This Home Serves As A Peaceful Sanctuary In The Czech Republic

Looking for a home to renovate outside of Prague, architect Jan Žaloudek and his wife, Jolanta Trojak, an art historian and writer, stumbled upon an exceptional plot of land where they could build one instead. The culturally protected parcel, located in Kamenná Lhota, Czech Republic, a tiny village about an hour’s drive southeast of the city, was once the garden of the neighboring baroque château, where famed violinist Oskar Nedbal composed his operetta Polska Krev in 1913. They immediately fell in love with the site. “We were captivated by the centuries-old trees, the crumbling stone border wall, the countryside views, and the favorable orientation,” Žaloudek recalls.

In dreaming up the creative couple’s longed-for refuge, Žaloudek abided by his philosophy that a home should be a temple for living. Accordingly, the structure, nicknamed Oskar House, was inspired by chapels. “My goal,” he explains, “was to create a space with a sacred atmosphere that could vary according to the mood of the moment—a space in which it’s possible to gaze into the landscape one minute, and, in the next, cocoon yourself in a closed, meditative environment animated by light and shadow play.”

Jan Žaloudek Dreams Up A Meditative Home In Czech Republic

The compact 1,660-square-foot two-bedroom is defined by its gabled form, drawn from the local vernacular, and its perforated facades. Circular and quatrefoil-shape punctures in the masonry structure and the ground-floor sun shutters invite ventilation and cast what Žaloudek describes as “lacelike shadows” on the concrete floors. Folding open the spruce-and-fir shutters, which line all four sides of the house, allows the interiors to switch between an open and closed posture; aluminum-framed glass sliders forge further connection to the elements.

The decor reflects the duo’s shared interest in fine art and a contemplative approach to living, with furniture and artwork thoughtfully curated to create spaces that feel at once ecclesiastical and gallerylike. The heart of the home is the double-height open-plan living/dining area, its gable marked by a 6 ½-foot-wide circular window. Here, contemporary furnishings pair with vintage objects, such as a Gabonese ceremonial mask and a 19th-century carved-wood Madonna. Echoing an altar, a vaulted niche backdrops the kitchen, with an island clad in Shivakashi granite from India. And in the main bedroom suite, also on the ground floor, an ash bed and black-granite nightstands by Žaloudek complement a 19th-century Japanese folding screen and a large-scale contemporary canvas by Czech painter Antonie Stanová.

Žaloudek conceived the second level as its own self-contained guest apartment. It’s an inward-facing contrast to the open lower level, a skylit retreat where sculptures by Vanda Hvízdalová rest on travertine pedestals. A staircase leads up from the sleeping area to a mezzanine study. “Each part of the house has a different purpose and atmosphere,” Žaloudek explains. “When you’re craving privacy, you can shut yourself away with a book in the study. Or, if you want to connect with the world, you open the downstairs shutters, and you’ll hardly know where the house ends and the landscape begins.”

Walk Through This Charming Home By Jan Žaloudek In The Countryside

PROJECT SOURCES FROM FRONT NORR11: TABLE, CHAIRS (DINING AREA), LARGE COCKTAIL TABLE (LIVING AREA), CHAIR (STUDY), STOOLS (KITCHEN). HAY: SOFA (LIVING AREA). CAPPELEN DIMYR: TAPESTRY. SYNESTÉ: SMALL COCKTAIL TABLE. MICHAL JANIGA: STOOL (LIVING AREA), TEA TABLE (MAIN BEDROOM). FERM LIVING: PENDANT FIXTURES (LIVING AREA), MIRROR (BATHROOM). BEGA: PENDANT FIX­TURES (KITCHEN, BATHROOM). TALKA DECOR: MARBLE PILLAR (GUEST BED­ROOM), SINK (BATHROOM). MARSET: SCONCES (MAIN BEDROOM). THROUGHOUT JOLANTA TROJAK: ART CONSULTANT. ATELIER ROUGE: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. PROJEKTY S+S: CONSTRUCTION.

10 Questions With… Joaquín Millán Villamuelas Of OOIIO

How Joaquín Millán Villamuelas Tells Stories With Color

Interior Design: Tell us about your background as an architect. When did you become interested in the profession?

