Introduction

The Sluňákov - Centre for ecological activities of the city of Olomouc has been designed as part of a project entitled „Sluňákov, facilities for ecological activities - educational biocenter“, which is located northwest of Olomouc, in the Morava River valley. The facilities are to be used to educate the public about the environment and its processes and to support public environmental awareness. The building will also be used as the information center and the entrance to the Nature Protection Area of Litovelské Pomoraví. The Center itself will be used for a wide range of activities. The main aims are providing one-day and weeklong environmental education programs for school-aged groups and professional seminars on ecology and education. The building also enables „soft tourism“ that includes environmental education programs. Because the Center has been designed as an energy-saving building, it will also provide the public with an example of the possibilities available when designing ecological housing and promote sustainable development.

Architectural Design

The building has been designed as a curved inhabitable land wave that fluently blends into the surrounding terrain and symmetrical following the exact North-South axes. The architectural design utilizes the southern orientation with a southern glass fasade with movable sunn blinds. Two recessed entrances are situated at the north side. The eastern side of the building symbolically ascends from the ground to enhance the display of the southwestern sunshine. The earth-sheltered northern side of the building fluently adjoins the building's earth-covered roof, which gradually increases in height from the west to the east. The path that leads the visitor from the main entrance over the „ridge“ of the building goes on to the „top“ lookout point that provides a unique view of the entire biocenter. The area between the building and the artificial mound in front of the southern façade is to be used as a living garden for the guests and visitors.

The unusual style of the proposed building results from a process of looking for new forms of ecological buildings that not only integrate into the surrounding environment, but also utilize solar energy and are earth-sheltered to increase protection from unfavorable weather. The initial form proposed was inspired by the low-to-the-ground, rustic buildings traditionally found in Haná. The shape of the solar eclipse served as inspiration for the curve of the building. The building's ground floor is raised to ensure that it is above flood level. Flexibility, which is perceived as beneficial to the ecological concept of the entire building, was stressed when solving the problem of room plan. The backbone of the building is the hallway that runs the entire length of the building. All rooms are accesible from the hallway. On the sunny south side from the hallway is residential area, partially one floor (lecture hall, dining room, class rooms, offices), partilally two floors (accommodation, governors flat) and on the shadied northside there are aplyances. Similarly, the building is divided into two different parts, from the point of view of construction. The northern part is proposed to be built like reinforced concrete skeleton construction, the southern part with hallway with load bearing structure made by wooden frames.

All materials used are traditional and have been chosen due to their environmental friendliness. The facades are covered by wood, glass, concrete and stone (stacked). The interior is completed using mainly wood, glass and brick walls plastered or, in the case of unfired brick, left uncovered. Fired brick or reinforced concrete is used in the supporting structure for the technical rooms and wet activity areas. Most floors are covered by wooden planks and those in wet activity areas or in technical areas are covered by seamless floor. The entire concept of the interior and exterior of the building is based on reality and takes into account the use of natural colors and surface structures of the individual building materials.

Not only does the building have passive building elements (southern glass fasade, earth shelter on the northern side) that enable the building to save on energy and help the environment, but it also has active measures. These measures, such as a heating and ventilation using heat recovery to heat the building, solar collectors for hot water preparation and for support of space heating and earth heat exchanger, will also be used for educational and demonstration purposes.

Building-energy concept

The building-energy concept was designed with respect to the basic principles of sustainable development. The building is designed for full yearlong operation with the four month heating season only. The heat demand is covered using a combination of renewable energy sources - biomass and solar energy. Ventilation and warm air heating are ensured by fresh air and by warm air circulation ventilation with heat recovery from outgoing air. The building is divided into six separate ventilated zones. Earth heat exchangers that serve mainly to bring cooler air inside in the summer months are located in the earthen berm behind the building. Two automatic wood pellet furnaces provide the main source of heat for heating and are a supplementary source for heating the hot water. A modern solar system that decreases the need for secondary energy for hot water heating has been proposed. It covers 70% of hot water demand and 20% of heating.

