Fire Station Krásná Studánka

When I moved my one-man office ten years ago from a rented attic in a villa in the middle of the city to a cottage outside of town, I had no idea that the most prominent building of my career would stand just 30 meters from my fence. In the meantime, I was getting used to the luxuries and pitfalls of working from home. My clients were also getting accustomed to things like the rooster crowing during our phone calls, as the LTE network only starts on a hill in the garden and the neighbor's rooster can crow until late afternoon.
In 2010, we had a flood, and I discovered that volunteer firefighters are indeed an effective force during such events and that they are expected to respond to all fires (except car accidents) within 10 minutes of the siren sounding. I joined them; it made sense since I lived and worked right across from the fire station. Honestly, I still don't know how the guys do it, but when the siren goes off, I can get up from the computer, relieve myself, and before I run across the street, someone from the crew is already there.
A peculiar figure is the unit commander, Pepa Hazi. In 2014, he came up with the idea of reconstructing the old fire station so that it would have a shared garage for three vehicles. It was clear that we couldn't use anything from the original firehouse; everyone thought it was a utopia. I was used to similar situations from previous experience, so I quickly sketched it out. Everyone laughed: "Looks nice, but it will never be built here."
However, Pepa didn't let himself be easily discouraged; he soon figured out that the construction could be funded through a European cross-border project that would also finance the modernization of two Czech and two German fire stations. He found and convinced the three remaining fire departments himself. The city of Liberec accepted the prepared project and supported it, and then it was on its way.
What remained for me was to figure out how to prepare the project for the permit and implementation as well as for the authorship supervision within the conditions of the tender. Fortunately, it’s easy to win a tender based on the lowest price; you simply submit the lowest bid and then you can work undisturbed.
What we wanted from the fire station: a garage for three vehicles, a changing room for 20 firefighters, a common room, and a children's club. The plot is not wide; on the street side, only the garage could fit, while everything else went toward the garden. The fire station is also the only public building in the village; elections and various festivities are held here. I wanted the garage, the common room, and the garden to connect during such occasions. I also wanted the building not to be just a technical garage for a fire truck but to be warm, open, and strong. I had no doubt about using wood as the main material.
I found the construction contractor in the neighboring village at a pub, where my friend introduced him to me by saying: "This is Ivoš; he's currently fixing my cottage and builds honestly." I immediately asked: "Hey Ivoši, do you want to build a fire station?" to which Ivoš replied: "No, I really don’t; it only brings trouble." In the end, he submitted a bid and won. It’s worth mentioning that the second candidate arrived half an hour late.
A special aspect of the project was the cross-border cooperation. Contact with the German firefighters during the project was not limited to the administration of joint financing. We had several joint exercises and parties as part of the project, which continue even after the project ended. Eighty years ago, our grandfathers built border fortifications in the surrounding hills against the Germans and trained for war with the Germans. Now, we, along with their grandchildren, are building fire stations together and training on how to rescue people. And when Zhenya and Vasya, who worked on the construction, arrive at the party, it becomes clear that we have greatly expanded this cross-border cooperation.