XV. Bohuslav Fuchs Award - awarded projects

Mikulov is facing a huge boom in tourism. This brings economic benefits but also gentrification. Interesting properties in the city center are mostly being converted into guesthouses, and permanent housing is being pushed to the outskirts. The task is to design a multifunctional building in the center of Mikulov with a prevailing residential function. The plot is located in the city center in a complicated position between communications. From the side of Husova Street, it forms a nook and has an overall triangular shape. The design will be solved including details and the interior of a sample apartment. What should living in an apartment in a small town look like?

House by the River - Awarded Project
Author: Tatiana Uhríková (3rd year BSP)
Studio leader: Ing. arch. Vítězslav Nový, Ing. Michal Palaščák
Task: Vertical studio. The connection of water and housing - typology of a house linked with a river - the potential of water - river parterre - river as an axis - urban nature. The area at the boundary of a compact city, brownfield, and unused green remnants offers many places for development or cultivation. The aim of the project is to interconnect the river landscape with the urban organism, to showcase the hidden potential of the "dusty" location.
Author's report: Life has always belonged to water, waters belong to rivers and rivers to cities. Brno is no exception. The slightly forgotten Svitava flows through it, whose former industrial waterfront offers little for life, so this semester’s studio was focused on searching for the lost potential of the Svitava waterfront. The apartment building as part of the row of houses represents a type of co-housing, intended for students, young workers, and people who enjoy sharing their living space. The house consists of residential units and community spaces - 6 above-ground floors arranged in a split-level system, one underground floor, and two roof terraces. It responds to two cardinal directions, east from the waterfront and west from the existing buildings. The ground floor accessible to the waterfront serves as a community space intended for lectures, summer cinema, etc., and also contains a café, located in the neighboring parterre. The core of the layout features a staircase with an internal green atrium and an elevator. From this communication space, entrances lead to seven residential units, which contain two bedrooms, a loggia, a bathroom with a toilet, and a hallway. The central element of the house's layout is a shared kitchen with a dining area, which spans two floors and also includes a mezzanine section with a library that extends down to the parterre spaces. Dining offers a view of the waterfront, with the opportunity to enjoy the outdoor atmosphere thanks to sliding windows. On the western side of the house, at the kitchen level, there is a shared study or a space for social use. The social concept of the house is enhanced by the composition of the staircase, which is situated on each floor to guide the movement of tenants around the units, which are fully glazed.

Community Center Komárov - Awarded Project
Author: Pavla Nesvadbíková
Studio leader: Doc. Ing. arch. Josef Kiszka, Ing. arch. Petr Hýl
Task: Center for local civil society, multifunctional community facility in the center of a settlement or its part for the stabilization and socialization of the local community; Location Brno Komárov or any other suitable location in another city as chosen by the student; Work will take place in a team of the vertical studio and individually, from analyses and interpretation to predictive speculation, synthesis, and formalization. The method and content will be adapted to individual needs and interests of the student.
Author's report: When you look at the map of Komárov, you will see two worlds on it - on one side, panel houses arranged in a bizarre shape, and on the other side, across the road, almost village-like development of family houses with a church and a square.
The community center tries to connect these two worlds using three principles.
1. Principle: Division into individual centers People are born with a kind of package of interests. You can easily tell apart an outdoor enthusiast, an artist, or an energetic organizer. And it is precisely because of these common traits in our abilities that we seek partners, friends, jobs...
The division of the center into individual parts expresses a set of what we have been given at birth.
2. Principle: Crossing paths
The community center is divided into blocks according to the anticipated most common pedestrian traffic (blocks - public transport, school - public transport).
3. Principle: Supplementation
The content of the community center is based on the differences in the lifestyles of the residents of the panel houses and family houses. What do people consider negatives?
We have a small kitchen! I can’t study! I can’t practice the drums! I can’t tinker on the balcony! / As I age, we don’t know what to do with the space! I only see my family at dinner!
And what do they appreciate instead? We know our neighbors! Our children play together on the playground! This little apartment is completely enough for the beginning! / We have our own garden! We can remodel the house to our liking!
The creative center includes DIY workshops (cooking and PC) and a freely accessible workshop. The eco-center features a children's clubhouse and auditorium. Co-working
is divided into two parts - chill out for teenagers and a working zone. Below the center is also a freely accessible music rehearsal space. The entire co-working center is meant to be a refuge for those who need a bit of privacy. The parish center complements the development near the church and is intended primarily as a place for families with children - it includes a children's corner, a classroom for religious education, and space for various celebrations.
And lastly, a multifunctional hall, which was simply missing in Komárov.

