Vlada Milunić celebrated the Dancing House or "humanized" housing estates

Prague - Czech architect of Croatian origin Vlado Milunić is best known to the public and architectural history primarily for the Dancing House, which he designed in collaboration with Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry. He was also known for his views on the character of Prague's housing estates and as a co-author of several social buildings. A native of Croatia who lived in the Czech Republic since his youth, he reportedly died at the age of 81, according to Czech Radio Radiožurnál.

Milunić's most famous work - the Dancing House on Rašínovo nábřeží in Prague - was created in the mid-1990s. The building, which sparked many negative reactions, became one of the symbols of Prague and is reportedly the third most photographed object in the metropolis after Charles Bridge and the Hradčany. The administrative building, nicknamed Ginger and Fred for its "dancing" silhouette, received numerous awards, including "The Best Design Of 1996" from the American magazine Time.

At the site of the Dancing House once stood a residential building that was accidentally destroyed in February 1945 by an American bomb during the aerial bombing of Prague. In 1963, a decision was made to fill in the gap, but nothing happened for a long time. Then architect Milunić entered the scene, who was advising Václav Havel, living in the neighboring house, on the division of his apartment in the 1980s: "We talked about what kind of building could stand next to it. It was supposed to be a house full of culture. I wanted the house to lean over the intersection because it was meant to personify the state of Czechoslovak society, which moved from totalitarian rigidity into motion. Therefore, I wanted a rigid static tower at the back and a dynamic part of the building in the forefront, which moved over the intersection. Similar to society, where its smaller part separated from the majority, which was statically totalitarian and ventured into the world of change. That is the main idea of the dialogue of the two parts," Milunić recalled in print.

He attributed the possibility of realizing such a modern building in Prague to the post-revolution euphoria, then-President Václav Havel, the then-director of heritage protection Věra Millerová, and a rare conjunction of circumstances. The Dancing House was opened on October 1, 1996.

"Ginger and Fred" is today one of the symbols of the metropolis and a tourist magnet: "I am very sorry that the built house is today full of inaccessible offices with an expensive restaurant on the top floor and is not a house of culture accessible to all," Milunić stated in the book Dancing House, published by Zlatý řez in 2003.

Another significant project by Milunić was the residential complex Hvězda in the Petřiny housing estate in Prague. This atypical colorful housing estate is valued by many experts as a prime example of a contrasting alternative to gray concrete housing estates. The "humanization" of panel housing estates was indeed one of Milunić's frequent themes. "New buildings need to be constructed on the open spaces between the panel houses, winter gardens created, and rooftop extensions built. But it is essential that different architects work on each part of the housing estate so that it is not monotonous," he said. An example of his vision of how a housing estate should look is the project for the Malešice housing estate center, which, however, was not realized.

Milunić's work was not limited to large projects that attract media attention. For example, in the 1970s and 1980s, mostly in collaboration with architect Jan Líněk, he implemented several social buildings in Prague - retirement homes in Bohnice, Malešice, Chodov, and Háje, a nursing home for sisters in Prosek, and later the House of Children and Youth in Modřany.

And he did not limit himself to Prague or the Czech Republic. According to his design, for example, an atypical villa was created in Planá nad Lužnicí in Southern Bohemia. "The design came from theft. I stole from Frank Lloyd Wright, my friend Frank Gehry, and Bruce Goff," Milunić once admitted about his inspiration from the greatest world architects. Abroad, he also participated in the creation of the so-called Czech Quarter in Shanghai, China.

Milunić was also a frequent critic of corruption, clientelism, and other societal ills, not only in architecture. He was also known for his negative stance on the construction of high-rise buildings in Prague. "New high-rise buildings in Pankrác are in conflict with how the capital is composed," he said in one of the interviews.

Vlado (Vladimir) Milunić was born on March 3, 1941, in Zagreb. He lived in Prague from the age of 16, after his parents moved there from former Yugoslavia. From 1960 to 1966, he studied architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague. He then worked for three years in Paris. From 1969 to 1990, he worked in the Prague studios Gama and Delta. Since 1990, he had his own Studio VM (Free Ideas).

In 1998, Milunić was one of 11 personalities recognized by the Prague magistrate on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the republic. Silver medals were awarded to individuals who contributed to the international fame of Prague.