2024-04-25 10:33:08
A family of five lived for years in solitude behind Kutná Hora. They love greenery and peace, but the daily commuting to school and picking up children from kindergartens got too much for their parents, so they left nature and moved to a terraced house near the center. The 19th century building with 1970s modifications was more work than they expected. But Studio Byró managed to cope.
The house with scratched plaster and green windows stands in a heritage zone near the center of Kutná Hora. It stands out from the terraced buildings with its snow-white color, but otherwise dutifully copies the height and architecture of the surrounding houses. When the owners bought it in 2020, it was defaced by modifications from the 1970s, but thanks to the strong walls and solid foundations from the end of the 19th century, it had the potential for a dignified transformation, which the owners were assisted by the Byró architekti studio.
“At the moment when the investors approached us for a complete renovation, the house was de facto deprived of any authenticity and character, and our task was to restore it. We tried to rediscover the memory and the original layers of the house, which were not many, and blend them with new layers so that they mutually form a whole,” say the authors of the proposal, Jan Holub and Tomáš Hanus, who spent almost two years on the reconstruction in Kutná Hora.
The transformation was originally supposed to concern only the interior, but in the end the family agreed to improve the facade as well. | Photo: Aktuálně.cz/Alex Shoots Buldings
Multi-layered materials, lightness and colour
Štěpán produces ciders in Kutnohorsk, Tereza teaches at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. Although they had a beautiful life in nature, the constant commuting to the city due to school and the leisure activities of their three children was exhausting in the long term. When the coronavirus pandemic forced them to slow down for a while in 2020, they started thinking about a life change. “We both liked the house near the center, but it was Štěpán who initiated the purchase. I didn’t want to renovate anything anymore. It was our third house, so I knew how much work it would take. But I was attracted by the prospect that when we move to cities, the children will be more independent,” says the lady of the house.
Tereza initially took the recommendation of her acquaintances and approached another young architect for the reconstruction. But the owners were not satisfied that he refused to work on the overall appearance of the house. “Essentially, he only made us a layout sketch, i.e. where and what it will be. From then on, the mutual cooperation rubbed off. I wanted the house to be artistically unified, so I started looking around for other architects, until I came across the reconstruction of a house in Mladá Boleslav from the Byró studio. I was interested and the next day I contacted the boys,” the mother of three describes the beginning of her collaboration with Jan Holub and Tomáš Hanus.
Wood, pastel colors and a fireplace create a warm atmosphere in the interior. | Photo: Aktuálně.cz/Alex Shoots Buldings
The architects got along with the owners from the beginning. They had a fairly clear idea of what the new housing would look like. “Before the proposal itself, we usually ask clients to send us a mood board (collage of images – editor’s note) or references that will bring us closer to their idea. In the case of Štěpán and Tereza, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the proposals,” the architects explain. Thanks to a clear and comprehensible assignment, the authors of the reconstruction were better able to fulfill the wishes of the investors. “If we were to make the assignment more concrete, the supporting pillars were color, multi-layered materials, openness and lightness,” they add.
About the construction
Place: Kutna Hora
Year of completion: 2023
Architects: BYRÓ architects, Jan Holub and Tomáš Hanus
Built up area: 128 m²
Gross floor area: 384 m²
Usable area: 297 m²
Cena: 10,500,000 crowns
Old finishes prevented natural light
The most difficult task from the beginning was how to turn the “70s box” into a house that breathes again. In some places, the interior was divided by partitions that prevented the penetration of natural light further into the house. “Our common goal was to blur the line between old and new. To bring back the original sentiment and work with it to a certain extent, but at the same time sometimes get rid of it. We wanted it to be a believable mix of history and modern concepts, because we didn’t want to be behind every the price is only retro. That doesn’t really appeal to us,” Holub admits.
In the house, they had some partitions demolished and a total of three floors adapted to the lifestyle of the owners. “Even though it’s not a big city here, we lived in nature, where there weren’t so many limits. We didn’t want to turn it into a cottage, but we needed to get light here, reveal the DNA of the house and improve its permeability. We are a family and we want to live connected, not hide from yourself,” explains Tereza.
The round windows that connect the staircase or individual rooms are the leitmotif of the house. | Photo: Aktuálně.cz/Alex Shoots Buldings
Therefore, together they dusted off the skylight, opened views to the yard and the street, and built glazed openings in the interior, which facilitate communication between the individual rooms and at the same time let light further into the core of the house. “Unless they are bedrooms, there is no reason to separate the corridor from the entrance hall and the like. Round windows in the interior are such a leitmotif of the house – they blur the boundaries between individual rooms and facilitate their mutual communication,” says Tomáš Hanus.
The house, which dates from the 19th century, stands on originally medieval foundations. Thanks to this, it is narrow, but deep – it stretches from the street towards the yard. “We like that the windows communicate with the yard, the street and up towards the sky. Due to the depth of the house, not much light previously penetrated inside, which was solved in this way,” praises the owner.