Architect and urban planner Robert Hubert Podzemný came from Křivý u Valašského Meziříčí (today the local part of Podlesí), where he moved with his parents directly to Valašské Meziříčí. In Meziříčí he graduated from the State School for Woodworking in Valašské Meziříčí, where his cousin Richard František Podzemný (1907-1987) and other future architects Václav Hilský, Antonín Tenzer and Zdeněk Plesník also studied. In 1926-1928 he worked as a draughtsman and furniture designer for the Sagasser company (a factory for art, furniture and decoration work). From 1932 he attended the School of Arts and Crafts in Prague and while studying he worked in architectural studios in Prague.

In the mid-1930s, after completing his studies in Prague, he was hired at his own request to work in the construction department of the Bat'a Concern, a. s., Zlín, where he had the opportunity to work alongside the company's architects F. L. Gahura, V. In the company's construction department he was heavily involved in the conception of the so-called production units, small industrial towns intended for the concern's worldwide expansion. As an employee of the building department, he undertook a number of study trips abroad (Belgium, France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands) and participated in several international competitions, for example, the competition for the design of a family house, in which he won first prize in 1936 ahead of 257 other competitors. In the same year, he took part in the competition for the design of the station building in Valašské Meziříčí - Krásno with the architects Hilský and Tenzer. In addition to projects for the Bata concern, he also worked for the design offices of architects Ployer, Janda, Kvasnicka and Kučerová.

In 1939, Podzemný allegedly had a disagreement with J. A. Bata, as he refused to design a new city with factories in Brazil for him, which ended their cooperation. Podzemný left for New York, where he studied at Columbia University (1940-1943). In 1943, he participated in drawing up plans for the reconstruction of the destroyed Greek cities of Canea and Larissa. From 1944, together with Columbia University Dean Leopold Arnaud and Dr. Josef Komenda of the exiled Ministry of Public Works, he worked on a project to rebuild burned Lidice. On the basis of secret aerial photographs taken by the Allied air force in early 1944, the idea of preserving the original Lidice site as a memorial area in a green park was conceived. Podzemný lived in New York with his family until his death in 1990.

The high point of Podzemný's work in the Bat'a construction department in Zlín was the design of four factory towns, the French sites of Vernon (not realized) and Hellocourt and the Czech factory towns called Bat'a in Zruč nad Sázavou and Sezimovo Ústí. The model regulatory plan of the underground zruč (signed 17 June [193]9) consisted of a compact oval area, disturbed by the existing farm buildings and the road leading to Chabeřice. The factory buildings were placed in the curve of the turning Sázava River, the gate of the factory complex opened into a central road with a square, which was followed by a green belt with alleys and sidewalks leading to the individual houses of the company estate. While the dormitories were situated by the square, the schools were planned in the area of the estate and the hospital complex was planned on the hill above the town. The underground project was only partially realised: the two factory buildings, the school, one liberty house, the community centre and almost half of the company housing estate were built. Following Podzemný's projects, two dormitories were built after the Second World War. The first change in the regulatory plan of the strictly symmetrical settlement occurred in 1940, when the concept of the square and the central road with the shopping area was restructured by Jiří Voženílek.