Václav Hilský

6 September 1909, Krásno nad Bečvou, Valašské Meziříčí – 7 October 2001, Prague

Václav Hilský studied at the State school for wood processing and then at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, in Otakar Novotný’s atelier. After graduation, he opened his own atelier. In 1949, he became the head architect in Prague’s regional architectural office. He was a member of the Mánes Association of Fine Arts and Levá fronta. He published articles and presented his projects in journals Architektura, Tvar and Domov. He received a number of awards during his life. Together with architect Evžen Linhart, he received a gold medal at the VIII Milan Triennial for the design of Collective House Litvínov. In 1968, he was appointed a Distinguished Artist and in 1971 he was awarded the state prize. In 1981, he was awarded the title of the National Artist.

Hilský designed a number of residential, as well as public buildings. He was an advocate of interwar avant-garde, although his work was also influenced by socialist realism and, in later stages, by western European Brutalism. His most important project is Collective House Litvínov (1946–57). He also designed many residential buildings in Brno and Prague, housing estates (Rozdělov in Kladno, Poruba in Ostrava). Together with Richard Ferdinand Podzemný and Antonín Tenzer, he designed the new Lidice, a municipality built on the location of the village destroyed by the Nazis in 1942. As a city planner, he participated in the design of the regulatory plan of Valašské Meziříčí and designed the reconstruction of the centre of Kladno.