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Not a con­ser­vation, but a con­ver­sation

For years, we have been closely asso­ciated with the Czech designer Daniela Hra­dilová. We fol­lowed the creation of her second house, which has only just been published by us, almost in real time: Mezi Lukami — the making-of.

by Ulrich Knoll in May 2021

For years, we have been closely asso­ciated with the Czech designer Daniela Hra­dilová. We fol­lowed the creation of her second house, which has only just been published by us, almost in real time:  Mezi Lukami — the making-of.

Unno­ticed by most the other countries in Europe, small miracles happen again and again at the foot of the Beskydy Moun­tains in the east of the Czech Republic. The western foot­hills of the Car­pa­thians do not yet attract large numbers of tou­rists; here you can still travel under the radar of inter­na­tional bucket lists. This is some­thing Czech designer Daniela Hra­dilová and her husband Petr don’t mind much – quite the opposite. Like their guests today, they con­sciously sought peace and quiet and clo­seness to nature more than 20 years ago – and, in turn, they left the hustle and bustle of the metro­polis of Ostrava behind them. Their move to the resort of Čeladná, with 2,800 inha­bi­tants, may have led them only 40 kilo­metres further south, but defi­nitely into a com­pletely dif­ferent world.

Here in 2017, they opened their bou­tique hotel Mezi Plutky (Between Fences), which has been met with inter­na­tional approval by guests and the press alike. When you follow the reno­vation work on Hradilová’s new guest­house, you can under­stand why the house Mezi Lukami (Between Meadows) is so appe­aling. The new house for four guests is within walking distance of the bou­tique hotel and will open in autumn 2020.

Old places are able to live new lives

It all began when the former owners them­selves were no longer able to take care of the building – which had been rebuilt several times, leaving it dis­fi­gured – and so they ent­rusted it to Daniela and Petr some years ago.

House No. 33 is a rather simple wooden house dating to the beginning of the 19th century and was built in the typical style of Moravian Wal­lachia. The house was ori­gi­nally built in two parts: an ent­rance hall, which also served as a smoke­house kitchen, divided the house in the middle. On one side there was the main living room and on the other the stable, which was later moved to a separate building, so that the area could be used as a storage room with access to the cellar. The main house itself rests on stone foun­da­tions, sur­rounded by meadows. So far, so unspec­ta­cular. But anyone who knows the owners and has the oppor­tunity to observe the con­s­truction process will suspect that some­thing special is being created here.

Through num­erous con­ver­sa­tions, Daniela and her husband got a first impression of the complex history of the house, one of the oldest in the area. And even if the history of the house could not be com­pletely recon­s­tructed and many stories remain frag­mented: the anec­dotes about the building convey a sil­houette-like image of its former exis­tence and the values handed down with it.

The special talent of the Czech designer Daniela Hra­dilová is her pro­no­unced, holistic feel for each place and its indi­vidual history. In this way, she develops the future mate­riality of the site, taking the objects she finds into account. Daniela masters the challenge of creating larger con­texts on the basis of uns­poken words and unof­fi­cially recorded facts, of reading between the lines, as it were, with her powers of obser­vation, a large portion of detective intuition, as well as patience and more patience.

“An essential aspect that all my pro­jects have in common is that they are created with great care and calm. I approach them as if on tiptoe – with respect and humility for the buil­dings and the people who lived there. And some­where in between there is con­ti­nuity. Emo­tions are the greatest asset we have. This boundless ‘in-between’ is the essential core – the rela­ti­onships and points of contact of things, their syn­chro­nicity. If we con­sciously per­ceive the subt­leties between the lines, the new that we create can be ‘perfect’, true and beau­tiful at the same time.”

This indi­vidual way of approa­ching each building is imme­diately per­cep­tible in her first bou­tique hotel in all her other con­s­truction pro­jects of the last 15 years – mainly hotel and restaurant con­ver­sions – and is visible in the plans and con­ver­sions them­selves.

