village house Zaříčany

The Cherry Roof

A high-ceilinged room with a beamed ceiling and several smaller, low-ceilinged rooms with cracked vaults. Three living rooms, a hallway, a smithy, a pigsty and a small, enclosed courtyard with two mature trees and a pigpen. A newly repaired roof of ‘concrete tiles, cherry red in colour’. A façade with cracked render, showing hints of a playful colour scheme. Such is the building by the main road in the village of Zaříčany, which we are set to renovate.

The large expanse of the new roof with its cherry-red tiles calls for a counterbalance. On the façade, we are working with a composition of old and new openings, which rhythmically break up the long horizontal line of the house. The differently coloured plinth subtly varies in height, and a dark blue line separates it from the rest of the façade. The solid, deep-red doorways, combined with the white-painted wooden window frames, engage in a dialogue with both the new dominant feature of the roof and the original light-coloured plaster.

The house’s current layout is a reflection of its era. Neither the farm nor the workshop sections of the house are needed any longer, and even the living area no longer meets the requirements of the current owners. There is no bathroom, toilet or kitchen. Our aim is to create a space that meets contemporary needs whilst preserving its strong character and atmosphere. We are centring the house around the existing chimney of the former smithy, where a newly built furnace becomes the focal point of the layout. We are connecting the low-ceilinged and less well-lit rooms, which feature various types of vaulted ceilings, using large openings. We are deliberately retaining the distinctive feature of the corridor. At the same time, we are seeking to establish a stronger connection with the courtyard and are adding a new room facing it. This room is a striking contrast. Wooden, high-ceilinged and well-lit. We are complementing the small, cramped triangular courtyard – featuring a large walnut tree and a cherry tree, and surrounded on two sides by buildings – with a low stone wall. Combined with the shrubs, this forms a sufficient barrier between the private and public spheres. In front of the new kitchen window, we’ve planted a transparent yet colourfully striking tamarisk, which complements the entire garden space both aesthetically and functionally.