The Community House in Slavonice was built by German citizens of the town before the Second world war. It was the meeting place for their clubs and societies. After the Second world war Germans were expelled. From the 1980´s the house had been extended without any concept several times, conversion into cinema was never finished. In 1989 the totalitarian regime ended. Later the house was bought by local NGO (Slavonická renesanční), which organizes public cultural and educational activities, and it was decided to renovate it.
The original interiors were destroyed, the house was hidden under extensions, now in emergency state. In our project we decided to clean the place, to rid the house of the extensions. The original house was elevated by one floor, to express self confidence of the new architecture and the new city house. The house brings serenity to the site and becomes one of the large volumes on the town´s circumference.
The old walls envelope new life, the old shell was inhabited by a new animal. Concrete block divides the house in two parts. Busy part with café and offices and quiet part with auditorium and study rooms. The attic holds the technology – the machine gallery. The concrete is structured and breaks the acoustic waves. On the interior the walls are clad with wooden laths that absorb the acoustic waves.
The house will reach low energy standard. Renewable energy sources will be used here: sun energy, heat recuperation, fireplace using wood. All the different heat sources will be connected to a central accumulation tank, that will also heat the house. The house will be insulated on the inner side, the uncovered walls on the outside reveal the history of the house.
The historic town of Slavonice is the town of sgrafitti – stories scratched into plaster. The walls of the Community House in Slavonice bear the contemporary sgrafitti and they are witness to the 20th century history of Central Europe.
The project was awarded Young architecture award 2010.
