Josef Vaněk

The Šumperk project designer and self-taught architect Josef Vaněk became widely known thanks to his design of the popular “Type V” detached house, known throughout the whole country as the Šumperák.

Born in 1949, Vaněk, a native of Březová near Olomouc, completed an apprenticeship in bricklaying at Baťa’s school in Zlín (at that time named Gottwaldov) and then continued his studies at the Construction Engineering College in the same town. After graduating in 1951, he worked at what was at that time the Design Institute of the Ministry of Light Industry. A year later, he became a freelance project designer and also, during his national military service from 1952 to 1954, he continued working in the profession. After returning to civilian life, he worked for Agrostav in Zlín but in 1956 moved to Šumperk where he worked for the District Construction Company. Here he was employed in various positions, and it was also where he created his Šumperák Project. After 1971, he was manager of the Šumperk branch of Kovostav Ostrava. The longest position he held was that of director of the project design team at Agrostav in Šumperk from 1973 to 1992. Whilst working, he continued his education and also applied to study at the University of Civil Engineering in Brno where he was accepted. However, due to his great workload, he never finished his studies there.

Vaněk designed the Šumperák project in 1966, later expanding it to five different versions. Its popularity, helped by widespread media interest in the press and on TV, rose to such a degree that after 1970 several thousand of them were built in the country. The key to success behind this modern, Brussels-style-inspired house was not only its simplicity, making it suitable for self-building, but also its acceptable price and Vaněk’s entrepreneurial spirit. However, the regime of the time was not sympathetic to personal success and accused Vaněk of illegal profiteering. The designer responded to this accusation with a two-hundred-page written justification which, still today, is the main source for comprehending his design intention.

Vaněk continued creating a range of projects of varying type and quality destined for the Šumperk region. In 1992, when he was already retired, he started his own project design company and, right up to his death, designed and oversaw the construction of buildings.
 

1950s-1990s
Josef Vaněk's own house, Černohorská 2, Šumperk

1963–1966
Premises of the District Construction Company, Uničovská 52, Šumperk

1964–1965
Recreational Chalet Skřítek, Šumperk

1966
Sauna, Kozinova 12, Šumperk

1993
Guesthouse Vaněk, Ludvíkov 496, Velké Losiny