Supervisor: prof. Ing. arch. Miroslav Šik, dr. h. c.

Commercial spaces have an ambivalent character. Since ancient times, they have served as centers of
exchange while also functioning as important sites of social and cultural interaction. They cannot be understood as an isolated building type, as they have played a significant role in shaping urban stru-
ctures and everyday life.

Like the economy and society itself, commercial spaces are subject to recurring cycles of emergence,
prosperity, decline, and transformation. Each commercial form reflects the conditions of its time while simultaneously contributing to the formation of new social relations. This research traces the development of commercial spaces from the nineteenth-century department store to the present day and examines the relationship between their architecture, the city, and social change. The Parisian department store represents a decisive turning point in the evolution of commercial space. As a product of industrialization, it brought together commerce, representation, leisure, services, and new technologies within a single environment and became an apparatus of modernity. It was not merely a vehicle for economic maximization, but also a means of shaping behavior, a show-case of prosperity, craftsmanship, and contemporary trends. It also became a space of emancipation.

Particular attention is given to the mechanisms that underpinned its emergence and success, as well
as to their transformation and persistence in subsequent commercial forms up to the present day.
The aim of the dissertation is to reinterpret selected mechanisms of commercial spaces and assess
their potential in the search for new models that integrate physical and digital environments while
strengthening their role in the contemporary city.

MgA. Monika Jasioková,

Studio:

Dissertation: Commercial spaces as a shapers and mirrors of society