1492

The book in three parts documents the recent transformation of Dolní Vítkovice, ironworks, around which once grew the Silesian city of Ostrava. Each section – the technical documentation of the architects, the text with photographs, and the theoretical text – got its own graphics and paper, but everything, including the cover is built on a square grid, just as Ostrava itself. In addition, the book revolves around the number 1492, the spot height in centimeters where the builders fixated the pulsating lid of the gas tank that came to new life as an arena for concerts and everything. The book is yellow-gray, just as the restored area; with yellow the architect Josef Pleskot returned the color of melting iron into the complex and with anthracite grey he preserved the metal structures. Finally, a special V4 binding with hardcover trimmed to the width of the block, homogeneous monolithic form revealing the internal structure of the cover, gives the book the appropriate brutality of an ingot.