Future of Brno Exhibition Center - Awarded Project
Author: Vedrana Radovic (Erasmus+)
Studio leader: Ing. arch. Kateřina Dokoupilová Pazderková, Doc. Ing. arch. Maximilian Wittmann, Ph.D., Ing. arch. Lenka Štěpánková
Task: The Brno Exhibition Center was planned as a logistic, scientific, and industrial hub of Central Europe. It consists of exhibition halls and open-air areas for showcasing and hosting various events. It is situated in the western part of Brno, surrounded by Hlinky and Krizevskeho Street in the north and east, and a highway in the west and south. The specific purpose of the center and its usage creates new challenges for the project proposal.
The biggest problem of the center is that the entrance area is not defined properly. At the moment, it is primarily used as a parking lot. Moreover, communication between the major tram stop Vystavyste and the entrance is not clear, making visitors search for the entrance instead of it inviting them directly into the center. The second problem of the location is the northern border and lack of any purpose for that area.
The Brno Exhibition Centre (BW) is part of the city structure. It offers many developing areas. These areas can be used for new halls, public spaces, and entry platforms. These objects and spaces could be flexible and could also be used for other functions. The unique exhibition center, with its specific form and history, offers rare plots rich in extensive connections and surrounding context. The studio will continue cooperating with the main BW architect, Ing. arch. Lenka Štěpánková.

Me and Sokol - Special Award TON
Kobyliaková Tatiana, Zatloukal David, Zbellová Zuzana (1st year MSP)
Studio leader: Ing. arch. Nicol Gale, MgA. Svatopluk Sládeček
Task: The publication is the result of a semester project in the studio of experimental creation at the Faculty of Architecture VUT in Brno under the professional guidance of Nicol Gale and Svatopluk Sládeček. The analytical work for the pre-diploma project maps the history and current situation of the architecture of Sokol houses in the Czech Republic using basic research methods and subsequent applications, with the data and kind assistance of the Architecture Department of the Museum of the City of Brno, the Czech Sokol Association, Sokol Brno I, and the Committee for Education, Training, and Employment of JMK. Thanks go to all representatives of the Sokol regions of JMK.
The semester analytical project of the students of the master's module. The analytical work for the pre-diploma project maps the history and present situation of the architecture of Sokol houses using basic research methods and subsequent applications. The project has the potential to contribute to the creation of a methodology for saving Sokol architecture and uncover the social, ethnological, and economic extent of the current state of the phenomenon of Sokol house architecture.

Villa Savoy - Best ZAN
Aneta Cvrčková, Adéla Bermellová, Marek Hlavička, Petra Remutová (1st year BSP)
Studio leader: Ing. arch. Jiří Vítek
Task: Kiesler Ontology (genotype and phenotype of housing)

The studio project was divided into two phases. In the first phase, we worked on a detailed analysis of the original Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier in terms of language, structure, and program. Based on this detailed analysis, we identified the problems and key elements of the villa, such as roof gardens, architectural promenade, and ramps. We subsequently articulated these elements in the final design of a vertical villa, which is surrounded by an exterior ramp allowing access to each floor and providing rich views of the surroundings. The dominant elements are, alongside the ramp, two green areas - a terrace in the open intermediate level and a roof garden.
Opening the doors to the agenda of architecture poses the question of whether there are any doors and whether there is any architecture at all. From Kandinsky's Point, line, and area, we will proceed through our interpretation of the existing building to a deeper analysis of the canonical villas of the forefathers of modern architecture.
Frederick Kiesler is among the pioneers of pushing the boundaries of thinking in architecture; on this platform of speculation, we will interpret in our own language the world-renowned and pioneering Villa Savoye (Corbusier), Farnsworth House (Mies), and Endless House (Kiesler).