Newly developed shopping centres at suburbs do not deal with their lot and landscape and do not create the city. Only independent solitary buildings interconnected one to another with no intent, enclosed by vacant parking spaces. No parterre, no communication with the street - street has shifted inside. Anonymous boxes are the result. Šestka design solves this problem from different point of view.

Šestka shopping centre is placed at suburbs of Prague, the capital of Czech Republic, beyond city circuit, next to the Ruzyně international airport areas. The locality, where development of city railway and other projects is supposed.

Šestka shopping centre concept clearly defines its place in the landscape. Parking is placed in the shape of the building, mainly on the roof, partly inside the building. Mould excavated during construction is used for embracing the sides of the building and formation of embankments. Such embankments are used for ramps to the roof. They create two side facades of the building grown by grass merging with surrounding.

At point of prospective connection to the city railway station the embankment is cut for pedestrian entrance placement. Geometry of this concrete entrance is derived from the shape of city road.

Front facades, two sections in landscape, are utilized for delivery yards, venting openings, offices doors and windows. Covered by perforated sheetmetal - a curtain, beyond which borders of full and hollow, land and building could be read due to lights and shadows play.

Roof became the new parterre. Roof's objects organization is subordinated to parking places. All technologies are adjusted into five platforms steadily placed on the roof. Lights are placed onto high poles illuminating maximal area. Usage of grisly urban materials in rectangular silhouettes provides entrance's red curve to distinguish.

Shopping mall interconnecting number of smaller and larger shops is placed in two levels inside. Smooth customers flow was transferred into mall plans. Customers are led by spatial loop interconnecting both levels of the building. The mall is laced by advertisement strip above the shop-front - a line in the space - where tenants place their commercial labels. Customers flow principle created skylight shapes above main piazza of the mall as well as above the roof entrance. Operational and escape corridors are tinted (by reason of clear orientation) by basic colour according to purpose, together creating the spectrum.

Building structure is assembled from pre-cast reinforced concrete large-span framing. Vertical communications, delivery docks and pedestrian entrance are made of cast in-situ concrete. Embankments are reinforced by geo-textiles and their fronts by steel meshes. Removable partition walls are made of plasterboard.

Someday, roof of the building could serve as parterre for construction of buildings in principle identically solved as present technological platforms.

Location:

Abandoned sandstone quarry with two mining craters. The location has in time become part of the village urban area.

Structure:

Building A - cube:

Reinforced concrete walled cube, thermal insulation, outside stone, inside wooden structure made of massive Finnish spruce timber 90x150, spruce ceilings, and oak floors

Building B - on supporting pillars:

The reinforced horizontal base slab is supported by eight vertical pillars 300/300 built into the rock. A wooden building is built on the base. The supporting wooden structure consists of six frames made of glued spruce bond timbers. Walls are made of double-sided sandwich made of massive Finnish spruce balks with internal insulation and supporting structure.

Suspended ceilings: massive spruce boards with distance joints

Massive wall balks are placed on the reinforced concrete slab, joined by running springs and secured by vertical steel tie bars.

Roof: titanium-zinc folded sheets

Building C - inside the reservoir:

Foundation on the reinforced concrete reservoir, from which protrude the plate supporting brackets. On the plate stands a wooden building made of transverse beams and glued bond timber. The peripheral construction, roof and other construction elements are identical with building B.

Connecting wings:

The bridging consists of rolled steel sections. Roof is made of wooden joists. Lining consists of glass glued into subtle stainless steel sections.

The original dispatcher's building originates in 1845. In the 70's of the 19th century, first, a symetrical extension occured and then, in 1895, a new storey-building was attached to the existing dispatcher's building (which was also rebuilt). Along with a new object in which the toilets were situated, an architectonic and urban complex in the Neo-Baroque style was created as a part of the so-called Ferdinand's northern railway from Vienna to Cracow.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the terminal of two short lines (Svinov - Klimkovice; Svinov

- Vřesina - Kyjovice) and a tram (Svinov - Ostrava) should have been in front of the railway station since the beginning of the 20th century. In the 50's, the construction of Poruba started, and, in the 70's, a new road from Ostrava to Poruba was built, including a body of trams around 320 meters far from the railway station, and which is about 11 meters above the ground, on the so-called Svinovské mosty and the short lines (which should have been nearby the station) were cancelled. At that time, the construction of the new dispatcher's building should have taken place. It was connected to the main building with a so-called "Plato" (a transit building) in which mobile walkways would be placed. This plan was not realized.

