Baťa's Skyscraper, Office building in Zlín, Czech Republic
Baťa's Skyscraper is a 16-story reinforced-concrete office building 77.5 m tall, 80 m long and 20 m wide, with spirally reinforced cylindrical columns whose bases widen elliptically to spread horizontal loads. Its exterior walls of solid brick are clad in 6.5 × 30 cm brick tiles, and the unopenable steel windows are cleaned from an outside suspended cage.
Jan Antonín Baťa commissioned the building in 1936 after architect Vladimír Karfík talked him out of three linked three-storey blocks. Work began on 14 September 1936; the sixteenth floor was finished on 16 September 1937 and the building was fully operating by 1940. At 77.5 m it was Europe's second-tallest modern building, after Antwerp's Boerentoren.
The building reflects how the shoe company wanted to present itself as a modern industrial enterprise to the world. The clean design and open floor plans show how the Baťa family turned their business philosophy into architectural form.
The building now houses the headquarters of the Zlín Region, so upper floors are administrative and not generally open to the public. The rooftop observation garden with flower beds and a fountain, created in the 1930s, is not a regular public terrace; visits are usually arranged through guided tours. The unopenable steel windows are cleaned from outside using a suspended elevator cage.
The chief executive's office was located inside an elevator, fitted with a sink and air conditioning. This mobile workspace allowed the boss to oversee all areas of the building while traveling through it.
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