The administrative and operational building of the state construction enterprise Ingstav is undoubtedly one of the most significant architectural realisations of the 1960s, and of the entire post-war period in Czechoslovakia.
Built between 1968 and 1970 for the state enterprise Ingstav, the building is divided in plan into three separate components: the main office building, a sculptural external fire escape staircase, and a rear communication tower containing staircases, toilets, and archive spaces. Brno architect Ivan Ruller conceived the building in a radically innovative way for its time, both in terms of operation and architectural design.
Each floor was designed as a large open-plan office space occupying the entire level – a concept that is commonplace today under the term open space, but was highly unusual in Czechoslovakia in 1968. This approach was inspired by the layout of the Baťa office building in Zlín designed by Vladimír Karfík in 1938.
Individual workstations were separated only by movable partitions or plant walls. The building’s integration into its surroundings is also notable: it stands on a gentle slope, meaning the lowest level is hidden from the street behind a grassy embankment, while the main entrance is located on the second floor and accessed via a suspended walkway covered by a reinforced concrete canopy. The top floor is set back from the main volume, creating a roof terrace.
A key architectural feature is the secondary façade: a fully glazed, suspended screen placed in front of the primary façade, functioning as a noise barrier. At the corners, the glass is elegantly curved, giving the impression that the façade is floating around the building.
The former Ingstav headquarters is still used as an office building and has housed LCS Business Centre since 1993. However, in the post-1989 period it has undergone a series of unsympathetic modifications. The exterior and immediate surroundings are currently affected by significant visual advertising clutter. Nevertheless, the original volumetric composition of the building, the sculptural concrete staircase, the travertine cladding of the ground floor, and the projecting communication tower have all been preserved to this day.