Joaquín Millán Villamuelas: I cannot tell you the story of a kid who was drawing constantly and looking forward to transform the world building amazing constructions. I am a passionate architect, but I never had an early calling to become one. I didn’t have any reference—a family or friend—near me to teach me what an architect does.

I was actually quite lost when I had to decide what to study at university. I grew up in a 10,000-person village in central Spain and the only thing I knew was that I wanted to study in Madrid. Maybe growing up in a centuries-old rural house, constantly under repairs and maintenance, helped me to make this great choice. Luckily, I wrote down architecture as a first choice on my application to the Polytechnic University of Madrid and my life changed forever. Once in school, I started to “unlearn” and rediscover the world with different eyes, and I got hooked on architecture!

ID: What was your path to starting OOIIO?

JMV: After university, I had the dream to learn from the best “architecture masters,” so I applied to Foster + Partners. I got a job there and moved to London for some years. After that, I decided to change and learn from Rem Koolhaas and worked in his studio, OMA, in Rotterdam. Those years were like a dream for me: I learned a lot not only from the two masters and their vision, but also from their largely different approaches. From my very talented colleagues to the organization of these two studios, every day was a masterclass during that time for me!

One day, while I was still working at OMA, during a trip back to my village for Christmas to visit family, one of my childhood friends asked me to design his house because he was planning to get married that year and was looking to build his family home. I ended up leaving OMA and moving back to Spain, exchanging the fancy “first class architecture” and those inspiring, amazing buildings designed for the Gulf Sheikhs, for a low-cost family house designed for a friend in the outskirts of a village in central Spain. My decision to leave a secure job in a large and motivating studio to start a new path towards the unknown was purely instinctual. That was the beginning of OOIIO, but I didn’t know it at that time. There was no plan. [It was simply]: Let’s do this house and see what happens.

ID: You founded OOIIO during the financial crisis. I know that has had an impact on the studio; can you tell us about that?

JMV: OOIIO’s first commission was around 2010—during the first years of the big economic crisis that deeply affected Southern Europe. In Spain, the construction market was demolished with hundreds of destroyed companies and no projects to build. Trying to establish an architecture company in such a time was madness; everything was pointing in the opposite direction that I was trying to move.

But, each small commission—renovations, house extensions, changing the roof of a warehouse, small apartments— was like a precious treasure to be looked after. It didn’t matter how inconsequential or unattractive the work was. I tried to give each project as much interest as possible through creativity, by looking for unexpected solutions.

Though some projects were stopped for economic reasons, which was frustrating, the objective for me was always to build. It was a lost battle if the project did not go ahead, which is why I fought and pushed hard for the success of each commission; I have learned a lot by getting my shoes dirty on site. I also had to be very precise about the budgets. If it was not affordable, or if I made any mistake calculating the budget, it was never going to be built. I learned how to achieve a lot with a little.

These principles that made OOIIO survive during those difficult years somehow remained engraved in the studio’s DNA and we continue to apply them today—even though the context has changed completely. In the past six years, we have been growing quite consistently from a small three to four-person micro company to the 10 to 15-person team that we have today, dealing with many more projects at one time and more complex projects. Again, a new challenge!

ID: What kind of projects does the studio work on today?

JMV: At the studio, we have designed a wide variety of projects like public spaces, horse riding arenas, offices, and even a dog hotel. This comes from that initial attitude of seeing every project as an opportunity. Our first commission was a family home, and since then, has been a project type on our work table. House after house, we became specialized in designing tailor-made homes for our clients. I like this typology because it is very emotional, plus you get close to the final user and can actually design having that person at the center of the project.

Currently, we have quite a few adaptive reuse projects. Working on rethinking what already exists to give it a new life is something I really like; these are beautiful projects. It is much more sustainable to reuse than to demolish and rebuild. At OOIIO, we work on projects in a holistic way, that is, not only the architecture, but we also do all the interior design, the landscaping of the gardens, we calculate all the installations, structures, we get the construction permits… everything.

ID: You describe OOIIO as a handmade architecture studio. What does that mean?