During the 20th century, a lot of minor adjustments on the dispatcher's building were performed. The largest changes were made during the 70's and 80's. In these years, all the architectonic elements were taken down, the bolsters and bosses cut off and the double windows with arched header joints replaced with type ones.

The station building was situated in the street which ended at the tap line of the so-called "Mannesmanka". Due to the demolition of a few useless objects, a huge space arose in front of the building. Bus service was put on into that space and, therefore, the impact of the cancellation of the short lines as well as the shunt of the trams to the so-called "Svinovské mosty" from the 70's of the 20th century were moderated. A new brick object of the traffic enterprises, including a city-news center on the ground floor, was built in front of the dwelling-house in the northern part of the space.

The historical station building is reconstructed into its original form not only on the facades but also the spaces which share their original filling. The basements, destroyed during the floods in 1997, serves again as the kitchen of the station restaurant. With regard to the descents of the terrain, the former first platform is by ca 1 meter lower than the first track and is used as an external waiting room and, therefore, supplied for this purpose. Restored on the facades were all the architectonic elements, sandstone sills, and the double wooden windows are copies of the original ones, including the wooden case and lining. In the inner spaces, parts of the stuke ornamentation were mended and complemented. The original paving came down only on the service staircase into the administrative floor and it was preserved. The rest of the paving is new and ceramic. On the roof of the building, there are refurbished hedges and laid shaly docking and newly masoned chimney bodies. At the first and "Opava" platforms, the cast iron columns made one hundred years ago in Třinec are reconditioned. The covering of the "Opava" platform was rebuilt according to its original looking. Within the framework of the second corridor, subways with entrance glazed objects are newly created.

With regard to the need of the creation of areas for the entrance hall and the Czech Railways centre, a glazed entrance hall was built in front of the historical building. It is made mainly of glass, as well as is the covering for the bus stations in front of the building and the entrances into the building itself. The transparent object of the addition enables view to the historical building both from the interior of the entrance hall and the area in front of the railway station so that the addition hides and reveals the historical building in parallel. (The fact that the technical object was built in front of the historical building portrays the historical industrial architecture, as it is to be found in the Ostrava region. In these older objects, there was a lack of space for new technologies; therefore, new objects are built in front of these buildings and create an integral part of them.)

The historical building is reconstructed according to its original form (all the outbuildings and additional walling were cleared off). The historical object is in brickwork with plastering. New constructions placed there are from a different material - glass, metal, and stone and therefore, the original (of refurbished) constructions and the new ones are to be clearly distinguished.

Steel-concrete, thin pillars with a slung span imposition crack up the thin, steel-concrete roof with fixed rods, which are fastened with splint at their ends. These steel rods fix the glass facades. The roof board contains glassed-in inlets, over which the luminaries (to illuminate the hall) are placed These are framed so that the luminaries are not visible from the space in front of the station and, therefore, would not keep from the look at the enlightened façade of the historical building. The overhanging edge of the roof enables the passive heating of the space by sun during the winter period and, in summer, it prevents from overheating. There are fountains in front of the building, which (apart from its aesthetic value) have also the function of air-conditioning.

Cooling elements: In summer, the water surface cools down and moistens the air which goes through the electronically controlled flaps, rises up and moistens the space of the hall. It leaves the room under the roof through the flaps. To strengthen the effect, it is possible to use the five mechanic doors for the entrance into the building (and leave them in the open position). A third element lies in the conditioning units with heating pumps, whose coolness is carried into the hall.

