lesy čr headquarters

The volumetric design builds on the concept of an analogy with a commercial forest with an office building inserted into its regularly irregular structure. Massive trunks establish the spatial equivalent of a pattern all of us do know so well. Trunks are the vertical frame of the superstructure at the same time. This way, they are a simple ´product placement´ of the most important commodity the company trades. A building hidden in the ´forest´ can cut any shape in it in fact – it seems logical to us that it is as irregular as a forest in the country can be. The light and sunshine are filtered through branches – symbolised as a lightweight honeycomb pergola. When we contemplated about a proper definition of this way re-told forest, the abstracted outline of the territory of the Czech Republic crossed out minds. A hint; a semantic superstructure of the main concept unambiguously based on the idea of labouring with massive trunks as an analogy with a forest. In fact, we were surprised how organically this outline matched the shape of the developable site – even more so, we could meet the correct orientation to cardinal points. Everything not needing much daylight is hidden underground – into a concrete base. The sloping ground is used to bring daylight into the ancillary non-office rooms through a perforated exposed outer wall from the north. The concept of landscaping, surfacing, and green areas near the building closely relates to the visual concept. The entering into the building should be a pleasing experience. The sloping terrain and the pedestrian zone allows to work with (running and still) water, combine slightly different characters of the greenery on each side, prompts to install 3D pieces of art. The geometrically precisely modelled slopes are sliced through by no less exact cleavages of the entries into the car park. A widened throat with benches around a small water pool is in front of the entrance. An iceberg from which a forest grows up is fixed in the mound exposed only to the south where the entrance is. It is much better legible on the north side. Platforms cut into the slope are used as front gardens to the canteen, wellness, and facility manager’s flat here. The border between the building and the forest park is very tiny, naturally erased by growing trees. The forest is connected to the building by a clay macadam path leading on the roof of the parking via a staircase to the vestibule of the entrance lobby. The accommodation section of the building is similarly accessed from the exterior.