JMV: It means two things: One, that we make custom projects, like a tailor who studies your body and makes the perfect suit for you. And that we still work with our hands—we draw with pencil and paper, make physical models, and sketch in notebooks—like craftsmen, as it was done before, taking care and dedicating quality, human time to the processes. These are techniques are what we now call old—they are less and less used—but, I still believe in the quality that a human mind brings to a careful and artisanal process. For me, in that way, things taste better.

ID: The use of bold color is a through line running through OOIIO’s work. Why?

JMV: Yes, we do like to play with color in our projects. There are other constants that also appear repeatedly. For example, the importance of form, the richness in the use of materials and textures, and the poetic links with which we often draw inspiration from non-architectural things to design our buildings, opening paths to the creative process, such as making our building look like a rock [Villafranca House], or a windmill [Albania House], for example.

All of these are resources that we use in our projects, but we do it instinctively because it comes out that way. There was never a founding manifesto that defined the work philosophy of OOIIO in which we set some bases that would be repeated. If we use color, it is because the architecture instinctively asks us.

Nature is full of color, and colors are extremely powerful in defining a space. The same room looks radically different if it is red, white, or black. We are committed to personalization and daring in the use of color. Projects always gain in expressiveness and freshness with colors, together with textures and materials.

ID: OOIIO has defined itself by making a big impact in spaces despite size and budget. What are some of your top tools for making that work?

JMV: This brings us back to the beginnings of the studio in the middle of the great economic crisis of the 2010s, where if something was not designed affordably and within budget, it would not be built. Since then, this austerity has remained in the DNA of the studio. It is not necessary to spend a lot to achieve a lot. Architecture is not a question of budget, but of using the right resources intelligently to achieve the greatest possible impact.

This can be seen in many of our initial projects. For example, in a business incubator office project in Madridejos, Toledo: By using simple brick, we managed to create a ventilated façade that controls the building temperature, without the need to use energy, through building lattices.

Another example was in our transformation of a closed haberdashery into a home, where we crafted a small rectangular space of just under 600-square feet with a tight budget. Our solution for this space was to create, together with our carpenter, an “L” of cupboards that contained everything necessary to equip the small space as a contemporary home: kitchen, wardrobe, television, and storage for objects. Even the bathroom entrance is inside one of these cupboards. This “L” solves practically all the project functionality. Then, we added some engineered wood slats lacquered in gold, to open or close the bedroom to the rest of the space. As always, we played with colors and materials to give the space appeal and quality.

ID: To date, what are your favorite projects and why?

JMV: Over time, you look back and discover how there are projects that suddenly open a line of research within the studio. For example, we started using ceramics after working to reinterpret the local craftsmanship in the public spaces of Talavera [in Central Spain]. Now, we continue to apply in a very dominant way in projects such as TUR House.

Also, when there is chemistry with the clients—they trust you and let you work—good projects emerge. For example, in LLO House, the clients told us that we could do whatever we wanted, as long as their house was special. In the conversion of an old barn into a home, we also had a great rapport with the clients, and the project was able to take a step forward thanks to this. These are projects that are a pleasure to work on, in which you learn and open paths. Small obsessions, which then reappear in other designs without you realizing it, thus creating your own architectural world.

ID: What’s next?

JMV: We are currently designing several radical transformations of single-family homes. They are houses built in the ’70s and ’80s that new families have bought and want to personalize, revalue and adapt to their way of life. We are getting very surprising results; one never imagines at the beginning of the process what can happen when our work is finished.

In this line of adaptive reuse, we have several co-living projects in industrial buildings in the design-construction phase and, above all, a project to recycle an old kitchen factory into a parking lot, workshop and car dealership. It is a building about 100,000 square feet. It is opening a new scale of projects at OOIIO; until now, our projects had been always smaller and mostly residential. That said, we have also continued to design and work on small-scale projects for apartment renovations or new single-family homes, as we have always done at OOIIO.

What I see on our trajectory is that our projects are becoming more radical and complex year after year. I think it is a natural evolution for a studio like ours, which was formed from the construction site, building a lot of what we designed. We know more and more about construction and this team know-how is daring us to execute bigger and more difficult projects.