Warming elements: In the winter period, the flaps are closed and, under the floor in the hall, there is a piping of the floor heating; the entrances have thermal blinds and the jets carry the warm air into the hall.

On the three facades over the entrances into the hall, there are clocks as a significant component of the building.

In front of the new object, a new front-space is created (Dr. Braun's Square) with the bus stops. The space is enclosed by the standing objects (brick-house in the southern part and the object of Police in its western part) and in the northern part, there is a new object with a brick-façade in which the residence of the Dopravní podnik of Ostrava and The City-news Centre of the town of Ostrava is settled.

Prostor bytu v rodinném domu byl rekonstrukcí rozšířen propojením jednotlivých místností, probouráním stávajících stěn a použitím nových skleněných příček a unikátního skleněného schodiště. Celkový svěží pocit v interiéru byl umocněn použitím výrazně barevných interiérových doplňků v kombinaci se světlými barvami vestavěného nábytku.

Based on the investor's demands to reconstruct the original villatic residence with a yard wedged between the economic wing of the building and the house to a family residence fully corresponding to the demands of a large family and of the twenty-first century, and the contiguous garden to a hinterlan for free time with an undemanding and easy maintenance, high usefulness and aestheticaly interesting, I've tried to create the following ilusion.

The villatic residence was built on the foundations of the original medieval homestead whose remainders are still noticable at several places. Original old-time pillar columns even nowadays majesticaly gripp the front gate , remainders of the peripheral walls where rock plants crawl on their disintegrating tops and here and there some seeding wood crouches, a small backyard and also ruins of some residence, nowadays serving as a transitionally patio from the living room to the water biotop. (used plaener stone from the economic wing demolition)

Behind the front gate there spreads a quadrangle creating a natural crossroad of the everyday rush, sufficienly planted with greenery and decorated with a range of artefacts, for its calm image. From here you can liveably enter the workroom and the Family provider office, the economic shelter, the open garage, from where you can enter the house or go to the garden, and through the gate and gateway to go out to the street or over the backyard with a barrierless slip road enter the house through its front door.

From the space behind the door with built in dressing wardrobe you get through the passage to the garage or the office of the lady of the house with one door and with the second door you get to the space from where you can get to the cellar, or to the bathroom and from here to the laundry room and through the open entrance to the connected living, kitchen and dining part of the house which are seperated only imaginarily by the remaiders of the original walls in the way that there have been formed fascinating openings among the original rooms. From the residential part you come to two-armed stairs, under its upper arm there is effectivelly wedged a closeable woodshed, on the first floor there are situated three rooms for children, a bedroom, a dressing room, the second bathroom and a toilet and here you should notice the entire using of the attic space which isn't devalued by "cheap" ceiling, but the space over the roof ties is transformed in to open store shelves. The roof ties which aren't used are left free in the space and set off as against the rest of the casing by a dark colour. And then a stone bed, built bed tables of bricks and shelves with built in spotlights corresponding to multimedial wall of bricks separating the bedroom itself from the wardrobe.

At the foot of the stairs there is a "French" window and through it you can easily go from the living room across the stone patio to a private pond which was arising in the depression of the sandstone rock massif for long years. Its natural majestic character was seized from the surrounding landscape and shackled with a peripheral wall from where is no escape possible. The last possibility may be only the gate for the entry of a possible service which can be only a poor compensation for the lost freedom.

In fact it is a fancifully arranged low energetic water biotop(200m/2 water surface, 220m/3, 160cm max. depth). Its case and rock massif extending over the terrain is "in quation marks" only a ferroconcrete shell. But then its heart is an underground storage reservoir(58m/3). All pluvial water from the roofs of the homestead(600m/2), which is the main source, is led down to this place. With the overflow keeping the constant water level in the biotop, it is seperated with a gravelly filter, which is separating the reservoir to two halves, from the other mechanism. To the fitered water outfalls as a spare source an exit of the well. For the case of overfilling the reservoir during abundant raining(e. g. at the beginning of spring after heavy snowy winter) there is an overfall of the sanitation. From this chamber single branches of water streams(in this case three) go away throught the cellar, where there is a simple control of the flow, to the various parts of the biotop meeting the function of biological filtres and oxygenating. For non-problematic working of the natural self-refining processes only one submergible pump caterring the permanent circulation suffices. The remaining two ones serve "in this case" to water the roller coaster which mainly the kids crew in the house will appreciate, and to water two waterfalls "delightful for eyes" but they mainly constitute a spare source for oxygenating in hot summer days. The single pumps are controlled by buttons located on facade at the patio. We shouldn't forget to mention the classical country-house lavatory where there is a hidden flushing toilet watered with the water from the biotop.

