| project: | 2023 |
| design: | Štěpán, Adam |
| landscape: | Karolína Hausenblasová, Vojtěch Kettner |
| investor: | ZŠ Josefa Ressla |
| location: | Pardubice |
A Break in the Garden
The school grounds are primarily made up of sports facilities, whilst a small part consists of the school courtyard, which is, however, crucial due to its direct connection to the school. The school presents a very representative facade facing the street, but appears rather disjointed when viewed from the courtyard. The courtyard is fragmented into various paths, pavements, withering grassy patches and a dominant tarmac area. Its disjointed nature and lack of spaces for people to linger or engage in varied activities mean that it serves mainly as a thoroughfare to the aforementioned sports facilities. The brief was to design a bicycle shelter and an outdoor classroom; however, it ultimately became essential to treat the entire courtyard as a single unit.
We unify the courtyard with a circular grassy area and transform it into a functional garden with space for teaching both under the roof of the pentagonal outdoor classroom and out in the sun. For playing basketball with classmates, for picking fruit from the fruit bushes, for resting under the walnut tree, for sharing a snack together at a long table, but also with a place to relax with classmates or on one’s own. We are positioning the elongated shelter for the cycle shed and storage area near the entrance to the grounds so that it lines the access road whilst also providing a covered space for watching volleyball matches.