A town hall with an undulating façade

The small town of Lázně Bělohrad, in the Jičín region, has fewer than 4,000 inhabitants, yet in 2017 it announced a public architectural competition for a new town hall. The project that was ultimately realised was designed by re:architekti studio, even though it originally placed third. At first glance, the building draws attention with its gently undulating façade, whose expression shifts with the movement of the sun.

The interior offers generous flexibility. The main hall can open out onto the small square by the stream, and the ground floor can operate independently of the municipal offices above. Exposed concrete is complemented by durable, tactile materials such as brass and larch wood. The square in front of the town hall has also been redesigned and now features a new fountain by sculptor Monika Immrová.

A gallery in Gočár’s Mills

A brownfield transformation story of the kind that happens only once in several decades. Gočár Gallery forms part of the remarkable complex of Winternitz’s Automatic Mills in Pardubice, built on the banks of the Chrudimka River in the early 20th century to a design by Josef Gočár. Flour was milled here until 2012. Shortly afterwards, a search began for a new use for the buildings, which were declared a national cultural monument in 2014. In 2016, architect Lukáš Smetana purchased the site, and in 2018 the Pardubice Region bought back the main mill building from him—today’s Gočár Gallery.

The conversion was designed by architect Petr Všetečka and his studio TRANSAT architekti, also responsible for the restored Tomáš Baťa Memorial in Zlín. The architects respected the mill’s original character and sought to bring its exterior closer to its appearance roughly a century ago. The riverfront was connected to the courtyard by two newly created passages that now serve as entrances to the gallery. The internal system of horizontals and verticals was reconfigured. The five-storey wooden milling hall now houses the entrance hall and exhibition spaces; the eastern windows were sealed and replaced with skylights. The reinforced concrete sections of the building were adapted to accommodate collection storage, exhibition cabinets and back-of-house facilities.

A house from the forest

What does sustainable construction look like in practice? One example is the new headquarters of the Kloboucká lesní company, designed by Mjölk architekti. The timber beam structure is made exclusively from material produced directly on site—at the Kloboucká lesní production line, less than 100 metres from the building itself. The building’s internal systems combine modern technologies with common sense. Its primary structure consists of a heavy timber frame, a concrete core and steel bracing. The modular system allows for future changes in the internal layout. Solar panels on the roof supply the building with electricity, while the northern façade is lined with large panes of glass that bring ample daylight into the interior. Rainwater is used intelligently: collected from the roof, it flows into open above-ground tanks that help cool the building during the summer months. The architects also placed strong emphasis on employee wellbeing. Staff benefit not only from a high-quality indoor environment but also from covered outdoor terraces that run through the entire building. The project has attracted the attention of other award juries as well—it received the Grand Prix of Architects and was an honorary finalist of the Czech Architecture Award.

A glass-and-steel Z

An exhibition pavilion as a multifunctional social hub for the 21st century? Why not. Pavilion Z at the České Budějovice Exhibition Grounds has been transformed according to a design by the A8000 studio. Part of the structure was stripped back to reveal its structural essence; the pavilion now has a new façade and interiors, while the original 1970s steel framework has been preserved.

The new layout divides the space into a more enclosed right-hand section and a generous left-hand side conceived as open and airy as possible, separated only by a system of curtains. All necessary technologies and facilities are integrated into a single module, allowing the remaining space to breathe. In material terms, the exterior operates in two modes—solid and transparent. The solid elements are formed by white sheet-metal panels and a white roofing membrane, while the transparent elements are executed in glass. The pavilion now offers a hall with a capacity of 800 seats or 1,200 standing places, exhibition space and facilities for hosting conferences, graduation balls and other events.

A low-threshold club with a ramp

Studio ATAKARCHITEKTI impressed the EUmies Awards 2024 jury twice—with a low-threshold club project in Nová Paka and a library with a community center in Vratislavice. The low-threshold club was created in the basement of a former school building next to the parish church of St. Nicholas. The entrance leads down a sloping ramp running along the side of the building. Inside, there is a lobby with a cloakroom, offices, a glazed atrium and, above all, a spacious clubroom for children and young people. The clubroom is divided by furniture into a computer corner, a play and creative area with a climbing wall, and a relaxation zone set within the glazed atrium. The relaxation area and the lobby are illuminated by large skylights, through which daylight playfully filters via glass walls into the underground corridors and the clubroom itself. The project also included the enhancement of the public space between the former school and the church, from where the Neo-Renaissance building is entered. This in-between space is accentuated by an arched passage in a stone wall, followed by a sandstone staircase. What was once an inaccessible fenced-off corner of the town has been transformed into a small, lively square.

A library in a rectory and an underground cinema

The municipal library in Vratislavice needed new premises. The neighbouring, unused Roman Catholic rectory seemed a suitable location. However, the 1914 building proved too small, and the project gradually expanded, resulting in a new extension housing the library and a community center. The two buildings are connected underground as well as by a glazed footbridge. The semi-sunken level accommodates a family center, generously lit through large glazed portals. The ground floor is used by local clubs, while the upper floor houses the children’s library. The underground levels conceal a sixty-seat cinema with a small lobby and cloakroom located within a shared entrance vestibule. This subterranean vestibule links the old and new buildings and serves as a common entrance space for both the cinema and the family center. The structural shell of the extension is cast in reinforced concrete. The façade is clad in black standing-seam metal sheeting. Part of the roof above the underground cinema is covered by a green roof, while another section forms an access ramp leading into the space between the new and the historic building.

Other Czech projects include Kunsthalle Praha, created by converting the former Zenger transformer station in Klárov according to a design by Schindler Seko architekti, and the extension of the South Bohemian Research Library in České Budějovice by Kuba & Pilař architekti. However, the greatest domestic success was achieved by the Plato Gallery in Ostrava, designed by KWK Promes architects, which became a finalist in the competition.