The pond isn't let out in winter so we may ice skate there and if you sprinkle the roller coaster with water, you make a heap of kids joy. Well, the garden can be used all over the year, there is undemanding maintainance because if it's wildly overgrown, it just gets its connaturality, and at the end I would to say this garden is aestheticaly "well done".

A Town between Two Giants

In 1899 Veltrusy was raised to the status of a township and in 1926 to a town. However, a municipality cannot become a town by official decision alone, but in equal part through the development of its structure, its image and, especially, the self-consciousness of its inhabitants. Veltrusy is a relatively young town and thus only some of its components (buildings, open spaces) have a urban nature, while others decisively do not. Precisely as there is nothing clear and certain in Veltrusy, there is nothing clear and certain about the positions of the two major land-holders registered on its territory. These two giants - the factory and the castle and its park - have their own plans, ambitions, financial resources, and their own demands and needs. In all of their proceedings they are, or at least feel themselves to be, independent of the town. However, the town naturally has a right, and indeed an obligation, to know all of these proceedings and must have the chance to express its opinion of them. In fact, this situation is a perfect example of the clash between national and local government bodies.

A Gem at the Edge of the Park

Most of the major assets of the town (especially its historical ones) are more or less related to or approaching the road (street) clinging the southern edge of the park. Veltrusy's one central square, náměstí Antonína Dvořáka, also adjoins to this street. However, its structure is from the most part fragmented. Moreover, the lively commercial centre of Veltrusy has been shifted to ul. Palackého, on the main access route to Prague, likewise the site of the municipality hall, the Sokol sports hall and a number of shops. The strong attraction of the castle and the park is made evident not only in the relation of most of the municipal activities to its edge, but through the radial convergence of most of the main communication roads towards the edge of the park. As a result, our proposed principle is that of the line centre whose axis would be interlinked with most of the municipal buildings and open spaces. We have hung a necklace at the edge of the park to make it apparent that the town of Veltrusy is not only what lies at the foot of the manor house, but that it has its own values- that it has its own distinctive structure.

This principle will enable a linearly radial development whose various development sites will gradually create their own open public spaces with important buildings along the main axis of the centre. The built-up area, especially for residential construction, will gradually move further away from the factory, behind the edge of the park, towards Všestudy.

Cover Sheets of the Issues

We have examined all of the currently most delicate issues and indicated the perspective changes of the town in such a way that none of the present proceedings shall block or complicate the possibilities of further development. In order to provide a systematic overview of the issues, we have decided in favour of using a form in which each of the issues is to be clearly and comprehensibly described, and in which the following particulars are to be included: definition of the priorities, the outline of the most effective solution, proposed financing options and time estimation of the realization. These cover sheets will be very easy to complete (and fill in) and should be used as a helpful aid to the municipal budget preparation and everyday decision-making. The issues are systematically divided into four fundamental areas of the town interests. In the interest of clarity, we have defined only eight problems in each batch.

1. Morphologies and outer entries (♣) This series deals mainly with the preparation of a new zoning plan and other documentation regulating development and relationships towards the nearest neighbours.

2. Strategy a publicity (♦) This series deals with the financial and budget analysis of the town's potential, and the system of financing, including the acquisition of external sources on the basis of the town's promotion.

3. Open spaces (♠) We have divided open spaces into two basic categories. The first one surveys and describes the current state of communications and proposes their modifications, the second one deals with the future prospects.