ID: What are some sources of inspiration that you turn to for your projects?

JMV: Inspiration comes from everywhere. As Pablo Picasso once said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to catch you working.” There are many things that, a priori, have nothing to do with architecture that end up inspiring you when designing a building. You learn from the design of an object you have in your hands. By analyzing it, you try to discover why it works and what decisions have led the manufacturer to make it that way and not another, and suddenly you discover yourself applying similar ideas when imagining a building.

I try to keep my eyes wide open so I can design better. I am very observant when it comes to analyzing the aesthetics and composition of things. When I watch a film, for example, I am struck by the composition of the photograph, the colors that the director has chosen, how each character appears at each moment, and their position in the scene. It’s a bit exhausting, but my mind works like that!

I am also aware of the architecture that other colleagues do. I read magazines, architectural essays, follow blogs, and go to exhibitions. Ultimately, I believe that to do contemporary architecture, one must understand the world in which one lives, and thus give a better response to the commissions that come to your studio. My reality will always be different from the reality of an architect in Kabul or San Francisco. The world is multifaceted, and these nuances make it much more interesting and rich.

10 Questions With…Interior Designer Denisa Strmiskova

Denise Strmiskova: I started to pay more attention to interior design while I was studying scenography at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. While looking for inspiration for my university projects, I came across installations, product design, and furniture through projects in public spaces, which was my master’s thesis, and I began to be fascinated by all of it, including lighting. I also immersed myself in magazines from around the world and started going to European fairs and design weeks, such as Salone Del Mobile in Milan, where I understood how closely the fields of design and scenography are connected in the installations of world brands. After a few years, I worked as an assistant in an interior design studio in Prague, where I learned the practical side of the work. Then, a big chance came and I completed my first independent project, which turned out to be successful and helped me to establish my own studio.

ID: That was Long Story Short, correct? Your breakthrough project.

DS: Yes, my first independent project was the hostel and cafe Long Story Short in Olomouc, Czech Republic, which opened in 2017 in a former fortress from the 17th century. Together with the founder, we wanted to capture the historic details within the building’s 10,000 plus square feet, along with those details that were missing from our own experiences elsewhere; we both like to travel and follow the scene in terms of design and architecture, gastronomy, and the hotel industry.  At the same time, we wanted to create a space where the guests feel comfortable—a space that carries some aesthetic statement and is also maximally functional.

The concept of the hostel was created freely—I let my ideas flow along with the space itself. The use of high-quality materials such as wood, metal and concrete, and their combination with pastel colors, was essential for me. Personally, I like working with lines—drawing fine black lines through the space, custom-made furniture or in various details. Custom-made by local craftsmen, the 50s-70s furniture is mostly Czech, and you can come across a few exceptional pieces that you don’t often see. I combine them with modern elements and shapes, which is an approach that I enjoy and opens up a lot of interesting possibilities.

We also put a lot of time and care into the lighting. My goal was to incorporate the light into the space with absolute subtlety, but, at the same time, in a way that meets the functional requirements. The project was recognized in several important architectural competitions and attracted the attention of international media. Even years later, new clients who visit the hostel and restaurant contact me to say they like it.

ID: Can you say more about you background in scenography? How does it continue to influence your design work today?

DS: Scenography is about affecting all the senses, capturing the moment and emotions. My scenographic background gave me the opportunity to bring in a different perspective to projects. Based on the perception of space in the context of the story, it helps me visualize the atmosphere we want to achieve. It also gave me another way of perceiving the connections in space, which I have been working with since the beginning, when my work as a scenographer began to spill over into interior design.

ID: You describe your studio’s approach as a combination of the rational and the emotional. What does that look like in practice? At the end of the day, do you think one of those approaches defines you and your work more?

DS: For me, the work of an interior designer is an alchemy of both the rational and the emotional, and projects usually flow from one to the other, depending on which phase we are in. At the beginning of each project, a large dose of both principles is needed. We try to perceive all the needs that the client has and the function that the space should fulfill. At the same time, the emotional side is necessary to tune into the emotions that are often difficult for clients to describe, which their space should convey. Sometimes it can be colors, light, materials, or a specific theme.

