The Bata Region

Infopoint of Bata housing

To visit Zlín without visiting one of those tiny red brick houses? Nonsense. The unique Bata housing has an incredible genius loci. If you don't have a chance to visit someone's home, then explore the interior of one of the houses with the Infopoint of Bata housing.

The red brick housing on the slopes around the factory is a unique project. The elaborate housing system that was created as the Bata empire grew, will amaze you with its sophistication. Each house had its own building plan, inventory of equipment and a tenant who followed a precise daily routine. To the factory in the morning, home for lunch and rest at noon, then back to the factory, to the cinema or library in the evening, and then to bed and sleep. No unnecessary wastage of energy, which was needed in the factory.

The entire housing system is presented at the Infopoint of Bata housing. The small brick house hidden between schools and dormitories in Nad Ovčírna Street is not only a Bata house but also a museum and an architectural studio. 

The ellement studio, which is based in the house, maps vanishing elements of Bata housing. The ellement architects are involved in the aArchitektura association, which organises lectures and tours and represents the Zlín Architecture Manual (ZAM) project.

You enter a small room where a film is screened about life in the hillside built-up area around the factory. On a terrain model of Zlín, you can literally feel the elevation that the urban planners had to work with. There are thematic panels on the walls with information about how many people came to Zlín, how many houses and buildings there are, how many people worked and lived here.

You can go further down the narrow corridor. Above your head is a staircase that leads to the upstairs studio. On the left is a small kitchen, on the right a room that used to be a living room.

There is a permanent exhibition called The Bata Home: Zlín's Vanishing Architectural Elements. In a small space there are things that will leave you speechless. In addition to the architectural design and adaptations of the individual houses, you will find original features, photos of the original and new interiors, building plans for each type of house, and models of the houses. You'll understand the system by which the housing development gradually thickened as the factory staff grew.

You will find card files for each of the typical houses and employee cards that describe the marital status, property and life of the people who once lived there. You will see the record cards that were kept when the homes were inspected. You will find documentation for the villas that grew up among the houses. Records and statistics of everything.

While today we cannot imagine working on any major project without a computer, Bata built an entire city with paper and a typewriter.

After you have seen all this, take a look at some of the publications that ellement studio has published on the subject of Bata houses. Pick it up and take a walk around the nearest housing area in the Letná district. Especially in spring, it's a magical place where life happens behind low green hedges. There's the smell of apple trees and woods, barbecues in some gardens and cutlery clinking from open windows. The sun leans behind the hill and paints a million shades of orange on the brick facades. And you'll understand what's behind all those shades.