4. Buildings (♥) The main representatives of this series are primarily the school and the state of the school cafeteria, the old-age home, municipal hall, public library and others.

Imperial Stables of the Prague Castle were converted into an exhibition space in 1991-92. Ten years later, in the framework of the Gallery's evolving programme and the resulting loans of rare art works, superior climate control and stabilisation of the exhibition environment became imperative. The objective was to accommodate museum quality art works and artefacts and, at the same time, to fulfil insurance requirements for such valuables.

The resulting brief was as follows:

- To make Gallery's entrance more visible, to make adjustments to the entrance vestibule and the foyer of the Gallery.

- To secure a museum-quality climate control of +–2°C in the exhibition space environment.

Project is realized in the context of the Historic Preservation Area of the Prague Castle, under the supervision of the Department of preservation of historic buildings of the Office of the President. Design proposal is reduced to minimal intervention of 5 transparent elements (five easy pieces) in the historic space of Imperial Stables. These elements enable clear reading of the space and detailing of the vaults they create.

Piece 1. Dividing glass wall

A fully glazed wall divides the vestibule and access to toilets and wardrobe from the fully controlled climate of the exhibition space. Wall's height was verified and consequently designed following an analysis of microclimatic model of air flows programmed together with functioning of the air-conditioning unit in the basement. Part of the design is also heating/cooling tubing installed in the floor. This combined system secures even and stable temperature of the room with accuracy of +–1 °C even in extreme outdoors temperatures.

Chips for stability control are placed at the height of 1,2 and 2m on the exhibition side.

The security glass wall is designed as a fully glazed design of structural engineering and the bearing structure is an element of horizontal glass , at the height of 2.80m. A post of glass in shape of L has been designed for stability of opening doors and against shocks. Only connecting points are designed of stainless steel.

Glass doors have glass handles in stainless steel bracket detailing with minimised door closures.

Piece 2.

Glass wall handrail for staircase in foyer

Now part of the newly formed foyer (ticket sales). Leads to a basement with wardrobe, toilets and access to mechanical room with HVAC unit.

Piece 3. Glass entry door

The vestibule was redesigned, is fully ventilated as part of the HVAC system of climate stability of the interior of the Imperial Stables. Two stainless steel pylons near the door create an air curtain, underneath the sandstone flooring are ducts to provide air under the new seating - waiting area. Air intake is on the outside underneath a resloped sandstone floor in the passage to the Second Castle Courtyard.

Piece 4. Glass door into Imperial Stable room

Fully glazed door includes the transom, with a glass door handle. Connected to the electric security system, as well as Piece 3.

Piece 5. Glass banner in the vestibule

Helps to make the entry to the gallery visible, with application of the supergrafics for each exhibition. Plecnik's "Eyes" have been re-installed as part of a lighting system.

Integral to the above interventions is a new exhibition space of superior standards for temporary exhibitions of rare artwork with museum-quality climate control in Prague.

The idea of the memorial reflects the cancerous character of communism that grew through the whole society during 40 years of duration. The main motif is mirroring. The burden of decision-making who is the victim and who is the tyrant is transferred to everybody who comes to the memorial. Everybody is forced to look into his own eyes. Through emphasis on personal responsibility the idea of memorial transcends to the present days and future. It strives to go beyond the border prevailing in memorial art where authors focus mainly on commemoration of events already finished and preserve them into an artistic form using descriptive, symbolical or metaphorical interpretation. This memorial was meant to redefine its typological category. It is not a pathetic political gesture; it aspires to become a lively crossover between public art and architecture of the park.

The object of the dimensions 3.2 x 4.5 x 0.7 m is formed by two mirror sheets of metal-coated glass of the thickness of 18 mm (each of the mass of ca 800 kg) set-in in a steel frame. Inserted in its base in the paving is the mirror turned inscription legible in the reflection: "look into yourself, whether you defend, respect or restrict freedom". Memorial is located in the centre of the park where pedestrian paths intersect and its composition is completed by three 10 meters long park benches made of laminated wood. A casual passer-by walking through the park slowly approaches/enters the reflexion of the park in the mirror; the memorial alone is 'empty' and is activated for everyone personally in his presence. Indirect lighting underlines ethereal character of memorial through illumination of the treetops in the dark; its immaterial appearance intentionally contrasts with massive totalitarian monuments.

