New Life

“Conversion” may become the buzzword that defines construction in 2020. It certainly did here at the Elementary School Vřesovice in the Czech Republic, which involved the reconstruction of a Baroque rectory. The church wished that the village should not let the whole premises deteriorate, but use it for a purpose—it did, becoming a school and daycare center. To give it new life, the designers, Public Atelier and FUUZE, emphasized the interconnection of individual parts so that their historical value as a complex could be preserved, while the users of the converted facility could feel comfortable and free to use all its parts. Simple cubic shapes, smooth surfaces and distinctive colors characterize the new parts, while simultaneously joining separated parts of the older facility, bringing playfulness and new possibilities of operation and movement.