This architectural gem from 1933, which according to some sources may have come from the pen of Bohuslav Fuchs himself, found its rescuers in the form of conscious new owners literally in 5 minutes to 12. They decided to carry out a thorough reconstruction that would reflect the highest standards of modern living for a large family of eight, but would also respect the original atmosphere of the 1930s. The house has therefore undergone a major renovation that is so inspiring and successful that it has reached the finals of the prestigious Architects' Grand Prix - National Architecture Award 2022.

This single-story home with an egg-shaped inner courtyard can be found near Chmelnice in Prague’s Žižkov, where modernist housing projects meet garden city urban structure. Just across the street from a towering eight-story apartment block, the privacy of the supposedly tranquil garden was often questioned. But walking down the street, there’s almost no sign suggesting the presence of any kind of family home. The overgrown perimeter wall might get the attention of passersby, but the house by itself stays hidden completely.

Still considered a unique conceptual experiment, the design for this pink villa is drawn from the slope of the site’s natural terrain with tilted floors inside the house. Obviously, the question on everyone's mind was: What's it like to live in a home where two-thirds of all floorspace is inclined?

The so-called Straw House by architect Petr Suske and his SEA studio got quite an enthusiastic reception in Czech architectural circles upon its completion almost twenty years ago. The design concept, based on the simple yet original idea of “a haystack with an umbrella”, combined the earthy feeling of natural materials with a certain lightness of high-tech architecture. Immediately establishing itself as the go-to inspiration source for architecture students, the house became a popular subject for various magazine articles, much to the owner’s increasing exasperation.