Křižanovice is a community of about 700 people, half way between Slavkov u Brna and Bučovice. The Sokol Křižanovice Sport Club amphitheatre, dressing rooms and sanitary facilities structure is situated in the northeast of the community, in the close vicinity of the Litava stream.

The task was to design a structure serving the local football club and at the same time becoming

a new social centre for the community to host various sports, culture and club events in addition to football matches. The mission was more than completed - the local people are proud of their new community centre, as innumerable events have demonstrated over the less than six months of operation (including

the fact that companies and the neighbouring communities hire the house for their events).

The structure is designed as a simple dimensional play of three volumes - two ground floor prisms and the roof - that create new relations and spaces when mutually set off. The prisms, in the local football club colours, contain the players' and referees' dressing rooms, a snack bar, a clubroom and all the background amenities. An amphitheatre for about 120 spectators covered with light trapezoid polycarbonate is placed on the larger red prism.

The construction of the building is mixed - steel frames and brickwork.

The general goal of the construction project for a new departure hall was to create conditions improving the function of the Brno - Tuřany Airport, with respect to strengthening its importance within the network of European international airports, by improving the quality of check-in services and general conditions for passengers, airline employees and airport guests. Furthermore, to contribute to the development of the South Moravian Region, to support the entrepreneurial activities directly and indirectly related to tourism and travel industries. The consequential goal is the augmentation of air travel and enhancement of the airport according to the requirements of the Schengen Agreement.

The Brno-Tuřany International Airport is located in the plane landscape of the south-western part of Brno, in immediate vicinity of the D1 highway.

The build-up zone is characteristic by its efficiency and progressive development. The existing dominant structure is the TWR Tower and the former ACCR premises. Besides the tower, there are no other architecturally important buildings.

The new Departure Terminal is situated east of the existing terminal. The reason for this is the operational interconnection and maximum integration of common functions. The indent of the hall on the north requires maintenance of the airplanes of the high category directly in front of the building, allowing the development of the original building on the north side later. The passenger's check-in area is planned in the centre between arrival and departures, as a reaction to the requirement to minimize the travel of the technical service employees.

The concept of the form of the building is in reaction to the airport operator's requirements. It is based on the simple layout of a support less hall of rectangle shape, allowing maximum variability for prospective use. The existing building integrates all the functions: check-in, departure Schengen, departure non Schengen and safety check.

The very identical and clear architecture of the exterior shape was created by chamfering and rounding the simple block mass in compliance with the aerodynamic principles of construction of airplanes or other transportation means. The façade itself went through a long design and technical development to fulfill the requirements for the external design and to better resist the environment atmospheric conditions. A special TiZn hexagonal model, which was able to meet all the technical parameters and the requirements on the monolithic shell, has been developed.

In compliance with the global design the idea of the airport as "the gate to the world and gate to the country", which identifies the hall completely, was further developed. The grandiose arched vaults of the external facades are dominant from both sides, where the plasticity of the building is supported by the recession of the glass parts. The north front is characterized by the protuberant arched shelter in the shape of a wing, which improves the protection of the passengers on the entry, where the south facade is shaded by the system of advanced sun blinds which lower the economic costs of cooling while maintaining a good view.

The exterior architecture is compact and aerodynamic, the interior is characterized by the exposed steel structure which works as "the skeleton coated with leather". Its static scheme, based on six main bearing vaults, respects the external "rounded" concept. Asymmetric shed light wells perforate the building's roof by logic shape segmentation, with the characteristic arch glassing from the northwest, and by the contrastive, fully deformed conoidal surface of acoustic soffits from the opposite side. The external shell disengages in the south and north third from the steel vaults and creates imaginary "side bodies" of the hall.

