Built around 1910 according to the design by architect Felix Neumann, the late Art Nouveau house is part of the block development delimiting the main square in Ostrava. The original four-storey house, which is under a preservation order, with a mansard roof and decorated gable, has been generally renovated and modernized; the modifications consist mostly in the improvement of the interior environment while preserving the original spatial arrangement and expanding the usable area. The house is completed by an elevator and necessary social facilities. The most significant modification is a loft apartment taking up two floors, lightened by a newly installed glass wall that respects the original shape of the roof and contributes to the revitalization of the whole house, as well as the square with its modern conception.

The building is a cultural extension of the printing works following the original concept from 2001. From the perspective of urbanistic relations and inner urban space it soothes and unites a formerly fragmented street front, integrating the object of a transformer station into the volume and the façade of a printing company. The cultural function, accessible to the public, is presented through an open console to the street, where it logically connects with the public space. The closure of the original printing works, whose production faced  the street, is now balanced by an open transparent volume. The architecture of the original building, as well as the new extension, does not relate to the surrounding residential façades, it is not camouflaged. It is different, carrying out a different function towards the city and the site. It enriches, diversifies, and enlivens the place.

This new building completes in an urban planning fashion the existing complex of the elementary school on the north-east edge of Líbeznice that consists of the main school building from 1956 and an after-school club. The building was originally intended for a kindergarten; the proposed ring marked a circular garden for preschool kids within the school garden. Due to financial reasons and the demographical development of the village, the task was later changed to that of an elementary school. The building maintains the original concept of a house surrounding the outside environment. The core of the disposition is formed by an eccentrically located atrium that serves as an outdoor classroom, encircled by a multifunctional foyer integrating communications, locker rooms, and common spaces. On its perimeter there are eight classrooms, teachers’ offices, sanitary facilities, and a cafeteria that can be easily transformed into an auditorium for lectures, music or theatre performances.

When setting out to write about general consequences and the importance of railways, it is necessary to be in the right location and imagine that the time has already arrived when significant centers of European business are connected with those. This is not about distance or the nearness of that time but the point is whether there shall be any advantages from such changes in this world so that it would seem useful to contribute to their establishment. I say, indeed there will be!—The essential nature of railway is the following: The reduction of business territory, the reduction of time, the increase in power for the distribution of goods, along with the reduction of transportation costs.

Move it or leave it? That is the question Brno representatives have been trying to answer for almost a hundred years. The main station is still on the original location from 1839 along the inner city ring road and its capacity and technical condition haven’t met modern requirements for a long time. Why is it so difficult to solve this situation for good? Will the current city administration be able to take the radical historic step?