Zelný trh is a historical square in the center of Brno, originating from the 13th century, with a dominant Baroque fountain Parnas, surrounded by important urban buildings. The aim of the reconstruction was to create clearly urbanized sites with well arranged traffic and pedestrian access that will meet all requirements of a functional central urban area—functioning as a meeting, retail and cultural space. An emphasis was placed on the compactness of the solution—the central area of the square has a clear, uncomplicated shape based on the original shape and classical city-making compositions and scales, it is separated from the pavements by a traffic lane in the form of a roundabout. In the southern and western part it connects to smaller piazzettas planted with trees. Each area is visually distinguished from the others by a different type of surface. There are new lights, seats, fountains, and other street furniture.

Man changes the character of the landscape as a result of using it. Landscape renewal is a protracted and expensive process, always requiring the participation of many professions whose opinions quite often differ. On the one side, there are defenders of biotechnical reclamation forms, on the other side, there are advocates for natural, nature-friendly procedures. How can an architect contribute to the whole process?

Landscape affected by human activity. Landscape that is exploited, i.e. used as well as abused, cultivated as well as capitalized, reshaped landscape, post-landscape. We focus our attention on places where man has left a significant footprint and where an intentional renewal is coming. What leads us to this renewal? Remorse, memories of the past, economic profit, a desire for residentiality and beauty?

A stone house in a settlement called v Chaloupkách from the early 1900’s was built on a typical rectangular plan with a central axis and two rooms. Carried out as a diploma project along with a project of a tea house in the garden, the conversion preserves the house’s original character. The new volume comes through the center of the old house and literally hammers light into it. A cross connection of two houses, similar in shape but completely different in materials, creates a harmonically contrastive whole that is enhanced by the spatial arrangement concept and many details pervading the whole house as small surprises.

It may be seen more in our neighbors across the borders than here that some people don’t just wish for a family house with a fenced-in garden any more. They don’t want to be locked up in their own world, to be separated on their property with their troubles, they want to share things though, share and collectively live through certain moments of life while having an option to keep their privacy. They want to live in a city, in the center of everything, but in their own way. At least they are saving space in a city and together with architects trying to exploit the potential of the given lot to be able to respond to a change of situation in time. We have asked ourselves a number of questions that we would like to know the answers to.