the "psychological limit of tolerability" [3], meaning the monumental scale was chosen for practical reasons for implementation (simple creation of crane tracks, saving of labor and resources, etc.), yet in it, residents find it harder to achieve the desired feeling of privacy and individuality. In contrast, the authors managed to promote the use of ground floors not for apartments, but solely as utility spaces, additionally, the residential entrances were, in contrast to contemporary practice, designed in a superior manner (greenery, ceramic cladding). The one- to four-room apartments located here were intended to ensure a diversity of the resident composition.
The longitudinal houses are complemented by three sets of tall, thirteen-story buildings with three-room apartments. Their placement enlivens the visual diversity of the estate and they can also serve as landmarks. Another trio of high, fourteen-story slab buildings with small apartments is situated at the lower end of Lesná.
In addition to the panel buildings, there are also two types of smaller, four-story brick houses. First, there is an arc of longitudinal structures on the western edge, following the T-02 B type scheme, and second, there are randomly scattered point houses filling some vacant areas.

Facilities and Services
The project also included a solution for the necessary civic amenities. That it is not merely a "sleeping place," as Bohuslav Fuchs referred to the housing estate [4] (and how it was the case in many others), is evidenced by the architects' emphasis on non-residential buildings.
Each of the four districts of the estate (approximately for 5000 residents) included nurseries and kindergartens, a primary school building, a community center with a self-service shop, a buffet, a restaurant, a cultural center, and services (barber, dry cleaner, laundry, shoemaker, workshops, etc.) and garages. Most of these buildings are two stories and maintain a uniform appearance with the panel houses by applying long, uninterrupted bands of windows and ledges.
The facilities serving the entire estate are located near the central park, primarily a sports complex with a stadium and swimming pool in the northern part and a cultural and commercial center with a wide range of services at the busiest junction at the southern edge, where later the TJ Tesla Brno sports hall was also built (Viktor Rudiš, 1973-82). In contrast, in areas to the north of the estate, the establishment of light industry and research institutes was planned, which would provide residents with job opportunities near their homes, without the need for commuting [5].
Public transport avoids the center of the estate, with bus lines running along the circular road (Seifertova Street and notably aptly named Okružní) and trams only reaching the lower end of the gorge.

The project's housing estate, including civic amenities, was created based on estimates of demographic development, which was expected to stabilize after 15 - 20 years and stabilize the population composition [6]. The fact that the services and amenities do not fully meet the needs of residents is not due to poor project planning, but rather due to a different demographic and cultural development than anticipated.

Comparison
In comparison to previous large housing estates that were built in the 50s and 60s, Lesná was received very positively. Not only for the consistency of its execution (the estate was fully functional upon its completion, which is a rare exception in this respect), but also for its urban solution, which seeks to approach the vision of a garden city. The free organization, free from the regular scheme of street networks, significantly better enables a connection with nature, thus compensating for the aloofness of the panel houses. On the other hand, this is related to the not entirely obvious structure of the district for visitors and, in some cases, problematic orientation for long-term residents.
Later built estates in the 70s and 80s could utilize the knowledge and experience from the construction of Lesná, e.g., regarding operations, etc. Gradually, there were improvements in technology, apartment layouts, and transport links; however, the subsequent housing estates did not receive nearly as much space and often suffer from substantially higher population densities and built-up areas.

Evaluating various housing estates or comparing their qualities is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Each was created under absolutely different conditions, utilizing different possibilities and for different purposes. One of the few criteria by which the estates could be partially assessed might be the degree of their functionality and long-term usability, with a sufficient time lapse since their establishment.
There is no point in thoroughly analyzing each housing estate here, but let us return with this perspective to Lesná. It was built also as an experiment, intended to showcase the possibilities for building large housing estates. Given the inadequate knowledge in the area of operating such a whole at the time, the design already accounted for later adjustments and the addition of necessary facilities or services. For this reason, sufficient space was left here, which would allow for correcting deficiencies, e.g., in the estate's facilities according to changing conditions and needs. These possibilities were pointed out by the authors themselves even at the time of realization [7].
Current discussions regarding the heritage protection of Lesná highlight as its quality precisely the amount of space, which, however, also represents primarily a potential for further development. Strict protection would lead to the preservation of a wide zone of parks and original character, but it would also result in the freezing of the entire situation, including the problems and deficiencies in its functioning. A panel museum would indeed be a magnificent monument capturing the image of the era of its inception; however, from the perspective of livability, it is far more significant to adapt to current needs (of course in a sensitive manner and with a view toward the future), which would functionally revitalize the entire area and remove the perception of the estate as a relic of the socialist epoch.

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1) Bohuslav Fuchs: Critical remarks on the new housing estate. New residential district of the city of Brno, Stavoprojekt Brno, 1969.
2) The B 60 system is based on transverse load-bearing walls with a span of 360 cm, which provides relatively good variability of the apartments. The front walls consist of panel window and ledge strips; the panels between the windows were intentionally painted in an attempt to achieve nearly continuous strips for maximum horizontality of the buildings.
3) Lesná - New residential district of the city of Brno, Stavoprojekt Brno, 1969.
4) See note 1; Bohuslav Fuchs: New zoning, Prague, 1967.
5) Vladimír Palla: Remarks on the implementation of the Brno-Lesná housing estate, Architecture of Czechoslovakia, 1968, pp. 151-160.
6) Project of the new residential district of the city of Brno, Architecture of Czechoslovakia, 1968, p. 152.
7) František Zounek - Viktor Rudiš: see note 3.