The Club for Old Prague recognized public new buildings in Bílovice nad Svitavou

Prague - The award for the best new building in a historic environment for 2017 was today awarded to the municipal office and other public spaces in the village of Bílovice nad Svitavou. The studio P. P. Architects received the award for creating a new center for the village, including a newly designed main square, awarded by the Club for Old Prague. It aims to highlight new buildings or the renovation of historic houses that, according to it, do not disrupt the historical surroundings, exhibit valuable architecture, and cultivate their environment.

The village of Bílovice has long lacked a center. According to the village leadership, the municipal council has been trying to create it since 1990. Gradually, the village bought older houses, and public debate about the new form of the village began. In 2010, the council started working on it, and in 2015, construction began with costs exceeding 40 million crowns. The task was to create a new municipal office, library, ceremonial hall, post office, summer bar, and garden of the municipal pub, as well as the main square.

The architects stated that it was essential for them to preserve the appearance of historical urban development and a compact scale. The new buildings maintain the street line, the square space is shielded from the street by a trio of trees with a solitary one around which there is a bench. In the center of the square is a fountain, and the library is situated in the second plane, i.e., further from the street, into the quiet part of the square. The cantilevered roof supported by large wooden columns creates a passage between the library and the municipal office in the courtyard, connecting the municipal office with the ceremonial hall and the garden of the Bílovice pub.

The architectural form of the municipal office and post office is simple, consisting of single-story buildings with gable roofs covered with traditional tiles. This allows the new buildings to blend well among the surrounding single-story, predominantly family houses. All the structures are masonry and without insulation for greater durability and better repairability of the facades.

Bílovice continues to grow. Thanks to the surrounding nature and good accessibility to Brno, it has become home to many residents who have moved from Brno over the last 15 years. Last year, 3,646 people lived there.

In the final this year, there was also an apartment building on Koněvova Street in Prague (A.LT Architects), a parking house in the center of Brno (Architects Hrůša & Co.), a distillery in Javornice in Pošumaví (studio ADR), a community house in Ratíškovice in the Hodonín region (Flying Engineers), St. Wenceslas Church in Sazovice in Zlín region (Marek Štěpán), and an extension to the former school in Zlín (mudrik architects).