The architect Josef Němec is the emeritus director of the State Institute for Reconstruction of Monument Buildings and Structures in Brno. Starting in the 1970s he was one of the first active architects to initiate and realize the renewal of monuments of modern architecture. He played a key role in the fate of the world famous Brno monument, Villa Tugendhat. Thanks to his efforts, the city invested resources into its renewal and reconstruction at the beginning of the 1980s which actually rescued the building.