School Of
Architecture

Prostitution stigma and violence

  • Instead of intimacy, tenderness, but also hidden violence, what is happening behind the red curtains?
    If you think of a brothel, what comes to mind? Mostly it's drugs, women, sex and dirt. It was important for the author to take into account the fact that society perceives women in this industry, she does not perceive these people only as persons who commit something deviant. Is it possible to change the view of people who make a living by selling their bodies? Is violence committed against the individuals in question?
    If we look at this problem from another perspective - objectively, we will find that not always women or even men work in brothels voluntarily, not always all their human rights are respected. This is often pimping and the trade in white meat.
    The intention was to avoid dark corners where violence could be born, but at the same time not to lose the object's intimacy, which plays a very important role. The purity of the geometry and the ground plan shape, which is based on a simple grid of 5x5 meters and the rectangular form of objects that have their own given order.
    Only the roof structure has an organic form, evoking the gentle curves of the human body. The roof construction is a gradient that gives dynamism to the entire space. In the most intimate parts of the building, the curve of the roof is the densest, the headroom is the highest, and the floor plan of the building is the most extensive in this part. While in spaces where the accumulation of intimacy is lower, the construction is smoother and the headroom is lower. The roof itself serves as an escape route for prostitutes. Individual objects - rooms live in a common space, which shapes the objects between them. One function could not function without the other.
    The project was included among the awarded projects of the XVIII. Bohuslav Fuchs Award.