Renovation of the apartment building Francouzská 66

The investor's task was to renovate the old apartment building with a maximum increase in the usability of the structure for reasonable costs. Due to previous building modifications, little remained of the original Art Nouveau house; the building was not listed as a heritage site, and thus we were not significantly constrained in our design.
While respecting the regulations in the protective zone of the MPR, we could only expand the floor area into the garden by adding one small apartment. For micro-apartments, we utilized the attic and raised the roof into the courtyard, thereby exhausting all options for volumetric expansion of the building.

Exterior
The historical sculptural elements on the street facade had long succumbed to the ravages of time and had already been removed earlier. Therefore, there was nothing to build upon or repair, and we proposed a modern facade that is acceptable in the context of the historical character of the facades of surrounding buildings. We did not modify the original shape of the windows; we only highlighted their vertical character with new divisions. We designed typical architectural elements around the windows as architraves and created a playful composition of the facade through the shifting of shapes. A delicate material detail is created by the plaster used on the architraves, with a surface similar to sandstone. We chose a red-brown, contrasting color for the windows based on the preserved historical color of the original windows. For the courtyard, we opted for a purely economical solution – white plaster and a thoughtful composition of windows.
The search for the character of the new elements and their anchoring or intertwining with the historical was also a main motivation for the architectural work in the interior, always with an economic aspect in mind.

Interior
During the renovation, we gradually discovered interesting elements and surfaces in the interior – brick walls and sandstone steps of the staircase, which we left exposed, but only in places where the elements had at least basic craftsmanship quality. All usable historical elements were preserved or repaired – the original sandstone steps, forged railings, historical colored concrete paving, which we only rearranged in places. We partially left the brick walls visible even in the rental apartments.

Courtyard
Part of the building's reconstruction was the revitalization of the courtyard; the task was simply, cheaply, and effectively done. The courtyard is surrounded by low walls made of facing brick masonry. The surface of part of the area designated for parking is reinforced with grass paving tiles and is grassed over, creating an alternative play area. In the center of the courtyard is a reinforced gravel area with wooden seating elements. The entire space has been newly planted with shade-loving plants.