At the end of the day, I would classify myself more on the emotional side. I like the first stages of the project, when—through empathy and mutual perception—my team and I gradually come to a visual solution for the client’s ideas. I enjoy this process, where everyone brings something to the final form of the project; we influence and direct each other.

ID: Many of your projects are set in Olomouc. What is your relationship to that city, and how does it influence your design?

DS: The historic city of Olomouc is my hometown. I spent 19 years of my life there before I went to university, and thanks to Long Story Short, I returned to the city more. I feel at home there, and it is great to be part of the positive transformation of the city in this way. Not long after completing Long Story Short, I received other opportunities in the city, including an invitation to collaborate with the local, award-winning architectural studio Atelier R. As an external interior designer, I designed the reconstruction and new extensions of the Red Church, which had been used as a book depository for the Olomouc Research Library since 1959, and is a cultural and educational space today.

ID: You have worked on a number of projects for Ambiente, one of Prague’s most well-known restaurant groups. How did that relationship start? What does that relationship look like today?

DS: I was approached to collaborate with the architect Tereza Froňková, who has worked for Ambiente for a long time and designed a number of their successful restaurant concepts. Working for Ambiente gives me the unique opportunity to create an interior space with the help of people from other fields in gastronomy. Everyone contributes their part and know-how; it is a very close collaboration and absolutely connected with design. In recent years, I have participated in both larger and smaller renovations of Ambiente restaurants including Pasta Fresca, Brasileiro, Cafe Savoy, Eska, and Čestr, and UM, the group’s training and education center. In some of these spaces, we are preparing another larger phase of reconstruction or a complete change to the interior, while in some restaurants, it is about ongoing care of the interior and minor functional changes.

Personally, I love cooking and gastronomy. It is my favorite way to spend my free time. I like to cook with my young son, host others and I often relax on the weekend with various cookbooks. So, being able to work with the teams of chefs and other people behind the excellent Ambiente restaurants is great for me. For example, working on the new interior for the workshop and training space for UM inspired me to sign up for their cooking courses this year.

ID: What would you say is the through line, or common thread, that runs through your work?

DS: I approach each project individually, and I wouldn’t say that I follow a certain style or use a characteristic procedure in my designs. I like working on historical building reconstructions that have their own atmosphere and patinas. And I enjoy introducing modern elements to them, which form an interesting relationship with the historical environment. This creates a specific tension and timelessness in the space, and that attracts me.

ID: This year marks 10 years since you founded your studio in 2015. How has the studio evolved?

DS: I learned literally everything in the process of creation and work—how to trust your intuition, imagination, and most importantly, be flexible and creative enough to solve the problems that implementation and construction can bring. In this field, anything can change at any time, and a designer must be ready to immediately offer alternatives. Being flexible and able to communicate new solutions with others calmly is, in my opinion, the most important ability, and the best thing to develop.

ID: What are you working on now?

DS: We currently have several projects in various stages of design. Last year, we prepared the redesign of the popular Prague bakery Antonínovo, and this summer, we will open their new space in an exceptional historical building in Prague’s Vinohrady district. At the same time, we are preparing new projects with Ambiente this year, as mentioned earlier. We also have several interesting private apartments in Prague, Brno, and Bratislava in the process. And in Olomouc, we are working with Atelier R on residential projects also related to gastronomy.

ID: What would be a dream project at this stage?

DS: I would love to work on reconstructing an old spa, or create a new place in the field of wellness and sauna with a strong atmosphere. At the same time, such an environment is about involving all the senses and smells—working with light, warmth, and a feeling of safety and deep relaxation.

Being around water is also relaxing for me, and a few years ago, I was captivated by the world of sailing. I passed my RYA (Royal Yachting Association) exams in Scotland, and I would like to devote more time to this. I can’t think of a better way to spend my vacation from the deck of a sailboat, for example in Greece. My dream come true would be to combine this sailing hobby with work and design the interior of a nice sailboat, while experiencing the process of building the entire boat.

So, my dream client would be someone enlightened in the field of wellness, or an enthusiastic sailor.