Design 1:1 on spot

Daniela Hradilová’s approach is quite remar­kable in many respects. For example, she always designs in the 1:1 situation, i.e. on site, using only a pencil. Not until much later will these results be digi­tized in their near final form.

Not only the know­ledge of the history of the house has a great influence on the design, but also the wider setting – the garden, the land around it, the direct and indirect sur­roun­dings. The latter in par­ti­cular – because it was there long before the project – holds many memories and tells valuable stories to those who can listen.

“For me, designing is like swinging – back and forth. You go away and return again, you compare. You add emphasis and take it away again, in a tried and tested way. You come closer and take another step back. It is the eternal quest for balance and at the same time child’s play.”

She herself describes her approach as an end-to-end telling of stories without a beginning. By this she means the respectful tre­atment of old buil­dings, which for her can never be a mere recon­s­truction. Her main focus is on con­ti­nuity, which in her opinion is an essential part of our own peace and con­tentment. When this con­s­tancy merges with respect for the tra­di­tional, strength emerges – of which she is firmly con­vinced.

“I draw more than ‘reality’, I draw its vision.”

The aim of this vision is to create spaces that not only restore the dignity of the building, but also invite people to linger – without being in a museum. Whether sleeping, dre­aming, having breakfast, reading, cooking, simply being, swit­ching off, reflecting or dis­cussing – far in advance, Daniela reco­gnizes and develops places for the simple as well as won­derful idleness of future guests. At a time when the house itself is still an untouched (half) ruin.

“The longing for adventure could be satisfied here: on the way to the terrace in the evening, a glass of wine in your hand – the terrace that you enter barefoot from the bedroom – the very bedroom whose windows reveal the view of the trees – those trees that we have planted – and further into that corner of the garden where a ball rolls …

I will not shorten this path – how will the guests per­ceive, use this place? – I only inspire them, help them to connect with the place, in their own way.”

Living craft­smanship

In order to achieve all this in the case of Mezi Lukami, she will also resurrect the building with the help of high-quality tra­di­tional craft­smanship. She will transfer the house into the present and the future through subtle but effective addi­tions.

Simple “ingre­dients” found on site – such as the pre­do­minant natural stone and wood ele­ments – are sel­ec­tively sup­ple­mented in harmony with the mate­riality of the building. Where the ent­rance hall used to be, the central living area of the house is now being created. Here a large couch will be placed as a stand-alone piece, from which one can let one’s gaze wander along a new, unob­tru­sively set axis of vision.

The adjoining former passage between the main house and the stable will be com­pletely glassed in. Here – as the cen­tre­piece of every visit – there will be the dining table, from which you will have an almost limitless view of the sur­rounding meadows. This com­pletely new scenery will be illu­mi­nated by lighting ele­ments by some of the most famous Czech desi­gners.

Similar plans for staging the opulent in sim­plicity exist for the kitchen. Thanks to a few incon­spi­cuous and inge­nious inter­ven­tions, it will become an island of taste and fra­grance, so that it feels more like being out in the garden rather than inside. Indeed, the garden: it will lite­rally take over the house, interior and exterior space should merge as much as pos­sible.

Thank God in the Beskydy Moun­tains there are still repre­sen­ta­tives of the various trades who under­stand the necessary tra­di­tional craft tech­niques. This is the only way to realise this demanding task at such a high level. It is a good thing that Daniela Hra­dilová has built up excellent rela­ti­onships over many years and can rely on her “team”.

“If I could not fall back on a team of long­standing and expe­ri­enced craftsmen, I would never have dared to tackle this demanding task of reno­vating houses. I have known all those involved in Between Meadows for ten years – we feel at home in their work­shops. And I am gra­teful for having all of them: at a time when tra­di­tional craft­smanship is dis­ap­pearing, their art and passion for it is a kind of miracle.

In my opinion, the greatest expertise is respect for the task, mas­terful work and pride in it, a sharp eye and strained hands – I take no one more seriously than people who embody it.”

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Text: Ulrich Stefan Knoll, May 2021

The fea­tured houses