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CUBIST ARCHITECTURE: BRIEF, BIZARRE, BRILLIANT

BOHUMILA KUBIŠTOVÁ

March 17, 2025

At the turn of the twentieth century, Western art experienced a seismic shift. Traditional modes of representation built upon linear perspective and naturalism began to crumble under the weight of modernity. The speed of industrialization, the shock of new technologies, and an evolving understanding of space and perception led to radical artistic innovation. Out of this crucible emerged Cubism, an artistic movement pioneered by the painters Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, which was soon, excitingly, translated into actual built architecture. Cubist architecture represents one of the most fascinating but underappreciated chapters in architectural history, having a legacy both profound and elusive.

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Cubism shattered the conventions of representation, breaking down objects and figures into geometric planes, fragmented and multiple perspectives, and abstract compositions. The movement rejected the idea of fixed viewpoints and instead proposed a world seen from multiple angles simultaneously. Early Cubist works, such as Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) and Braque’s Violin and Palette (1909), exemplified this revolutionary approach.

Though initially confined to painting and drawing, Cubism quickly extended its influence into sculpture, graphic design, and, believe it or not, architecture. Forward-thinking architects pondered: If space and form could be reimagined on canvas, why not in buildings? But how to adapt Cubist ideas to three-dimensional space in a functional manner? Unlike painting, architecture could not simply be an aesthetic exercise; it had to accommodate human habitation and possess structural integrity.

House of the Black Madonna

The most significant expressions of Cubist architecture emerged in Czechoslovakia, mainly in Prague, between 1911 and the early 1920s. Czech architects were uniquely positioned to develop this new style, combining influences from Paris with their own country’s rich artistic heritage of ornamental and sculptural craftsmanship. Rather than merely decorating buildings with Cubist motifs, these architects sought to rethink form itself. They applied sharp angles and crystalline facades, but above all, they emphasized dynamism. Whereas earlier styles embraced harmonious proportions and balance, Cubism introduced an almost sculptural approach, as if the buildings’ forms had frozen in the midst of shifting and realigning. The result was a strikingly modern aesthetic that felt both experimental and deeply rooted in artistic philosophy.

Fara House (detail)

The architects who played crucial roles in this short-lived but influential movement included Josef Gočár, Pavel Janák, and Vlastislav Hofman. Each brought their own interpretation of Cubist principles to building design.

Gočár’s House of the Black Madonna (1911–12) remains one of the most celebrated examples of Cubist architecture. Located in Prague’s Old Town, the building was initially a department store and now houses the Czech Museum of Cubism. Its distinctive features include its sharply faceted bay windows, dynamic angles, and sculptural balcony railings. These elements evoke the sense of depth and movement characteristic of Cubist painting, amply demonstrating how the style could be applied to built form.

Janák designed structures such as the Fara House (1912) and the Czech Legion Bank (1921–23), incorporating bold, faceted surfaces and complex geometric patterns. Janák believed that architecture should abandon classical symmetry in favor of the asymmetrical, expressive, angular dynamism found in Cubist art. His work in the 1920s helped to transition Cubism into a more functionalist style, foreshadowing later developments in modernist architecture.

Czech Legion Bank

Hofman’s designs for cemetery gates, apartment buildings, and municipal structures in Prague displayed a rigorous application of Cubist ideas. His Cubist Lamp Post (1913), a seemingly minor piece of urban infrastructure, is a perfect example of how the movement sought to bring Cubist dynamism to everyday structures.

Cubist Lamp Post

While Cubist architecture was primarily a Czech phenomenon and had a relatively short life span, its principles influenced architectural thought in other countries and carried over into some styles that followed. The fragmentation of surfaces and dynamic interplay of geometric planes found in Art Deco and Expressionist architecture can be seen as direct descendants of Cubist principles. Likewise, the De Stijl movement, particularly the works of Theo van Doesburg and Gerrit Rietveld, shared Cubism’s reduction of form into pure geometric abstraction. In the late-twentieth-century Deconstructivist movement, exemplified by architects like Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid, Cubism’s rejection of traditional spatial harmony reemerged in fragmented, dynamic geometries that challenged conventional architectural norms.

It could be argued that Cubist architecture even influenced later styles that were more or less reactions against it. At the same time that it was flourishing in Prague, movements such as Art Nouveau, Expressionism, and functionalism were competing to define the future of building design. By the mid-1920s, functionalism and the International Style—led by architects such as Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe—began to dominate architectural discourse, favoring sleek, machine-inspired forms over sculptural complexity.

One of Cubist architecture’s most enduring legacies is the idea that architecture should be a spatial form of painting or sculpture, rather than just a functional shell. This concept deeply influenced later architects who sought to merge art and architecture, including Le Corbusier, who began as a Cubist painter under the influence of Purism and applied similar principles to his early architectural works. Frank Gehry’s fragmented, faceted buildings bear similarities to Cubist compositions. Contemporary parametric architects use digital tools to create complex, multifaceted surfaces akin to Cubist deformations.

Fondation Louis Vuitton by Frank Gehry

Even though full-fledged Cubist buildings remain rare, elements of Cubist geometry are frequently employed in contemporary glass-and-steel skyscrapers that manifest sharp angularity, and Brutalist and postmodern buildings that experiment with nontraditional forms. This influence is especially evident in modern architecture that treats facades as expressive surfaces, emphasizing depth, shadow, and fragmented compositions in ways reminiscent of Cubist artwork. While no longer explicitly tied to the original Cubist movement, contemporary projects such as the Royal Ontario Museum expansion by Daniel Libeskind, the Fondation Louis Vuitton by Frank Gehry, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi by Jean Nouvel demonstrate how Cubist architectural ideas—deconstructing form, rejecting rigid symmetries, creating sculptural facades—continue to inspire contemporary design, particularly in cultural and artistic institutions, where form often rivals function as a design priority.

Louvre Abu Dhabi by Jean Nouvel

Those wishing to experience Cubist architecture for themselves will need to journey to Prague (and a few other Czech cities), but at least they will find what they seek. Unlike many experimental architectural movements that only ever existed on paper, Czech Cubism produced actual buildings, such as Gočár’s aforementioned House of the Black Madonna; Emil Králíček’s Diamond House (1913); the Hodek Apartments, designed by Josef Chochol in 1913 and built a year later by František Hodek; and the Cubist Villas (1912–13) in Vyšehrad.

Even though Cubist architecture never became a mainstream global movement, its theoretical approach to space, form, and abstraction played a role in shaping how architects conceptualize their work. It demonstrated that architecture does not have to be purely rational or functional; it can be expressive and sculptural, with multi-perspectival viewpoints, much like Cubist paintings. And the spirit of Cubist architecture lives on in today’s experimental and avant-garde architectural designs, proving that even the most fleeting movements can exert a lasting impact.

Bohumila Kubištová (1968–?) studied at Charles University in Prague, where she haunted literary and artistic circles before vanishing into the most grotesquely angular corners of modernism. She crisscrossed the world in search of buildings that defied physics, reason, and basic human dignity—staircases to nowhere, doors that refused to open, windows meant only for existential despair. Rumors persist that Kubištová never returned from her last research trip, having disappeared into the labyrinthine corridors of an unfinished Constructivist nightmare in an undisclosed location.

Cover image: House of the Black Madonna staircase