Zámek s novou vrstvou světla

Project idea

The subject of this studio project is the restoration of the 15th-century château in Velké Němčice and its conversion into an administrative, social, and cultural centre. The project therefore includes a new municipal office (consisting of the mayor’s office and three additional offices: the reception/registry office, the administrative office, and the finance office), a community centre (a multipurpose meeting room), a library, a café (with both indoor and outdoor seating), public restrooms accessible from both the interior and exterior, spaces for hosting social and cultural events, tea kitchens, storage areas for office supplies, and other supporting facilities.

The main concept of the project was to open up the château, which today feels rather closed-off and unwelcoming, while treating the historic structure with the greatest possible sensitivity and respect in order to preserve its character and identity.

Project description

Light became the central theme of the design. On the western side, the château encloses a courtyard that felt overly deep, dark, and lifeless. My initial intention was to insert a “glass volume” into this space—a light-filled element that would both illuminate the courtyard and reduce its excessive depth. This idea ultimately evolved into the final solution: a café located on the threshold between the interior and exterior, enclosed by glass, allowing visitors to enjoy uninterrupted views of the surrounding greenery.

Above this space, on the second floor, a terrace is created, providing municipal office staff with a pleasant outdoor retreat, while also serving as a high-quality space for visitors and wedding guests. The concept is completed by glazing part of the roof, allowing people on the upper floor to experience a visual connection with the historic timber roof structure as well as the surrounding landscape. This creates a unique setting for social and cultural events, adding significant spatial value to the building.

From the exterior, this intervention is perceived as a continuous strip of glass—a symbol of light, life, and human activity within the historic château.

Technical information

Building Development and Construction

The château has a U-shaped floor plan consisting of three two-storey wings. The northern wing is partially basemented. The southern wing is reinforced by a substantial buttress, which forms the inclined façade of the building.

From a structural perspective, the château is based on a combined load-bearing wall system. The vertical load-bearing structures are constructed primarily of solid fired clay bricks, with some sections incorporating a combination of brick and stone masonry. These are massive load-bearing masonry walls.

The horizontal load-bearing structures above the basement and the ground floor consist of brick barrel vaults supported by masonry walls. One room in the western wing on the ground floor features a reinforced concrete beam-and-slab ceiling. Above the first floor, the building is covered by timber beam ceilings with flat soffits and traditional reed plaster.

The floor finishes vary throughout the building. Above the basement level, floors consist of concrete paving, screed, or compacted earth. On the ground floor, ceramic tiles, terrazzo flooring, and concrete screeds are used, with some areas covered by PVC flooring. One room retains an original earthen floor. In the attic, the walking surface is formed by traditional brick paving.

The façade is finished with smooth plaster. The windows are framed by decorative surrounds, and the upper part of the façade is crowned with a profiled cornice. The interior walls are finished with traditional lime plaster. Both the windows and doors are timber.

The roof structure is a traditional timber purlin roof system consisting of tie beams, wall plates, purlins, rafters, inclined posts, collar ties, braces, and struts.

The building is covered by a hipped roof clad with asbestos-cement shingles (a later replacement rather than the original roofing material) laid on continuous timber boarding. A small mono-pitched sheet-metal roof is located on the western side of the building.

Interventions to the Existing Structure

The design aims to preserve the existing structure as much as possible, making maximum use of the current load-bearing walls and existing openings.

Ground Floor

The most significant structural intervention on the ground floor involves the partial demolition of the Baroque load-bearing wall in the centre of the château, which supports two brick barrel vaults. Due to the limited headroom, the new openings are increased in height by installing steel I-section lintels, which also improve the transfer of loads from the first floor above. The same approach is applied to the western exterior wall, where sections of masonry between the vaults are removed to create a continuous passage.

Another major intervention is the installation of a lift. New reinforced concrete vertical load-bearing walls are constructed down to the basement level to support the lift shaft and its structure.

Both the basement and the ground floor will undergo remedial works, including masonry injection to address rising damp and the installation of new waterproofing. The project also removes the later western extension with its sheet-metal roof.

First Floor

The first floor introduces a more substantial architectural intervention through the replacement of part of the external masonry wall with large glazed panels. The roof structure and additional loads are transferred by steel I-section lintels, thermally insulated to eliminate thermal bridging. The wall plate is chemically anchored to the steel beam.

As part of the concept, a section of the roof is also glazed, exposing part of the historic roof structure. All exposed timber elements are replaced with new members of identical dimensions and construction to preserve the original structural character.

All newly introduced internal partition walls are designed as lightweight gypsum plasterboard construction, providing a reversible and minimally invasive intervention that is appropriate for a historic building.

Documentation

Show PDF 1