Limiting the description to the lines above, we have to mention the "special quality" of this building. It is not only the energetic economy achieved by reducing the external shell surface area by rounding, shading and suitably shaping along with the natural ventilation via the light wells, but the building's capacity to inspire. During the short life of the building, the construction is now already the focus of attention of the passengers and other public. The press and the public are giving it many names, both positive and negative. It has been called "the whale, shark, Moravian armadillo, snake skin, stone, airship, baseball hat, vault, airplane, Victory Arch and gate". This proves the meeting of the intention, creating an identical air gate to the South Moravian Region!

In conclusion, please read the following warning:

When ascending the central staircase to the gallery, looking to the south, you will see not only the departure-landing runway with the currently departing airplane, but, with the condition of good visibility, also the Pálava panorama - the symbol of South Moravia - directly in front of you and precisely in the exact centre and axis of the terminal.

The house is built in a foothill village. The measure and the character of the house come from the environment of a dispersed country built-up area.

The living space of the house is open, defined only by the cladding and is connected with the landscape thanks to the large windows. The essential space is the habitable studio with a gallery in the attic. The wooden shelter along the whole house fulfills the role of a sheltered parking as well as of a living perron with view of the hills.

The house was structurally designed as timber framing with aluminium building panels. The wooden construction is visibled in the interior. The surface of the walls and of the roof is formed by aluminium plates from the outside as well as from the inside. The ground plan of the house is 6 x 18 m with constructional fields in the modulus of 3 m. The construction was settled on the concrete foot blocks that allow the house to levitate above the ground so as to interfere with the landscape in terms of building operations as little as possible.

The former manufacturing hall No. 23, now housing the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Zlín, used to be part of the eastern sector of the former Baťa Works. This unique complex of buildings represented the core around which the whole town was built in the 1930s and 1940s. The unique character of local architecture and above all urbanism was based on the use of a new industrial method of mass building of factories, public buildings and residential houses in a way and extent unrivalled anywhere in the world.

The assignment was to turn a typical steel-framed building (3x13 fields with dimensions 6.15x6.60 m, 4 floors), typical for the Baťa Works, into an administrative building with flexible office spaces and facilities in the form of a café and shops. From the very beginning, our clear aim was to retain the essence and character of the Baťa corporate style from the inter-war years: its utilitarian elegance, honesty of structure and material, and balanced proportions. The proportion of the building as a whole to the overall urbanistic context of the whole premises was of crucial importance. One essential factor in the spatial concept was the building's static state, preventing us from putting any load on the fourth floor.

Since we were not willing to accept to demolish the fourth floor for proportional and urbanistic reasons, we decided to preserve it only in its construction essence. The solution was to remove the entire exterior wall of the fourth floor, with only the bare skeleton frame remaining. Inside the central part of the resulting space on the top floor, a light, pre-fabricated structure of a generously scaled office was installed, attached to its own subtle steel frame.

Inside, the space develops outward from a central atrium (middle tract), along the edges of which office areas are arranged to provide them with direct sunlight. The central communication space is vertically linked from the bottom to the top of the building using openings in ceiling plates, providing light from above. In four locations, additional light from the sides is provided via the glass walls of tubes with conference rooms. These tubes pass through the original walls of the building into the exterior (Corten sheet metal), clearly defining the new form of interior arrangement. The building also has an external lift shaft from the 1960s. Its beautiful vertical proportion is topped with the former headhouse, now providing a view of the whole premises.

We consider the decision to keep the original window sill brickwork from the 1930s and the repaired windows from the 1960s intact to be an important part of our concept. New materials used during the reconstruction reflect the environment: tubes - Corten sheet metal, fourth floor structure - black waterproof plywood, entrance passage - black sheet metal, fire escape - black anticorrosive coating + hot galvanizing, floors -concrete, partitions - wooden mounted structure - light veneer surface…etc. The building should be characterized by its original industrial rawness and at the same time by structural fragility, referring to the historically crucial period of the building of Big Zlín.