The building industry in normalisation-era did not offer architects proper opportunities for the development of the current ethos. Although there were a small number of buildings that because of the type of commission or the involvement of a prominent investor were accorded an individual approach and had an almost unlimited budget, political support and sometimes even supplies from abroad, in all other projects architects had to improvise extensively, at some risk and considerable effort. They looked for loopholes in the rigid systems of prefabricated structures and façades, modified standard components or used them in unusual places, embellished largely dull buildings with added features such as loggia, portals, and awnings, got the public and artists involved in plans and projects, persuaded manufacturers, colleagues, and research institutes to engage in experiments. The results that constant improvisation forced by circumstances produced deserves our attention. Although many of these buildings may have lost their freshness over time, the works of those architects who recast the difficulties of that time into challenges and extracted a unique style out of the work of improvisation continue to form a stratum of modern architectural history that cannot be overlooked.
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